Honda Racing’s Jenson Button doesn’t think that Formula One will suffer in the slightest after seven time world champion Michael Schumacher hangs up his helmet next month, in fact the young Brit is convinced that the series will be even better without him as new talent works its way into the series, making it more exciting than ever.

“There are a lot of very talented drivers in F1 and Michael leaving is not going to damage the sport in any way,” he was quoted as saying in the Sun. “It is great for us to have the driver who has achieved the most still racing but it’s not a bad thing if he is not around next year. If I won the title next year, I wouldn’t feel it was less of an achievement because Michael was no longer there.”

“At the moment I wouldn’t say Michael was above anyone else in F1. You’ve got Alonso, who is the world champion, you’ve got Kimi Raikkonen. There are good drivers who maybe people don’t recognise because they are thinking about Michael. The future looks very exciting.”

That said however, Jenson doesn’t take away from the Ferrari star’s achievements and fully acknowledges that he will walk away from the series at the conclusion of the Brazilian Grand Prix as one of the sports greats, even if some of his actions have caused controversy…

“Michael has always been in the right car but he has done a very good job. He took a risk by going to Ferrari and it worked out, although it took them five years to win the first championship. He is one of the greats because he has been winning for so long. Michael has achieved the most and some of it has been controversial. But he has still won seven world titles — you can’t take that away from him.”