BEIJING, Sept. 8 -- Every champion wants to go out on top, yet few succeed.

"I got it made for the rest of my life, financially and in every other way," declared Muhammad Ali when he retired in 1979 as heavyweight champion of the world. "There's nobody in the world like me. I'm getting out just in time."

(File Photo)

Photo Gallery>>>One year later, The Greatest was back in the ring -- shattered and humiliated as Larry Holmes reduced him to a battered wreck.

There is always one more race, one more championship, to be won -- in some cases one more big paycheck -- until one day the phone stops ringing and the opportunities dry up.

If Michael Schumacher does indeed announce at Sunday's Italian Grand Prix at Monza that he is retiring at the end of the season, it will be because the most successful driver in Formula One history feels the time is right and not because he is being pushed to go.

It will be his decision and, like so many things in his extraordinary career, he will stand out for it.

Not since Alain Prost in 1993 has a driver walked away as champion or announced that he is going while in the throes of a title battle.

Schumacher, 12 points adrift of Renault's Fernando Alonso, could yet get that eighth crown he craves. But even if he does not, he remains a winner.

At the very least, he will be runner-up after a year that has seen him back on top and adding to records that are surely destined to last for decades.

Tough Decision

It could be that he decides to stay on, unable to resist the lure of the racetrack. In which case it could be that the Ferrari ace will be even more competitive next year.

But maybe, with world champion Alonso moving to McLaren and Kimi Raikkonen set to join Ferrari, it will be tougher than ever.

The decision, as those around Schumacher have intimated, is a hard one to make. Formula One has been the German's world for 15 years, with Ferrari his second family for 10 of them, and saying goodbye is far from easy.

Only a handful of men, Prost included, have retired as champions -- Argentina's Juan Manuel Fangio early in 1958 after winning in 1957 and Britons Mike Hawthorn (1959) and Jackie Stewart (1973).

The sport has grown more used to seeing champions linger on and then fade away.

Canadian Jacques Villeneuve left abruptly this season, suddenly replaced by Polish test driver Robert Kubica at BMW Sauber.

Villeneuve had not won a race since his 1997 title with Williams and his departure was barely noticed, disguised initially as injury-related after a crash in the previous race.

Twice champion Mika Hakkinen was different, wanting out but unable to sever ties completely: "I simply just want to enjoy a break," he declared at Monza in 2001, announcing a year's 'sabbatical'. He never returned.

Briton Nigel Mansell was another who left without formally retiring, storming off to America's CART series after winning the 1992 Formula One title and then returning in 1994 with Williams.

Fizzled Out

His Formula One career finally fizzled out in 1995 after two races at McLaren when he was unable to fit into the car. But, as he often points out, he never retired.

Damon Hill, Britain's last champion in 1996, was older than Schumacher when he quit in 1999 but by then his glory days were long gone.

Austrian Niki Lauda quit twice, first in 1979 because he was "fed up driving around in stupid circles" and then because he realised it really was time to go.

Jackie Stewart called it a day in 1973 after his third championship was marred by the death of team mate and friend Francois Cevert in the final race of that season.

But perhaps it is Prost, announcing his definitive retirement at Estoril in 1993 after an enforced break in 1992, whose position was closest to what Schumacher may be feeling in the twilight of his career.

"I want to leave at the summit ... it is a decision that I have reached after careful consideration throughout the year," said the French four-times champion.

"I feel after so many years at the top that I should be allowed to take a rest. It has been a long and difficult career. I feel I have given a lot to the sport, and I want to leave with a smile on my face."

Schumacher, if he has decided to go, could say no better than that.

(Source: China Daily)