So Michael Schumacher has announced he'll retire at the end of the year. aside from everything else it leaves a bit of a void at the very top - who will be the international star of Formula 1 now?

With Kimi Raikkonen expected to take over at Ferrari he's an obvious contender - except, to be blunt, the guy lacks real charisma when he's being interviewed. Jacques Villeneuve doesn't - but he's also out of F1 now. Jenson Button is a great character - but he's more of a British star than an international name. Which basically leaves Fernando Alonso; fair enough doesn't sound as much of a robot as Kimi does but that seems to be about all I can about him. At least Kimi has stories about a fairly hedonistic lifestyle to make you believe he might just not be allowed to show a personality by the PR team.

So F1 is looking likely to be stuck without a big star for a while. On the plus side it might allow some of the national heros like Button to develop and grow but on the downside the sport may struggle to combat it's boring reputation if they've no personality to help push things.

Still, on the bright side Schumacher will be eligible for the GP Masters series soon - I kind of like the idea of a Mansell Schumacher showdown.