10-time race winner ‘super happy’ he retired from F1 after holding talks with McLaren

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The decision for a driver to call time on their Formula 1 career is one of the most difficult calls they have to make.

This season, Kevin Magnussen could walk from F1 for good while Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton continue to prolong their careers.

However, drivers typically explore every possible opportunity before making that call.

There’s a reason why Alonso is persisting at Aston Martin in the hopes of ending a nearly 20-year-long wait for another world championship.

Sebastian Vettel said goodbye to the sport after a spell with the British team while Nico Rosberg said farewell to Formula 1 immediately after winning his one and only title.

In an interview with Bring Back V10s, 10-time race winner Gerhard Berger was speaking about his decision to walk away from the sport.

Berger racked up more than 200 Grand Prix starts during his career which is particularly impressive when you consider the smaller F1 calendar in the 1980s and 1990s.

However, he’s now admitted that during his final season in the sport, he held talks with McLaren about potentially carrying on.

Instead, he wasn’t sure if team principal Ron Dennis was that keen on him and if he was that keen on a return to the team.

Dennis ended up opting to stick with Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard and the former went on to win his first title that year.

Berger doesn’t regret his decision and felt the time was right to walk away despite still proving to be capable of winning races during his final campaign.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about McLaren F1 Team from team principal to engine

Gerhard Berger held talks with McLaren before deciding to retire from F1

Asked if he had options for the 1998 F1 season, Berger said: “Yeah there were options.

“But the only option at the time that was interesting for me would have been to move back to McLaren.

“I talked with Ron at the time, there was some discussion, but not the discussion that it felt like this is a great possibility for me or a great possibility for McLaren.

“So, at the end of the day, it was the time to stop for different circumstances.

“All I was interested in was having a position where I could really fight for a world championship but at the same time when I listened to myself, my power was not anymore to fight for world championships.

“So, it was just so clear for me in my mind that I should stop and it was the right decision to do.

“It didn’t work out but I’m quite happy that it didn’t work out because I’m super happy to have so many nice years in Formula 1 and I had nice years afterwards too.”

McLaren in their strongest position since the 1998 Constructors’ Championship victory

Berger may have missed out on driving a potentially race-winning car that year, but ever since the Hakkinen-Coulthard partnership the team have failed to truly challenge for a championship.

That was until this season began and Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri under the leadership of Zak Brown and Andrea Stella have a very good opportunity to end Red Bull’s dominance.

Norris is unlikely to be able to catch Max Verstappen in the Drivers’ Championship, but the 42-point gap in the team standings is easily surmountable.

Piastri has reminded Damon Hill of a former world champion and it wouldn’t be a surprise if added to his maiden victory this season.

Berger had a sensational career in F1 but at 38 it made sense to walk away if he and his team weren’t completely committed to continuing.