In terms of great sporting comebacks, that of Michael Schumacher would have rated up there alongside Lance Armstrong climbing back into the saddle, Michael Jordan rebounding onto the basketball court, and George Foreman returning to the ring.

But not even the sport's most successful driver, the winner of a record seven world championships and 91 races, could overcome the damage caused to his body by crashing at high speed.

The irony is that Schumacher has been forced to abandon his hope of replacing injured Ferrari ace Felipe Massa at next week's European Grand Prix by a crucial neck injury that was not sustained in a Formula One car but falling from a motorbike.

The 40-year-old German raced for the last time at the Brazilian Grand Prix in November 2006. Yet the need for speed gnawed at him like an addiction and he decided to take up Superbike racing.

The physical demands were nowhere near what they are in Formula One but the dangers were greater, as he discovered.

Now the dream is over. Schumacher, and his army of loyal fans, must come to terms with the realisation he will never race in another Grand Prix.

Eddie Jordan, the former team owner who first spotted Schumacher's potential and gave him his Grand Prix debut 18 years ago, today rued that decision to swap racing overalls for biking leathers.

Jordan, eager to have seen how Schumacher would have measured against the class of 2009, said: "What was Michael thinking of? Was he out of his mind? This was just insanity.

"But then you can't stop somebody having fun. If that's what turns them on, then you have to let them get on with it."

Jordan was not surprised that Schumacher found his damaged neck was incapable of withstanding the physical rigours of driving a Formula One car flat out for a race lasting more than 90 minutes.

He recalled: "We used to laugh a little at Nigel Mansell when we said his head seemed to sit on top of his shoulders because his neck was so thick. But that is exactly what it needs to be and Michael had let his neck muscles go."

Although the disappointment surrounding Schumacher's aborted return will be widely felt, Jordan insisted the sport did not necessarily need a former legend to spice up the action.

He said: "Formula One, this year, has been immense - I have never seen qualifying so exciting.

"There have been some races that were not as good as we'd hoped for but nevertheless, it has been exciting.

"And we have a British guy, Jenson Button, in front of the championship, coupled with the reigning world champion in Lewis Hamilton.

"We were starved of fortunes in the past and now we've got a glut. It is like all the buses coming at one time."

However, Schumacher's absence next week from the Grand Prix around the streets of Valencia could be bad news for the Spanish hosts.

A one-race ban imposed on the Renault team - after they allowed Fernando Alonso to return to the track at the Hungary Grand Prix with a loose front wheel which subsequently came adrift - meant ticket sales were already slow.

Assuming Renault fail in an appeal against their punishment, to be heard on Monday, and Spanish hero Alonso is forced to sit out the race, the draw of watching Schumacher was seen as vital to the commercial success of the event.

Immediately after Ferrari confirmed that Schumacher was their preferred replacement for Massa, 10,000 tickets were snapped up.

However, the walk-up attendance will now be hit and there could be banks of empty grandstand seats on Sunday week.

Hamilton will also regret missing the chance to pit his talent against Schumacher.

The British driver made his debut in 2007, just as the German was settling into retirement, and news that the two men might at last race wheel-to-wheel had excited him.

At the time, Hamilton said: "Michael is one of the sport's greatest competitors and a legend in his own right. It would be great to compete against him."

And Ross Brawn, the technical and tactical genius who masterminded Schumacher's five titles while driving for Ferrari, believed his former charge would have been competitive had he been fully fit.

"I'm convinced he will be strong," he said. "I admit I'm excited and can't wait to see him at work."

Now it will never happen. Formula One will survive. The sport has proved time and again that it is greater than any one individual champion.

But seeing Schumacher back behind the wheel would have been something special.