Michael Schumacher - WDC 20th anniversary

[bhall II]

No Schumacher thread is complete without a tribute to the man's sartorial brilliance.













I believe the secret behind Schumacher's legendary speed is that he was always running away from the fashion police.

[mertol]

This is one image i'll never forget....

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1024x7 ... rtyyv2.jpg

What is going on in this pic?

[turbof1]

This is one image i'll never forget....

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1024x7 ... rtyyv2.jpg

What is going on in this pic?

You haven't noticed, good. Let's keep it that way before your innocence is spoiled .

[GitanesBlondes]

Schumacher should have been kicked out of that championship for that stunt at Adelaide.

As Senna should have been banned when pushed Prost off track in Japan.

I love the part where I mention Senna in my post.

Oh wait...

[GitanesBlondes]

Schumacher should have been kicked out of that championship for that stunt at Adelaide.

Personally, I think Schumacher deserved that championship for pushing a superior Williams FW16 to the final race.

I don't, given the rampant Benetton cheating that went on.

If you want to talk about the title he won in the Benetton-Renault, that's another story. That was a well-deserved title all the way through. The '94 title was a sham title in my eyes for a multitude of reasons.

[FoxHound]

I don't, given the rampant Benetton cheating that went on.

If you want to talk about the title he won in the Benetton-Renault, that's another story. That was a well-deserved title all the way through. The '94 title was a sham title in my eyes for a multitude of reasons.

The way I see it, a great driver in a not-as-good-as the-best car, beat a not-as-good-as the-best driver in a great car.
Schumacher was excluded from 4 of the rounds that year of which Hill won 4....40 points the difference and alot more considering Schumacher's season was 4 rounds shorter than Hill's.

[Aesto]

I don't, given the rampant Benetton cheating that went on.

In F1, it's not illegal as long as you don't get caught
Illegal suspension and fake bodywork on Piquet's 1981 Brabham, third pedal on 1998 McLaren, flexible wings and holes in the floor of RBs last few cars, etc.
All of those cars won championships, and yet people never bitch about them.

Plus, all the race bans Schumacher got in 94 were extremely harsh. Really seems like the FIA applied their rules as severely as possible in those cases because they couldn't get Bennetton for the TC and fuel rigs.

However, it's kind of impossible to weigh up all these things with each other in an objective way, which brings me back to my original point: If you get away with it...

[GitanesBlondes]

I don't, given the rampant Benetton cheating that went on.

In F1, it's not illegal as long as you don't get caught
Illegal suspension and fake bodywork on Piquet's 1981 Brabham, third pedal on 1998 McLaren, flexible wings and holes in the floor of RBs last few cars, etc.
All of those cars won championships, and yet people never bitch about them.

Plus, all the race bans Schumacher got in 94 were extremely harsh. Really seems like the FIA applied their rules as severely as possible in those cases because they couldn't get Bennetton for the TC and fuel rigs.

However, it's kind of impossible to weigh up all these things with each other in an objective way, which brings me back to my original point: If you get away with it...

Except they did get caught cheating.

They should have been kicked out after Hockenheim and would have been were it not for Mosley.

[GitanesBlondes]

I don't, given the rampant Benetton cheating that went on.

If you want to talk about the title he won in the Benetton-Renault, that's another story. That was a well-deserved title all the way through. The '94 title was a sham title in my eyes for a multitude of reasons.

The way I see it, a great driver in a not-as-good-as the-best car, beat a not-as-good-as the-best driver in a great car.
Schumacher was excluded from 4 of the rounds that year of which Hill won 4....40 points the difference and alot more considering Schumacher's season was 4 rounds shorter than Hill's.

Still doesn't address that Benetton cheated their way to that title and would have been banned from the championship had any idea of fair play existed.

[turbof1]

That's what you get when you try to celebrate a controversial title. With all due respect to the Jewish people, but frankly celebrating the holocaust would yield the exact same results.

However I want to stress and reïterate again: while his mentality of taking no prisoners did cross the line at that point, and at a few other points too, that same mentality got him 7 titles in total within those 20 years. What he accomplished within those 20 years inspires many children even today to have a go at racing. And while he sometimes was utterly ruthless in the car, outside it he always had his heart at the right place.

Now I'm done with trying to steer this topic. Everybody had his say in the whole 1994 adelaide debacle, let's close that door. If anybody feels going down that pit again, I'll force them to wear Michael's clothes. GB, I think that leather pimp outfit would look great on you .

[bdr529]

I saw 6 of his 7 wins in Montreal, I took this at the hairpin 1998


And one for the Schumi Fashion file

[MadMatt]

I started watching F1 back in 1998, and was a Schumi fan straight away. Here is what I though of these first 3 seasons I watched.

1998

Thrilling season with a battle up to the end. Michael in a much inferior car against 2 McLarens (Irvine was not much of a help to be honest). Michael managed to pull races out of his hat that were really amazing, Silverstone, Hungaroring. Spa would have been another one but it ended badly. But the McLarens were so much better. A1-Ring was a classic case, not to mention the ultra-fast Hockenheimring. I was really sad to see him lose in Japan with his special chrome-helmet.

1999

This looked more promising with a car closer to the McLaren, but that accident at Silverstone cut short hopes of a title. Mika's bad luck allowed a fight for the title up to the end with Irvine. What amazed me that year was Michael's come back at Sepang with a pole position 1second ahead of second place and team mate Irvine! There was the barge board story but it showed that Michael hadn't lost anything of his talent. He gave Irvine the win to allow for a Suzuka title fight which he lost. But it showed that 2000 would be really interesting.

2000

This had to be THE year, and it was! It seemed as if McLaren gradually lost their 1998 advantage and for the first time the Ferrari was a better car. Monaco was a big disappointment for me, as he was leading by a long way and en route to a great victory with his famous all-red helmet before suspension failure ended his race. Then there was this summer disaster with engine blowup in France, 1st corner crash in Austria and then Germany. He managed to hold on to 2nd place at Spa with wrong wings setup, before winning in Italy and an emotional press conference, winning in the USA after a spin while leading, and finally that win in Suzuka and the title, 21 years after the last Ferrari title.

This was definitely the greatest sport event I had the chance to live "LIVE" that early Sunday morning behind my tv. What a great moment, after these previous years of disappointment. And then the victory at Sepang, the icing on the cake. A great season.

[Blanchimont]

Can anyone top this picture?


The moment Corinna decided to switch?


Steve McQueen teaching the young boys how to drive


A gallery of his career: http://www.spox.com/de/sport/diashows/m ... ite=1.html

[MadMatt]

Great last picture! Well, I doubt Michael needed advice, since in 1991 he had the fastest lap of the LeMans 24h!

Some say that he improved his single seater skills with that sports prototype experience. Learning how to drive efficiently, smoothly.

[Blanchimont]

Michael being interviewed at a DTM race in end of June 1991, where he achieved a 3rd place in qualifying with 50 kg of ballast added to his car. He says, that his plan is to compete the season from now on to the end and eventually there is a F3000 test to come.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UVRcjux8JQ[/youtube]

Only 2 months later, F1 drivers...



and Belgian fans were upset.