Post here all non technical related topics about Formula One. This includes race results, discussions, testing analysis etc. TV coverage and other personal questions should be in Off topic chat.
I had the pleasure of Michaels presence (breifly) a couple of times during a previous work stint. He was genuinely a pleasure to be around and rather funny. He also seemed quite expressive rather than the standard F1 driver corporate robots these days, he seemed to convey a lot what he was thinking with the expression on his face.
In the early days I was not a fan (certainly not in '94) but my respect for him grew massively (starting with him dragging that god-awful '96 Ferrari to some amazing results) as his career progressed and then it came to the point where I genuinely routed for him to do well in that Mercedes.
"A pretentious quote taken out of context to make me look deep" - Some old racing driver
Decided to continue my review of the years of F1 I've seen on TV being a Schumi fan.
2001
So this was the first year for me seeing Michael wearing number 1 on his car. A car with a strange nose (at that time). I think it must have given him wings. His Ferrari now looked superior than the McLaren, Mika less motivated and more unlucky than before. We all remember the Sepang GP at the start of the season with both Ferraris going off when the thunderstorm started, before coming back to win! So many pole positions that year, yet the car was not so dominant. The BMW engine was very strong in the Williams, making it a real challenge for the Ferrari on fast tracks. Yet this was a dominant display by Michael, winning 9 times, on pole 11 times, and finishing 2nd 5 times. He had almost double the points of Coulthard second as the battle was hard for the runner up spot, with few drivers eating each other's points. We also remember the black nose and the whole red car of Monza, the controversy of the A1-Ring with Rubens, and the 1-2 with his brother in Canada and more generally throughout the season a good family-fight. A great season.
2002
When I first saw the F1-2001 at Melbourne, I didn't think it was a that good idea, but when the car won, well, it looked like this would be another good season for Schumi. And it was. Finishing on the podium on EACH race (11 times 1st, 5 times 2nd, 1 time 3rd), oh my. And yet Montoya got more pole positions, but Schumi was just stronger, equaling Fangio in France, with 6 races to go. Winning became normal for me to see on TV, and I kind of liked it. The car looked amazing, its engine was great, the chassis was great, and the Schumacher-Barrichello combination unbeatable. 7 times finishing 1-2, with Rubens winning when Michael couldn't. We also remember the A1-Ring story (again), and the US story where Michael and Rubens tried to finish both 1st, which of course failed. I didn't know what more could be done in 2003, as this was an almost faultless season!
1. How insanely fast he was.
2. He never gave up, he was always fighting until the end, 1998s and 2006s last races are a good example of this, true epic.
3. He was a true leader, he became an icon in every time he was, motivating every work to do his best. This is admiring.
4. How good he was under rain conditions, Barcelona 96, Monazo 97, Spa 97-98, Silverstone 98, Nurburgring 2000, Indianapolis 2003, Canada 2011, legendary races.
Yes, he was too aggressive sometimes but he was severely punished for those actions, we cannot say the same with Senna and other drives. The Brazilian was a true dirty driver sometimes but he remains an untouched angel, while the German is daemon, pure hypocrisy.
In 1994 Schumacher was by a huge margin the best driver, some of the penalties were ridiculously hard, FIA was trying to keep the championship alive, but the deserved the title. In 1997 he deserved it too, but Michael ruined a marvellous season with a stupid decision.
I think we have to remember that Schumacher started in F1 with drivers such as Senna, Prost, Mansell. We know the rivalry between Senna and Prost, and I think when Schumi was against drivers such as Villeneuve or Montoya, they had a different culture of racing. Schumacher learned when drivers used to be harsh on the track. It doesn't excuse some of his moves (Jerez 1997 for example), but at the time when Schumi started F1, this was not really uncommon (especially by some known driver that people defined as a "god", mister Senna).
He is the reason I started watching F1 in the first place, and I am lucky enough to have witnessed his rivalry with Hakkinen. 1998, what a season it was, despite of the dominance of the McLarens. Since mid 1998, i hated to read the sports section of the newspaper if Michael had not won the previous day.Those championship years at Ferrari were a pleasure for me. It was an honor watching him race in 2011. Having missed out on the Senna era, for me Schumacher remains the best driver Formula One has ever seen.
Was that the first race that the F310 ran with the high nose? I've always had some sort of fetish for low noses, and I liked the F310 as a teenager for no other reason than its low nose and its traditional rosso corsa. Alas, the low nose wouldn't last long...
I am not amazed by F1 cars in Monaco. I want to see them driving in the A8 highway: Variable radius corners, negative banking, and extreme narrowings that Tilke has never dreamed off. Oh, yes, and "beautiful" weather tops it all.
"Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future." Niels Bohr
Was that the first race that the F310 ran with the high nose? I've always had some sort of fetish for low noses, and I liked the F310 as a teenager for no other reason than its low nose and its traditional rosso corsa. Alas, the low nose wouldn't last long...
Yes that's the first race for the high nose, I have some photos from the Friday practice with the low nose on the car
I'll have to look for them
This one I took in pit lane 2004, sorry about the quality I'm just scanning old photos
"Explain the ending to F1 in football terms"
"Hamilton was beating Verstappen 7-0, then the ref decided F%$& rules, next goal wins
while also sending off 4 Hamilton players to make it more interesting"
- youtube an interview schumi did in 2013 for german tv in his home, where he says that what people don't know is, pre Spa 1994, other teams were let off for the exact same infringement (plank being below the limit).
- he was out for 4 races and still took it to the last race - Hill has 0 excuse, and the best driver won.
- He was constantly a championship contender at Ferrari up to 00, and then went on a 5 title streak, in a period where rules were relatively stable, and therefore no car had 1 hugely distinct advantage (i.e. double diffuser, blown diffuser, etc...).
- Alonso hasn't managed to do the same, even though he had every opportunity, and now hes running away from the team - the so called 'best all round driver' - really? The same Alonso who ran away from Mclaren because Hamilton was beating him? Vettel, managed it for 4 years, and again, running away from the team.
- People talk about how schumi had the best car. Well, if the Ferrari was truly that dominant, then you'd expect both cars to be 1 and 2 at the end of the championship, as the Mercedes are this year. What you will find is, in those 5 titles, only twice was that the case, 2002 and 2004. In all of his other titles, his teammate in the same car was 3rd or lower. Therefore, out of his 7 titles, 5 of them were not in a dominant car. 5 of them.
- In his non title years, he was a contender in all of them bar 92, 93, 96 (still dragged that Ferrari to 3rd in the champ, with Irvine 10th), 99 (accident), 05 (total michelin domination), 10,11,12. Thats 8 years. So in his 17 year driving career, he was a contender for the championship in 9 of them. What other driver comes close to that? What other driver has been able to sustain the speed and commitment for that length of time?
- He was on terms with Rosberg towards the end of the seasons in 10 and 11, and in 12 outraced him on many an occasion. This is the same Rosberg who has managed to outqualify Hamilton, and take the championship to him. This puts Schumi's achievements at Mercedes in real perspective.
- Won his titles in an era where everyone had to drive flat out for the length of the race, not to some pre determined laptime by an engineer, not asking on the radio 'should i overtake', and no DRS meaning overtaking had to be done via pitstop leaps, which meant added pressure to driving flat out in the race. You can make arguments about what F1 should be about, so this is purely a subjective point, and I'm not saying that objectively F1 was better this way. IT was just my personal preference.
But youtube 'f1 2000 qualifying japanese gp' and watch 2 drivers at the top of their game go at it in 4 rounds... do the same thing for every single lap over a race distance, and tell me that that is less exciting than what we have now? Really?
watching him on the ragged edge around Spa or Suzuka was spectacular, and only Hamilton thrills me as much when Im watching (or at the time, Montoya/Kimi)
- Won his titles on tracks which weren't all converted into parking lots and where mistakes either cost you major time, gravel traps broke your front wing, or you were simply out the race.
- Won his titles in an era when they actually raced in the wet.
Conclusion: unless Alonso goes on a 5 title streak with Mclaren in what will arguably be the last 5 years of his career, if not less, no other driver comes close for sustaining a competitive level for such a prolonged period of time. That surely makes him by default, by definition, the best?
Last edited by fiohaa on 25 Nov 2014, 03:13, edited 3 times in total.
MadMatt wrote:I didn't know what more could be done in 2003, as this was an almost faultless season!
think you must be confusing 03 with 04.
03 was epic because there were 3 different teams who were capable of winning right to the end.
2003 was a superb season up to Monza, before Michelin got busted for the tread width infringement, a decision I can understand but still essentially handed the title to Schumacher.
let's take a moment to enjoy this video of one of the greatest F1 drivers ever.
Legendary.
"Explain the ending to F1 in football terms"
"Hamilton was beating Verstappen 7-0, then the ref decided F%$& rules, next goal wins
while also sending off 4 Hamilton players to make it more interesting"
