At the end of 2006 no one thought anyone would ever beat Schumachers 7WDC's, 91 wins, 68 pole positions, 154 podiums etc. All of a sudden it seems entirely plausible that Sebastien Vettel is very much on track to beating that with 2WDC's (lets be honest), 18 wins, 25 pole positions, 31 podiums and a whole host of records that start with "the youngest driver to.....". Schumacher had a dominant car for most of his wins, not merely the best but a dominant one, now Vettel has the same advantage. Schumacher never had team mates to challenge him and the same with Vettel. Adrian Newey seems completely happy where he is and doesn't look like moving anywhere soon and as long as he stays Vettel will keep adding wins and championships with no one to stop him. Ferrari and Schumacher enjoyed a special relationship with the FIA and were allowed to get away with a lot of stuff that others would not. Apart from flexi-wings Vettel and Red-Bull appear to be doing it fairly. And that isn't to mention Vettel seems to be one of the luckiest drivers on track there is, anything that happens this year has helped him. We had the Schumacher years and now it seems we are entering the Vettel years with Vettel on track to beating all Schumachers records. But after they have both retired who do you think will be remembered as the greater driver of the two? (only Schumacher version 1, not his comeback)
That's the only way to tell, i.e. after they have both retired. At the moment I would have to say that Schumacher was great at building a team around him, I don't think you can say that about Vettel yet. Time will tell us if Vettel really is the real deal, or just got lucky with teh right car at the right time.
Voted Schumacher. I think Alonso and possibly others are between them germans. It is really too early to tell but the question was what I THINK will be, so yeah Schumacher.
This is a joke right? This is more pre-mature than I was last nig... well nevermind. He's young, we'll see... he's not even close to where MSC is yet. 2013 is a rules reboot, and we don't even know if Ferrari/McLaren can get in front of RBR next year nevermind for the next 5 years!
Vettel will easily eclipse Schumacher's pole record. The others are harder to predict, it's hard to see anyone enjoying the prolonged domination Schumacher had at the start of the last decade. Vettel has all his "Youngest driver to..." records, but I'd say a drivers shelf life has shifted down at both ends in recent years, with drivers starting their careers and ending them earlier. It's hard to envisage a 35 year old winning the title these days. I don't think Vettel will remain at Red Bull his whole career either. Particularly after Monza I think he harbours a strong desire to race for Ferrari.
The key word here is Newey I really can't see him staying at RedBull he has done what he set out to do and that is create a world beating car, I don't think he is the kind of guy to sit back and watch he will need a new challenge and to get this he will have to move to a struggling team and build another top car from scratch. And as has happened with every team he's been with and then left that team looses pace and not just a little bit of pace but a great big chunk of it. One thing Schumacher hasn't had in his career is a Newey designed car. When Schumacher went to Ferrari the team was almost a back of the grid also ran, it was Michael who picked the team up and dragged it to the front of the grid. Vettel doesn't have this quality he is a plug and drive driver without Newey he'd be nowhere.
depends if he and/or his team cheat as much as schumacher/s did, and if the FIA become compliant to helping him win by changing rules at the last minute to help his team.
@miggins, you are really taking it too far now. it brings everything down when you have to talk bad about MSC all the time. At least for me. I bet its the same for Ham fans etc when people bash him, that should stop too! I don't understand how you can support what you have written in your own profile about senna and still be against MSC :/
One thing Vettel hasn't had in his career is a Byrne designed car. When Vettel joined Red Bull the team was almost a back of the grid also ran, Newey hadn't won a title for 12 years being consistently beaten by Byrne/Brawn who designed all of Schumacher's title winning cars. Vettel dragged him back to the front of the grid. Without Vettel, Newey would be nothing.
So was Byrne and he had Brawn working alongside him. Schumacher had excellent machines built for him in exactly the same way that Vettel is currently.
Yes but it was Schumacher's feedback and input that developed those cars, Vettel just gets in and drivers what's given to him, he wouldn't have had a clue what to do with the 1996 Ferrari..
Cosi I'm surprised at you, are you really suggesting that Vettel created Newey?????? Please tell me I've read your reply incorrectly..
it is common knowledge that Schumacher gives the most feedback of any driver if he demands a shorter chassis (last year for instance)then he gets one.. Newey doesn't work like that,, nothing goes on his cars unless he says so..
I don't buy into the modern day PR of bigging the driver up in the press crap that goes on in today modern F1 I look at the history to make my judgement calls..
