I love Schumacher, he is F1 to me, it was a dream come true to finally see him in action at Silverstone several years ago
I disagree that Schumacher was past his peak in 2006. Renault had a strong car at the beginning of the year whereas Ferrari clawed back that advantage by mid-season (through mass damper saga or otherwise). Both Alonso and Schumacher won 7 races each that season. A crucial engine failure during the Japanese GP at Suzuka while leading Alonso by 5 sec. meant Schumacher had to win in Brazil whereas Alonso just needed to finish in the points to win the championship - which Alonso did. So to say that Schumacher was over the hill during that season is something I do not agree.
my opinion is though schumacher won 7 titles and is my favorite driver... senna had another something which schumacher himself refers to. I feel the "lost" titles for schumacher are more likely to be the barren years as ferrari developed their car for 5 years. simply put hill, villenuve and haikkonen all won titles virtually unapposed so has schumacher the car to compete he could have won in those years too.... that said one must say his 5 titles i na row were virtually unapposed at times. I think he could have stayed in 07 and won for usre but in the end hamilton planked it to let raikkonen win. Michael retired at the right time and i feel maybe he should have stayed away too.
Schumacher was a bottler, didn't have the nuts to have a decent team-mate, vetoed Hakkinen in 99, and spat his dummy and retired when they hired Raikonen. He was running scared of them, like Prost ran scared of Senna and Mansell. Senna, on the other hand, relished testing himself against the best, no need for behind-the-scenes machiavellian tactics for him to get his titles.
truth hurt does it? I don't worship Senna at all, I liked his hard charging go for the gap style, he paid back Prost for his hypocritical cheating in 89, other than that there were no deliberatley taking out oppoents to win, no added clauses to his contracts, no use for illegal electronics
don't you lot get tired of digging up Schuey's 'corpse' praising what wasn't there, finally burying it again. Then, after a while digging it up all over again. yawn......
Perhaps I should apologise for my opinion? Have we met before? Under your name it says "Newbie", but I'd like to assure you that I am not deliberately choosing to reply with "nonsense" to your posts; I was merely offering my perspective to balance the points and claims you made in your thread opening post. I promise you it is nothing personal Martial. Please don't take it that way.
Michael Schumacher is still one of the most talented drivers on the grid today, his driving style thrills me. Another factor which I find fascinating is the fact he has gone out of his own way to return to a 4TH position team to bring them to the top again, but at 42 years of age he is still pulling around a 220mph Formula 1 car round the worlds most challenging track. Coulthard commented " I went back to the gym at midnight expecting no-one to be there, guess who I saw... Michael Schumacher ", he is still at the top of his game, unfortunately mishaps and mechanical issues with an ever progressing Mercedes is not allowing him to show his true potential 6 years after his retirement. If any GP is to go by this year it is the Canadian GP and Belgian GP, where challenging conditions did not hold him back from challenging 1st position. Is there any excuse from his doubters to show why he was there? Thought not. Spa showed us he has dedication and raw overtaking talent. Anybody please prove to the users on this forum where he had cheated with the use of these apparent electronic aids and devices, prove the behind the track tactics that he "used". The sad thing is people use these excuses to fuel the fact that they cannot believe the raw speed and talent he had when he was young. I won't be surprised if there are some idiotic comments starting to appear about this issue. I won't be surprised if his good starts this season are then "based on driving aids" once he retires again. Michael Schumacher is what makes Formula 1. That is all.
I thought this was going to be about 97, 98, 99 and 06. I have to admit there is going to be a lot of bias in my opinion of what would have happened. Someone said earlier that if Schu had stayed then the whole stepney spygate thing wouldn't have happened so the maFIA wouldn't have interfered and Alonso would likely have stayed. Without FIA intervention I believe Hamilton (who had his best year in 2007 imo) would have won the championship after an awesome year and a 4 way championship battle, i also do not think Schumacher would have beaten Raikkonen as easily as many think. I think losing the 2007 championship at the 11th hour hit Hamilton hard but in this parralel world he won the championship and he would have been even better in 2008 than he was anyway, but with the maFIA being Ferraris International Assistance in 2008 anyway and this time with Schu still on the scene with ferrari they would have ensured that he won it. So I reckon instead of 2007 = raikkonen 2008 = hamilton I think we would have had 2007 = hamilton 2008 = Schumacher
It was me that talked about the effects of spygate on McLaren. I can't agree with your reasoning for 2007 - if Alonso tied with Hamilton when McLaren were against him - I doesn't seem logical to suggest he wouldn't have got even one more point with the backing of the team.
Schumi was the best but the current era of F1 with limited testing and artificial aids like DRS and KERS is not for him. I still think mentally he is the best driver on the grid, up there with Alonso and Button in my opinion, and half of what makes a great driver is in the head, not just raw speed.
Wasn;t really the case. When he signed for Brawn/Meredes they had just cleared up the WDC and WCC, so he thought he was getting into the best car on the grid. There is no way he would have returned if he knew Mercedes would only be fighting for 5th/6th/7th places.
I think he just wanted to race again regardless Chris but you are right that he thought Mercedes were a more viable option because of Brawns victories in 2009. Next year will be his last in F1 I am certain unless the Mercedes can regularly get into podium positions.
Everybody knows how little funding Brawn had during 2009 and by the end of the year the car had been replaced at the head of the field by the Redbull and the McLaren. He'd have known enough about Ferrari to to expect them to bounce back (probably expected more than they actually achieved), especially with Alonso heading there. Given the trend of Brawn's performance during the second half of '09 - it's inconceivable that Schumi could have been expecting any more than to be level with Renault, even if he was hoping for more. With 0 analysis you could draw the conclusion that you did, but I expect Schumi did a little more than that...
0 analysis? That's a bit patronising for someone so new to these boards. Suggest you read some of my other posts to see how much '0' analysis I put into my posts. You reckon if Ross Brawn had said to Scheuy, oh Michael, we have a **** car for the next two years and you won't have a hope of fighting for a podium, he would have signed!? Schuey came back to win. Why would he want to risk his life by arsing about in the midfield just for a few million quid he doesn't need?
No offense intended - I'm not slating any of your other posts - I'm just saying that one doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Feel free to point me at your finest work if you feel the need to make some sort of different impression on a newcomer. All I'm saying is, the reality of the situation doesn't stack up with your statement. As the only evidence you provided was that they were champions and my comment pointed out the irrelevance of that, I feel justified in saying it was poorly thought out. It's my understanding that Schumi came back to rekindle his old relationship with Mercedes, to build another successful team and because had newfound motivation for F1/the Mercedes project, not because he expected to come in and dominate again straight away.
