Ray S

Still sure he is the "best"??

As I said earlier, I'll reserve my judgement for who is really the "best" until little later in the season. There is no question they are all very close, but making a call after 2 races seemed a little premature.

I wonder what Ron D's face looked like as "quick Nick" went sailing past Alonso (your choice for "best")?

A.Wayne

Yes! still the most complete driver , but you should do a search to see my pick for the WC.
Ron d's face looked the same as todt;s when he passed kimi

pole position

The MS detractors used to blame team orders, bootlicker contract ,sabotage or other associated nonsense for his performance and if he would ever let a "worthy" team mate race next to him he would be exposed...............funny, he completly had Massa under control last season, the same Massa who cannot be parked by KR who uses the same set up guy that MS had.

When the first rumours started to float around that KR would be at Ferrari everyone under the blue sky screamed that MS would be scared and totally outclassed...LOL.

So the same "afraid" MS who even at his advanced grandfather age by F1 standards was a notch above Massa, the same "cheater" methusalem MS who would have won his 8th title would he not have encountered mechanical problems in the last two races while easily handling the "real deal" Alonso and he would have put good ol' KR in his place too , hell, his protege is able to do it.

Just putting things in proper perspective.

Ray S

Most complete or best?? You've now used both terms.

The difference is Todts face probably smoothed out as Kimi was able to hold off Nick and re-take the position from Alonso.

A.Wayne

He is the most complete currently , so at the start of the season i labeled alonso as being the best in f1., of course , if the others prove otherwise by beating him .then that would change i suppose

Now we have a 3 way tie , with the momentum now with massa , we will see in Spain

A.Wayne

LOL,

Pole is this the same MS , who mika salo got into his car after a year layoff and placed it on pole ( 1st time in his life in the top 5 ) and for all intent and purposes won the race , until told to move over, do you believe massa was allowed to race MS last year ? quite possibly, pole, you also believe MS did not intentionally park his car at Monaco .

Less not get into the fact that he was relieved from Ferrari , after he made it clear he wanted to stay on.


MS is not here , so we will talk about the newbies who are currently racing , as
Ms record is estabished and without a doubt he is the most succesful f1 driver of all time ! just not the greatest .......barrichello move over , schumacher want's to pass...

ohhh , did'nt alonso beat him twice , straight , ....


Hell , just putting things in perspective

Geo

Yeah right.

Fangio would have kicked his ***.

Or Senna.

Or Clark.

Or....

Gimme a break.

pole position

LOL, maybe you can dig up Nuvolari , Ascari or Rosemeyer..........teammates had to give up their cars DURING the race for Fangio..............and I let a expert like you figure out the points deficit between MS and Senna at the start of the Imola race.

No way in hell would a young (even the old one did it) MS be outraced or outsmarted by Massa or KR, ever and Massa would end up like the other Ex F car driver from Brazil. Guaranteed.

multi21

I'm with Pole Position on this one. I'm a Schumacher homer. He did things that were unbelievable. His racecraft, technical knowledge, motivation for his mechanics, engineers to the way he laid fast in and out laps to the very mundane things like looking at the gaps between panels on the body work of his car and asking his designers to improve on those, to the examination of his opponents cars when in parc ferme. He was a complete racer.

Did he have his moments such as parking the car at Monaco? Yes, and that left a bad impression, especially from a 7 time WC in his last year in F1. But I believe even A. Wayne can appreciate the fact that his desire to win sometimes clouded his judgement. He wanted to win at any cost and would sometimes go over the line, just like Senna did at times.

Did Salo get into his car on one occasion and drive well. Yes, but let's let the Vodka chill a little longer before we drink it. Salo shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence as Schumacher.

I don't know if I miss MS, but I often catch myself thinking "this is what MS would have done". Especially considering the events of the last two races between Lewis and Massa.

What is different this year as compared to the past 10 years is that MS was a favorite coming into each year. This year there is no clear favorite. With the exception of Alonso, you have 3 other drivers and quite posibly Nick Heidfeld that has 15 Championship points, that are developing before our very eyes with each qualifying and race session. Those young drivers all have a shot at the WC and it's looking like "RELIABILITY" is what will determine the championship, not the driver per se.

Reliability or lack thereof, was the determining factor last year. With all due respect to Alonso, he did not beat Schumacher for the championship on his driving, Schumacher's engine given up while leading at Suzuka with only a handful of laps to go was his downfall. Let's not forget how Alonso was coming apart and was critical of the team as MS was pulling closer to him and eventually passed him in points. MS never had a bad thing to say about his mechanics, engineers or suppliers. Even in the single tire per race year of 2005, everyone knew Bridgestone tires were not up to the task, he chose his words carefully when speaking about his tire partners.

With the exception of the year MS, Alonso and Kimi (before his reliability issues) were battling, we haven't seen this many legitimate contenders in a long time.

butzip

All I know is we now have a 3 way tie for first and it's a 3 way tie between 'mortals'. Not a race for 2nd while MS adds to his insurmountable record.

mitch236

So far out of 3 races, Massa has attained 2 poles and the first race, mechanical problems prevented him from getting that pole. If it wasn't for mechanical issues for Massa, he might be leading in points right now. If Massa can keep a cool head and Hamilton continues to stay focused, it could actually come down to these two at the end. Now that would be fun!

A.Wayne

Correct Mitch:

3 races , 3 different winners and the MS guys are upset ,

Barrichello move over , move over ! the greatest cannot past

For the record Scumacher over the last ten years had less car failures than anyone else, he was ultimately released by ferrari who possibly got tired of carring his image, over the the last 5.

Cory M

Do you guys really think it makes that much of a difference who is driving the car at this level? I think the driver contribution is about 20% (probably less). Think about it, Massa was a nobody until he got into a Ferrari - now he's getting the pole and winning races. Former winners like Coultard, Barrichelo, Ralf, etc, are in the in the middle of the pack - do you think they lost their driving skills? If they were driving a Ferrari or McLaren this season they would be winning just like they used to. Alonso, Hamilton, Massa, Kimi, are all excellent drivers but none of them appear to be dominant yet.

multi21

If your not in a Ferrari or McLaren, your not going to win the championship this year. The driver is secondary until we witnessed what happened in Malaysia with boneheaded moves by Massa. Why do we have to wait 1 month for the next race?

A.Wayne

agree , but that has been the consensus for years that Ms was winning because, the talent level was low. the top 4 are all excellent drivers with there strengths and weakness's of the 4 only hamilton would have been successful in the 80's .