Larry Herman

I like Michael, but my opinion after giving him sufficient time to get re-acclimated?


Stick a fork in him cause he's done.

A.Wayne

I cant believe Pete never incriminated himself here .......... Damn !

Priceless ...........



Double Priceless......

Larry ! ..............................................

A.Wayne

By Mark Hughes
BBC F1 commentary box producer in Singapore

"In his Ferrari years, to see his first lap out of the pits through a corner such as Spa's Pouhon was to witness awe-inspiring genius that left you barely comprehending how what you had just seen could be possible.

He would commit totally to the blind exit, flat-in-top downhill entry corner, a down-change just after turning in and the car would be shuddering on the edge of adhesion, visibly faster than anything else - and Schumacher would make not a single further input because to do so would have sent the car off."


BRAVO , BRAVO ... was this before Hakkinen's pass or after ...........

morganabowen

I completely agree I have the impression that MS has lost that fire down below. He is not even competitive within his own team. My guess is that they will hire another German driver to replace MS, maybe Timo Glock. Timo deserves a good ride

multi21

I think the author wrote a good, fair piece, for a Brit, but he failed to mentioned that Schumacher has never been to this track in Singapore, ever. He also failed to mention that in all the races Schumacher has been in, he has never ever raced at night. His teammate has been here all three years of the tracks existance and Nico has done an exceptional job keeping his nose clean and not tangling with anyone on track. Nico did not make an overtaking manuvers at Singapore, he relied on those ahead of him to crash and he moved up the order. Nothing Special!

Our resident ball washer A. Wayne has given an example of another F1 driver returning in the past, however, never has there been a testing ban in place before that. Coupled with the fact that the formula has changed dramatically in the 3 years of his absense, it stands to reason why he has had a difficult time coming to grips with this car.

Father time is not kind to many of us and F1 is not a sport for those over 33 let alone 41. We'll see what next year brings, but the resident ball washer is on record as saying that MS wouldn't even finish out the year. How's that prediction working out for ya?

There is a reason why everyone compares themselves or their favorite driver to Michael Schumacher, for he is the standard to which all others are compared! Yes you can cite an example of a pass here or there, but such is the greatness of Michael Schumacher -- You're happy just to get a pass on him.

7 WDC -- Still Unmatched by anyone else!

enduro911

The tough part for me would be where to draw the line. I agree that any other driver who is performing like this, other than a rookie, would be gone. I also didn't expect Michael to be as fast as he was back in, say, 2001 or so.

That said, I do believe that the current Mercedes car's handling is unlike Schumacher has ever driven. I also think that anyone who has been out of the sport for a while and hasn't had the chance to drive cars year after year, and thus to feel the changes in the way the cars handle, brake, and accelerate, is going to be in for a real surprise. Adjusting one's driving style is an important part of being consistent year after year. Can anyone, for example, tell me that Alonso's turn in is as sharp as it was when he first started in F1 (I'M ONLY USING HIM BECAUSE OF HIS UNIQUE DRIVING STYLE)?

I think you could make an argument that, depending on what the Pirellis are going to do to the cars, Schumacher may get a lucky break and get a chance to experience a new and potentially very different experience next year along with everyone else. Thus, he should be granted another chance. I don't look down on those that say he should be dropped because of the way he's driving, too. If I were him, and I'm sure he's better at this than I would be, I'd be buying Nick Heidfeld a whole lot of drinks and lunches to understand what next year's going to be like.

Oh, and Wayne, Mika's pass on Michael was nothing short of incredible. Both had very good cars with different strengths and on that weekend, I'd say Mika/Mclaren were undoubtedly the stronger package. Newey's exploda-Macca's were always great on faster tracks (and Mclaren seems to really like Monaco too), but Byrne/Brawn/Schumacher were too consistent to lose that championship.

Nizer

Who's everyone? I prefer to measure against Fangio, Clark, and Senna. All had significantly higher percentage of poles to race starts than did Schumacher.

Fangio 58%
Clark 45%
Senna 40%
Schumacher 26%

MJSpeed

Pete please don't take any offense to this, but you must be ******* high or something.

Look at my avatar, if you look hard enough you'll see a driver...everyone else and I do mean everyone just see THE Yardstick wearing his yellow helmet.

+1

enduro911

Sorry, but I'm just not very sentimental and probably far too practical. I don't think there's a yardstick, be it Schumacher, Clark, Senna, Fangio, or anyone else. Why? First, I think that comparing drivers from different eras is impossible. How does anyone know that Fangio wouldn't have wiped the floor with everyone if he was in a modern Grand Prix car? How do we know that Senna's body would have held up in a modern F1 car or that Schumacher could drive a winning car that didn't have a traction control? Next up, what is a yardstick? Someone who is the best at something. As I've described, how do we judge the "best"? You can't. You can make arguments for a driver having a certain characteristic moreso than other drivers more easily than as an overall package. Next up, I don't think that any one trait, like pole positions, justifies the level of talent. How do we know that Schumacher didn't know that he had a team mate who wouldn't race him AND the best car in the field, so that he didn't give 1000% commitment in qualifying like Senna? Prost seemed to win quite a few races based on using qualifying as nothing more than a glorified test session. Lauda did the same in 1984. Last time I heard, poles don't equal race wins. I think the bickering as to who is the greatest is as much a hoax as some of the other vocabulary I've heard thrown around here. You can have your personal opinion, but remember that it's just that. /rant. I'm sorry but I promise this is not directed at any one person or any one driver.

A.Wayne

As to Alonso's so called abrupt turn in, you run what you brung....


MS/Brawn /Todt have never beaten another driver when they had a competitive car ... errr .. sorry except Montoya ....because of BMW continuous fondling of Ralf..


Damon Hill ........POW
JV ................... POW
Mika Hakkinen ......... POW,POW
Alonso .................... POW, POW
KR........................... He ran ..

Numbers aside , MS has never really raced anyone to justify his lofty rating....

Look at the German GP 2000, Barichello first victory , he starts 18th on the grid , Faux 7 started 2nd. Rubens prior to this was complaining about Schumachers special treatment inside the team and bam .. the guy has no speed , starts 18th.....

Faux7 StrekStrekStrekStreks up as he usually does , but is not lucky this time and get's eliminated from the GP. Rubens pits , new tires , suspension adjustment , engine re-map and Bam from 18th to victory beating Hakkinen and Coulthard
in the runnings on a wet/dry track.... WTF he suddenly remembers how to drive..

So Please ...

Schumacher was FOS for many years , propped up by the best team and managers hevar in the history of the sport and when he left he was so much slower than the kids around him it was pathetic.

His return is a sign of heavy PCP usage by Schumacher and his followers, hence there total lack of logic about his return. Schumacher was seconds slower than Ferrari's test driver , remember him, the guy 2 seconds slower than the rest . He is currently maxed out , that Mercedes is a very good car and we already know from his stint at Williams that Webbo was faster than Rosberg..

Stick Hamilton , Alonso or Vettel in it and watch it go ........ to the front

I'm surprised Pete has the gumption to show his face around here after all that Schumacher ball washing and powdering he has done over the years......

Yeah Petal, I had predicted the prodigal son's return perfectly, no need to acknowledge, Unlike Hamilton , I don't need anyone to tell me i'm good..


I know .................................



Bingo .........................................................

mdrums

Either Shumi was never that good and the Ferrari F1 cars where that much better (cheating, design or whatever) than the rest back in the day or Shumi just does not have it anymore...or this years Brawn Mercedes is that bad...but Niko seems to be running good for what the car really is.

Will Shumi be back in 2011?

9.5 Degrees

So isn't this the same as time trialing? If pole positions equaled race wins then Jarno Trulli would be the king. Fast driver but goes backwards in a race. Different eras, can't compare any of these 4.

I know there is a lot of Alonso vs. Schumacher camps on Rennlist (quite frankly more than I thought, but very passionate from both sides). How anyone can can put down a 7 time World Driving Champion is beyond me. His history has been written and NO ONE can take those away, ever. You may not like him personally, but you have to respect what he has accomplished and the way he used to drive. The way he is driving now is not the real Schumacher. In his prime, he was simply dominate.

Alonso's history is yet to be written and is on his way to his 3rd World Driving Championship this year and beyond. No one can take away those WDC and you may not like him personally, but you have to respect what he has accomplished and the way he drives.

A.Wayne

Mike .. i think we will see the return of the Finn at Sebring instead ..

Your right , 7WDC is hard to beat and difficult to achieve , but i have seen things ...

mdrums

LOL....about spit my drink up! Yeah The Finn at Sebring would be something else. I am there so much the front counter people at the hotel know me by 1st name and my wifes name!

A.Wayne

LOL.. Dats hilarious .............