Micheal Schumacher...The most complete driver....

[dumrick]

Do you think that if FA & Renault knew that MS could put in a 1.25.7 (as opposed to the previous 10 lap ave of 1.27.4) they would not have comunicated this to FA?? This would have made him hurry-up during his in-lap instead of thinking he had time in hand.

He could never hurry up in his in-lap... he was stuck behind Scumi!
And since Ferrari did what they were supposed to do (bring Schumi in the next lap), all Alonso had was the out-lap in cold tyres (lap 42 of the race) to get past Scumi... not possible. Ferrari even did a slower pit-stop than Renault, but when you are in front, you have all the cards on your hand to play, in that situation.

[dumrick]

Gilles did it in one race, held up a whole handful of drivers climbing all over his back.

Now, that's an achievement. Back then, the cars could run in the slipstream without loosing downforce and the braking distances were much longer. But, of course, Gilles was the ultimate late-breaker !!!!

[Principessa]

Michael Schumacher sure has showed the world that he's a very good F1 driver. He has won 7 World Championship titles and has brought Ferrari back in the game. I think that we should all respect the man for what he has done. He's not my favourite driver and never was, but I still have a lot of respect for him. If he's the most complete driver? I wouldn't say that! Don't forget that he has won some of those titles by driving a it too offensive towards others... brutal in a way not accepted in racing according to me. And I wouldn't say he's the most complete driver because that would offend a lot of other motor racing legends! Cars and driver develop. You can't compare Schumacher with the champions from the '70's or other years!

Schumacher has made name in F1 and his name will go down in history. But don't forget about the other legends, just because he won the championship 7 times! And... say: he beat Senna in the pole positions! That's not fair towards Senna and the things he has done for F1!

[emburmak]

To show that it is not only I who this opinion about the race!

'When he pitted for fuel on lap 20, his arch-rival Alonso had worked his way up to second place - after starting only fifth having run a lot of fuel in qualifying. The Spaniard took over the initiative until his own stop on lap 25, and Schumacher just eased back ahead as he rejoined. Alonso then put Schumacher under massive pressure, and the second stops seemed certain to yield victory for Renault.

'According to Schumacher, he then lost pace because of Bridgestone tyre graining and another problem on the car that he would not identify. He began lapping up to two seconds off the pace, but Alonso could do nothing as he found himself bottled up. Who would blink first and dive for the pits? As it transpired, both teams changed their strategy and refuelled earlier than planned. Alonso came in first, on lap 41.

'Schumacher, meanwhile, suddenly lopped a whole second off his supposedly troubled lap time, catching the back-markers Nick Heidfeld and Scott Speed, whom he had previously been unable to reel in. Sandbagging during the second stint was a clever bit of strategic thinking to prevent Renault exploiting their clear performance advantage, and to persuade them to stop earlier than intended. And it worked.

'Schumacher immediately covered Alonso by stopping at the end of lap 42, and was able to rejoin just ahead of him' - David Tremayne, The Independent.

[emburmak]

quote:
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'When he pitted for fuel on lap 20, his arch-rival Alonso had worked his way up to second place - after starting only fifth having run a lot of fuel in qualifying. The Spaniard took over the initiative until his own stop on lap 25, and Schumacher just eased back ahead as he rejoined. Alonso then put Schumacher under massive pressure, and the second stops seemed certain to yield victory for Renault.

'According to Schumacher, he then lost pace because of Bridgestone tyre graining and another problem on the car that he would not identify. He began lapping up to two seconds off the pace, but Alonso could do nothing as he found himself bottled up. Who would blink first and dive for the pits? As it transpired, both teams changed their strategy and refuelled earlier than planned. Alonso came in first, on lap 41.

'Schumacher, meanwhile, suddenly lopped a whole second off his supposedly troubled lap time, catching the back-markers Nick Heidfeld and Scott Speed, whom he had previously been unable to reel in. Sandbagging during the second stint was a clever bit of strategic thinking to prevent Renault exploiting their clear performance advantage, and to persuade them to stop earlier than intended. And it worked.

'Schumacher immediately covered Alonso by stopping at the end of lap 42, and was able to rejoin just ahead of him' - David Tremayne, The Independent.
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It seems the papers are finally waking up to what happened yesterday! Already the season is 4 races in and FA & MS are decribed as archrivals. Where's KR??

Further races like this and Kimi will fall off the radar of all F1 journalists. the old adage 'you are only good as your last race' holds true!

[m3_lover]

Last time I checked it has been 4 races and Kimi is only behind Schumacher by 3 points, and Kimi got knocked out during the Malaysian GP (non-driving error) while Schumacher crashed into the wall in Australian (driver error).

And Schumacher has more poles then Senna, but Senna did a lot quicker then Schumacher did.

Senna-65 pole positions out of 161 races
Schumacher-66 pole positions out of 236 races.

[Deano]

Schuey is undoutedly the best driver F1 has ever and probably will see (yes im a ferrari and schuey fan) but Senna was a benchmark for all drivers and schuey is going to become the benchmark. im not disputing that Senna would have set many more records but we have to see it that Senna was and will always be the most legendary driver there will ever be.

[Lightspeed]

Check this out .... a fantastic analysis by Gary Walker : http://forums.motorsport.com/forums/sho ... did=117716

Look, I have analysed F1 and the drivers a bit, and came to the conclusion there is noone nearer to perfection as MS is.
That guys attitude, work ethic is just awesome.The recent example of driving with led weights only illustrates my point.

Here is my short review on the most magnificent sporting career ever.


1991 - MS debuts in a very stunning 7th position in qualifying at Spa, the great driver's circuit in a 1991 Jordan tank. Then goes to Benetton where he clearly outperforms Nelson Piquet, the 3 times world Champ.This was a man with almost zero testing, remember that!
Has a major crash at Suzuka, but isnt fazed at all.

1992 - destroyes Brundle 16:0 in qual and in races too.
Grabs a victory in the third best car, very impressive stuff.I was sure already then that he is a future multiple title winner.

1993 - Shows he is not intimidated by Senna and humilates Patrese into retirement, by beating him sooo cleary.
In third best car grabs another win and was near to winning in Spa also.

1994 - Where was his teammate when MS was winning races and taking poles?
FIA tries to rob him, but he survives and takes the title.Forces Senna into a mistake at Imola, sadly

1995 - Destroys Herbert who was faster than Häkkinen and takes the title in 2nd best car, which at times was even 3rd best.His best driving only continues to improve.
That victory at spa...Awesome is understatement.

1996 - Sigs for Ferrari, awesome driving in very inferior car
One of the best ever performances at Barcelona and 2 other wins, which go history too.
Best ever driving by MS.

1997 - I didnt think he could improve, but in 1997 he did that.Super victories at monaco and at spa (10 seconds per lap quicker than anyone else at a point)
Also got 3 other victories, all through superb driving.
Car problems robbed of title what would have gone down to history as the greatest title ever.

1998 - In inferior Ferrari takes the battle to the wire, only to be cheated out of it by car problems.Also was robbed by DC at spa.Hungary win was legendary

1999 - Brake problems rob potential title, comes back at malaysia and humilates everyone.

2000 - Finally!! A title at Ferrari, in 2nd best car.
Some awesome drives, like japan, monza, Monaco etc.
Very deserved title.

2001- The best car of the year are williams ( best car at imola, canada, france, nürburgring, hockenheim, Spa, monza) and McLaren which was the best car at Melbourne, brazil, spain, monaco, austria, silverstone, Hungary, usa)

Ferrari was the best car only at Suzuka and at malaysia.
Super performances from MS, what did Barrichello do?
Maybe the most impressive title in his career along with the 1995 one.

2002 - Ferrari finally best car and what does ms do?He humiliated everyone.
Superb driving all year long, no mistakes.His drive at Spa was the best drive in this century.

2003 - Ferrari struggled badly with aero problems with F2003GA and BS tyres.
Wins the title with a car that didnt deserve to win.Super drive at imola on the day his mom passed away.


F2004 - Ferrari best car and MS takes his 2nd title in the best car.
Altogether 7 titles.13 wins out of 18.How is that possible?
What a superb driver.And what a superb man.

(i am referring to the 10 million dollar donation)

2005 - Ferrari and BS struggle a lot.First time ever when MS driving at times looks shaky, but he is still a superb force to be reckoned with and can be called the teammate slayer.
1 win, the car didnt allow more.
Still can be considered the best driver in sport due to his perfection, he is the whole package.

What performances at imola, France, hockhenheim and hungary.Stuff of legends.

2006 - If ferrari is within 3 tenths of Renaults pace, Alonso and Fisi can kiss the titles goodbye.
Schumachers dedication astounds me, he was testing early and is working out a lot.

Good luck Michael, you deserve to win this year!!!

GO Michael GO.

Guys, get YourName@mschumacher.com as your e-mail address for free! Go here for more info >> http://webmail.mschumacher.com/

[m3_lover]

Where's Manchild when you need him hahahah

[Figlio_del_Diavolo]

I am a big tifosi/MS fan, but some of my fellow fans are a bit overexcited by this victory. It shines a bad light on the rest of us. There isn't one greatest of all time IMO. There are several greatests of their time, drivers who consistently performed abouve the rest in their own time. Schumi is that of this era the way Senna was of the era just before. You can run down the list back to Fangio and even to pre-F1 GP days to someone like Tazio Nuvolari who I saw mentioned earlier. Touting anyone as the best ever is an ignorant statement to me. Just me, but thats how I see it. It was a much needed and exciting victory for all us Ferrari fans. Def better than the last 'victory' at Indy that I witnessed in person.

[DaveKillens]

Gary Walker's statements are more than biased, the sound like something coming from the leader of his fan club. It is poor journalism when a person takes facts and ladles a heavy dose of syrupy praise on top.
I'll give credit where it is due, and Shu is a great driver with an impressive record. I've watched him put in impressive drives in Benetton, wage wars of strategy against McLaren to win in an inferior car, and I've also seen him make dumb moves, crash out under pressure, and make unethical driving decisions in the heat of battle. But I'll never describe it in the way Mr Walker does.
Oh well, different strokes for different folks.

[Mikey_s]

Most of what is worth saying has already been said, but I'd like to chip in on a couple of points in the thread.

Principessa mentioned that Schu had done some bad stuff (Adelaide, Jerez readily spring to mind) and I would agree that these were not glorious moments in the history of motorsport, but don't forget that Senna, Prost and Mansell also did some of these things to ensure titles (robbing the fans at those races of the chance to watch the true greats in action).

I think racing has changed and what used to be acceptable is no longer - it is really now a non-contact sport (although someone should tell the SA drivers !!).

There are faster drivers around on a one lap basis, but Schu is so very clever - he has time to think in the cockpit as well as drive. I think it was Ross Brawn who said (something like...) Michael will win the races he is supposed to, but very often he will also win races he shouldn't. That's the hallmark of a great champ.

(I feel like I shold apologise to Manchild - This thread must reall be making you mad!! - just kidding MC )

[manchild]

That partial list Lightspeed posted is really unbelievable. Why doesn't it mention all of his disqualifications and races when he was caught driving illegal car? How about adding all of that and than comparing list of Schuey's illegalities (official) with list of illegalities of any other driver ever?
No other driver in history of GP racing has acquired so many single disqualifications including disqualification from championship Schuey got in 1997. That black statistics truly makes him greatest ever in that area. His basic problem is that he has great skill but when skill isn’t enough he is ready to get rid of the rivals regardless on means so he is true Machiavellist which by default denies any possibility for respect.

Also, that partial list that praises his 7 titles doesn't mention even 7 of his great moves/overtaking and that is obvious because he didn't have 7 great moves in all of those years including 85 victories. That is pretty sad statistics and poor alibi for 7 titles especially since he was caught red-handed and punished more times than what is number of his great moves.

[Mikey_s]

Good on ya MC, that's more like it!! - that's the chap we all know and love I knew you couldn't keep away from this one for ever! (are you a mmber of his fan club btw )

On a slightly serious note though, I don't think nice guys become wdc, it does take a ruthless streak to win, the trick is knowing where to draw the line. At least one reason why that nice Mr Button will never win a race let alone a championship (and for gods sake why don't people stop telling him how great he is and tell him he's crap - it might just fire him up enough to drive as though he wants to win!!)

I've got to say i really didn't like MS to start with, but I have grown to love him. I see the same thing happening with Alonso and Kimi (although I do like Kimi already)

[manchild]

Just noticed this in Lighspeed's quote

1994 ...Forces Senna into a mistake at Imola, sadly

That quote the stupidest thing I ever read on this forum. Who on earth wrote that originally? Is that another attempt to show Schuey’s “greatness” by defining him as cause of Senna’s death? Who ever wrote that must have thought – “I’m writing bio of great Schumacher and even if I say that he caused Senna’s death it will bring more good than harm since implication in Senna’s death gives greater importance to Schuey than fact that he caused death of another driver.”

Author of that bio loves Schuey so much that he writes things that are putting Schuey down for things he is not to be blamed at all.

That quote is really filled with crap... he humiliated Piquet by better driving...in 1997 he didn't won because of the car problems but if he did it would be greatest title ever... he was robbed by FIA, DC and who knows else over and over again (he never robbed anyone )... and in 2005 only 1 win because the car didn’t allow more.

......
I think I should add that up till 1994 and that move on Hill I really admired him as young driver who was very quick but what followed from 1994 and beyond makes me puke.