Tribute to Michael Schumacher

[siskue2005]

[Vasconia]

Without all the technical failures in the first half of the season and with a good development of the car I am sure that we would have seen Schu in 2013. Mercedes has a great part of the responability in his retirement, he deserved much more.

Anyway I try to remain positive and I will try to remember the good moments of the last three years. The pole in Monaco, the podium in Valencia or the wet race in Canada were something great and special.

F1 will miss such a corageous driver.

[Stradivarius]

To paraphrase Phil Hill, MS was a great driver, but he was not a good driver -- a bit too ruthless for my taste. His records are unlikely to ever be broken. He played a very large part in bringing Ferrari back to life. He was supreme leader and team-builder. I love him, but I wish he'd been a little more the gentleman on track.

I am very happy for him and his family that he is able to walk away unbroken and unscarred.

I tend to agree that Schumacher was ruthless, but he wasn't more ruthless than many other drivers have proven to be in situations where they have been under pressure. Actually, I think Schumacher wasn't more ruthless than a driver needs to be in order to achieve success. The big difference between Schumacher and all other drivers is that he has been fighting for the championships almost every year. As much as 10 times he either won the title or lost it in the final race of the season. I think everyone would agree that his collision with Villeneuve in 1997 doesn't look good. But if you put every driver on the grid in the same situation, leading the championship by 1 point and leading the final race, and then being attacked in a somewhat unexpected way, I am sure you would see a lot of crazy maneuvers.

It is some times a thin line between being clever and exploiting every possibility to gain an advantage, and being unsporting. And in some situations one can accuse Schumacher of having crossed this line. But the same could be said about drivers like Prost, Senna, Alonso and Hamilton, just to mention a few. They always try to benefit from any situation, especially when there is a lot at stake, and some times they make a bad judgement.

Anyway, I geuss it doesn't make a big difference if Schumacher quit now or after next season. He seems to be in a team that isn't capable of making a competitive car anyway.

[Vasconia]

Something that amazes/annoys me is how much some people critize Shumacher for his collision with Villenueve in 1997 or with hill in 1994 but simply forget to mention other cases.

At least we can say that he made the incorrect decisions under a great pressure and when he was going to loose a well deserved champinship. What can we say about Senna or Prost? They intentionally collided with the other driver, and what is worse, before the race started they knew what they were going to do and how.

[ArchAngel]

Quite a few will almost certainly opine that MSC's second coming, lacking in success measured by statistical highlights, has only served to diminish the lofty reputation he'd established for himself in his first career. Fortunately, more have seen that in the midst of the struggles, misfortunes, and at times incompetency that he's found his team mired in, many non-fans and even harshest critics have now grown to respect & admire the man for what he has shown minus the ominous shadow & trappings of the scarlet juggernaut he used to race for.

• Unconditional loyalty to his team, never missing a chance to praise & encourage the least of the mechanics in his garage or the greenest of engineers back at Brackley regardless of how bad the car had been.
• Complete professionalism, dedication to the cause & unceasing optimism even at the worst of times, even after being repeatedly let down by a sub-par & unreliable machinery, as well horrendous pitstops & poor strategy calls.
• A steely resolve & sheer tenacity to get the most flattering results possible out of a car that's just not up to scratch.
• Humility and willingness to apologize & take the blame for racing incidents, as well as extending magnanimity to drivers who had ruined his races.

Make no mistake -- it's difficult to imagine any of the current generation (VET, ALO, HAM, RAI, BUT, etc.) performing anywhere near the same level that MSC has shown in such sh!tty machinery & underachieving team by the time they hit their 40s. They may be at the top of their game in a top team now... But in 10 to 15 years from now in an underachieving midfield team? Good luck with that.

Thanks for the memories, champ. You will be missed. See you at the RoC.

[Bomber_Pilot]