A small tribute to Michael Schumacher

Originally Posted by BigFoot

His brother??

Exactly - I mean no matter how bad things get its not the thing to fall out with your lil bro - which seems to be the case here. They were together from the start in carting and its a pity this relationship seems to have fractured.

In contrast to MS I find Ralf quite amusing and interesting even though he can be a prat too at times. At least he is no cheat - well if you exclude the time he qialified second behind his brother and in front of the TV tried to sort out a little arrangement with his brother for the start.
Williams were so furious they left him on the axle stands at the start of the warm up resulting in him being shunted to the back of the grid

Reminded me of the fat guy in the film Full metal Jacket where he had to march behind the rest with his trousers down and his thumb in his mouth.

I think Ralf knows he's been completely overshadowed by Michael and has probably come to terms with that.

Still seems to be a fast driver, bit temperamental but fast nonetheless.

Originally Posted by BigFoot

Well said Wimster

Also, something that people tend to forget, what's amazing about Schumacher is the fact that he took a second/third tier team like Ferrari in the mid 90's to 6 consecutive constructor championships, most of which I think was down to amazing development work, year in year out, which he was fully participated in and probably influential thereon.

My two ¥, as usual ...

Well said. I wasn't a big fan before he came to Ferrari, but when you concider what he has done for the team, and when you see him take a car to its limits in the wet you cannot argue he is one of the best drivers F1 has seen.

From a motorsports photographer my Dad used to work with as well that knew many of the drivers, Schumacher is a decent bloke off the track too. Has done a lot for charity etc. and also appreciates his fans more than some drivers.

Kimi and Alonso is sure to make an interesting battle for the future though. And to Ron Dennis (in the style of Nelson from the Simpsons) I say "Ha Ha!"

Thanks, Hans.

- Lips

Originally Posted by Alfaguy

.
Williams were so furious they left him on the axle stands at the start of the warm up resulting in him being shunted to the back of the grid

Hey.. that was the fastest THAT thing went all day...


Ralf S.

Originally Posted by BigFoot

Thanks SS, almost brought tears of joy to my eyes.

And fyi, just to put Schumacher "the person" in perspective:
" Schumacher gave $10 million to the victims of the 2004
tsunami in Asia that killed more than 150,000 people, according
to his manager Willi Weber. One of Schumacher's bodyguards died
in the disaster. He donated more than $50 million to charities
the last four years, BusinessF1 magazine reported this month,
citing public records in Germany."

Pocket money on his earnings. Ethically I take issue with citing charitable donations as being indicative of what sort of person someone is. It's overly simplistic considering the complex nature of human morality.

Great driver, but whatever his achievements, I'm in the camp that says he never had a team-mate that was allowed to challenge him. The only time he was in a team with anyone of pedigree was with a frankly pensionable Piquet for a handful or races in '91. Brundle, Patrese, Verstappen, Herbert, Barrichello......sound drivers, all of them, but nothing spectacular.

But seven titles, and 90-odd wins....fair play to the guy's talent, but there will always be a question mark for me.

IMHO the greatest F1 driver ever was Fangio, however in todays modern high stress, high tech world of F1 he would have even been a test driver!! MS is the greatest F1 driver you will ever see in a modern F1 car.

Someone has said he only won 90 races out of 200, are you having a laugh that's nearly 50%, any racer would kill for a record like that at club level, let alone at the peak of motorsport!

The guy is a master of finding the grip in any conditions, at any track and uses that to his advantage. Hence when it rains he drives away from everyone on track, leaving everyone looking silly whining about his behaviour cause he WON!

MS only wins because of race tactics! MMhh R.Brawn (think its spelt like that) always said of MS "He is the only driver i have ever worked with that when i say i need 2 seconds a lap quicker for 2 laps before you pit he will give me least that and often more" That is sign of a fantastic driver and that just about sums up MS!!

As for only 90 wins, we are talking of a driver who brought several teams from the back of the grid to the front through developing the cars, something most driver are useless at and he still won 90 races!

As for the charity donation, how many other rich stars give anything but there time?!? To knock him for giving that amount based on what he earns is criminal! He didn't have to give anything

IMO it is a sad day but at least he retires at the top of his game, come on MS win the 8th in a FERRARI!!

jonwood79: I agree with you to some extent. However, I don't have the fortune of knowing personally Mr Schumacher, so it is hard to find out about what he's like as a person, which is something I was responding to given some of the previous posts.

All his colleagues adore him and say what a great guy he is. Then, one finds out that he's donating millions to charities (and don't think it's pocket money. Even for him), so one starts drawing a picture.

Originally Posted by Alfaguy

I am relieved Schumacher is finally gone from the sport. I never had any respect for him at all as he was a cheat and not a true sportsman. He was a blight on F1 and his departure should be seen as the best thing that has happened F1 for over a decade.

Here is some video evidence of his greatness at cheating and generally being an ass hole.

Monaco
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO4k7DMG3fg&NR

Adelade
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQOT7Y9YCio

Jerez
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vGrvvvAZgk

Schumacher laughs while Senna dies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47ccbOpItCg

Michael Schumacher is the greatest F1 driver even and is definately not a cheat or an ass hole.

The deity that is Ayrton Senna drove Prost off the circuit in the last race of a season ( whoever placed higher would win or if no one finished Senna won can't recall year but I'm sure someone knows the GP )and subsequently won the world title.

MS is absolutely single minded in his determination to win for himself and his team, if that means he pushed the boundaries so be it, all geniuses have their flaws. Even wonder why Coulthard never won a title when Maclaren had the dominant car ? Ferrari at the time were miles off the Maclaren in terms of car development and MS could still push Hakkinen to the wire.

BTW, who was the biggest single contributor to the Asian tsunami ? One Michael Schumacher no less, the sum......£6 million ....and thats sterling !

Originally Posted by michael t

The deity that is Ayrton Senna drove Prost off the circuit in the last race of a season ( whoever placed higher would win or if no one finished Senna won can't recall year but I'm sure someone knows the GP )and subsequently won the world title.

I suggest that you read more on the matter before you start comparing, without knowing the story like many before you have done. Try to find out what happened the year before the incident that you've mentioned.

Peter, Peter. Of course dirty little Professor slammed Ayrton the year before.

The point being that racing is a rough and tumble sport and sometime you do push off the track your competitors. Happens all the time in Nascar and other closed wheels competitions. Happened in the past in F1, will happen again.

Why single out Schumacher? That I don't quite understand.

BigFoot : Ok I don't want to turn this into another Senna vs Ms debate so I'll refrain from replying extensively. The only thing that I'm going to say is just see the Monaco video again http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO4k7DMG3fg&NR and you'll understand why I single out MS.

Ok Peter, let's leave it at that.

For the record, I do believe Ayrton was the fastest modern driver on a single lap. But I think that's almost common knowledge.

Quotes to sum up racing

The great Sir Moss "racing is a blood sport"

Robert Duval in Days of Thunder "He didn't knock you, he didnt bump you, he rub you. And rubbing son is racing"

Racing has always been a rough and tumble sport where the fittest win and the others go home to cry. If you dont like being pushed, shoved, knocked, slip stream to remove your down force, forced wide and generally feel like you are at war in a car then racing ain't your thing. It has always been there and if anything there is less now than ever before, remember drivers died at an alarming rate 40-50 years back, they were not all safety issues many were drivers pushing eachother!

BRISCA F1 stock cars have huge front and rear bumper to allow contact, touring cars - why bother putting the bumpers back on. I know F1 is the top line with no contact rules but they all came through the ranks where the above applies.

Every racers pushes at some point then has the cheek to moan when it happens to them, its the childish ego that makes us racers go out and do what we do. I wish i was half the racer MS is.

Rally drivers are better anyway!

REMEMBER second place is first loser - that means alot when you are fighting to keep your drive each season!

Nice post moynesey and I do agree that what rally drivers do is beyond belief Top marks to them!

Yes.. If all those people that know him *adore* him, then you'd have to say that on balance Big Schu' must be a reasonably nice geezer.

The only people that grumble about him are other drivers who are getting blown away and people on Forums who never will like him, presumably because he's German, drives a Ferrari, pushed Damon Hill off, isn't Senna or whatever.

He's got £300 Million quid, all tho