Hamilton deserves more respect

We are on the same wavelengths here, but I think Ayrton Senna was way ahead of Schumacher here.

 

Highly debatable.

 

It must really, really suck right now to be one of those people who insisted for YEARS that Hamilton deserves more respect.

 

If you are talking about doing harm to the sport of F1 I have to agree. Senna did more harm than Schumacher who did more harm the Lewis.

 

Having to be dirty to win is exactly what does HARM to the SPORT of F1.

 

...again.

 

It depends how you quantify "harm" .
Statistically MSC boosted F1 through increased TV audiences & revenues when battling the faster cars of Hill / Villeneuve / Mika: '94 - 2000.
Audiences began to dip from 2001 when he dominated in a fully capable Ferrari.

The FIA stepped in and did a last minute tyre regs tweak for 2005 to stop his dominance, which was fully understandable IMHO.

 

I am not a Schumacher fan because I was not watching F1 when he went on his hot streak, but I was very aware of who he was. If you asked 100 Americans who Michael Schumacher was, I would estimate at least 60% would be able to tell you he was a race car driver.

I wonder how much of his conduct on track was just raw, unrestricted, primal, ruthlessness and an insatiable desire to win, as opposed to deliberate ****ery. Maybe the two aren’t mutually exclusive? Based on what I’ve seen, it seems that he genuinely had a lack of awareness of any wrongdoing until he saw his replays. Just thinking out loud while trying to distract myself from indigestion.

 

Nothing to do with increased audience.

Schumacher, like Senna, did harm to F1 by introducing a degree of agressivity that never existed before.

They both weaponised their cars and deliberately attacked other drivers on the track.

They abandonned completely the sportmanship that existed before by adopting the "winning at any cost" mentality.

Fi has never been the same since.

 

Your opinion.

There have been plenty of other aggressive drivers such as Alan Jones albeit less successful than Senna & Schumacher.

The growth of F1 TV audiences through those periods reveal that both drivers were immensely popular with the global majority.

There was also a TV ratings spike for Mansell's WDC year, although mainly in the UK.

 

+1

A similar MO to Mike Tyson.
Relentless passion, dedication and sacrifice to win.
Mixed an abundance of natural ability.

 

I don't see why you keep linking driving standards with audience size.

There is plenty of stuff which is popular, and still of very bad taste, IMO.

Of course it's my opinion, and I stick to it. Fairness and Sportmanship are of the utmost importance to me.

I will never have any respect for "dirty driving", however successful it may be.

 

Yes, but after his comment early in the race about "saving the engine", I question his motivation.

Proposing to retire a perfectly healthy car (at that point), is unworthy of a top driver, IMO.

 

He owned that race. Hell he could have came second if not tagged by Magnussen

 

Wow....what a reach.

That completely ignores how that race went all together and just assumes lost delta vs finishing times.

 

Or, you could say he likes to whinge on the radio but still gets things done. That's just part of his schtick.

 

Using one's car as a weapon ?

 

Not exactly fighting talk.

He could take some inspiration from what Russell is achieving.

 

Karma’s a ***** ain’t it?