Senna was 'smarter' than Schumacher, According to Sir Frank Williams

Apart from the dream team around him and his competitive spirit, I think MS is still so enthusiastic about what he does because it's becoming ever harder to maintain the level the Scuderia is at right now. It may seem not all too different when you compare the 2000 season to the 2004 season, but I don't think that is the right way to look at it. Each period where one team dominates F1 at one point inevitably ends. In 2000 no one would have predicted that Ferrari's lead on the competitors would still be as big as it is now. After so much accomplishments it is incredibly difficult for a team and driver to stay focused and to keep pushing as hard as the Scuderia still does. I think it's a huge challenge to try and keep on top of things in this sport. I have no doubt MS realises that he and his team are doing something very exceptional.

 

Very well put,
I have to agree, they have to be cognizant that what they are doing will indeed stand the test of time. It may well be this very fact that keeps them so motivated. To be at the top longer and better than anyone else is some bencmark to create, and a legacy for others to marvel at.
Ferrari at this point, is defining the art of racing, as beauty in motion .

 

Schumi knows 3 languages? What's the 3rd? Italian?

I thought he only spoke 2...


Also, Schumacher said why he (and the team) are still so motivated in a recent press conference. Just look back to last year! They were a bit off their game (complacency after the stunning 2002 thrashing, and wins the 2 years before that) and came quite close not to winning.

Basically they don't want to repeat last year's close call... and to me it looks like they're back to 2002 form.

 

What are we talking IQ wise? What does "intelligent" mean as far as drivers are concerned. Are we talking top two percentile?

 

good point

 

Well i dont know ..MS never stricked me as clever ( it doesnt mean i dont think he is ). We are always told Todt and Brown are the one taking the decisions and all MS does is lap faster and faster ...

Senna was alone when driving..i dont think he had a crew helping him as much as MS does.

 

struck, my friend, struck.

 

The fact that somebody only speaks corporately sanitized PR talk is not necessarily an indication of intelligence. In my book rather the opposite. Obviously an argument you can make either way.

Michael has learned that talk btw already at Mercedes where they took all the personality out of him as far as press conferences are concerned (few exceptions, one when he equalized Senna's victories).

Rubens to me looks much closer to a human being in these events, which makes him more approachable to me.

PS: I used to be a huge Nigel Mansell fan. His post race interviews were fantastic and exuberant with emotions (as was his driving). Once he went to the US I was about to puke when I heard him after a race: Endless enumeration of corporate sponsors he wanted to thank blablabla.

 

In today's world of corprate conglomeration of almost everything, it should be obvious that the homogulation of man, machine, and money... would be a given. MS is the 2nd highest paid athlete in the world behind "Tiger" Woods. I look at the emotionless interviews the young Woods gives and see the signs of corprate briefing there too. It is the world we have allowed to overtake numerous aspects of our lives my friend. The personalities are going to be there and so are the sponsers, with out the sponsers we would never see the personalties. It is a sad fact but a true one indeed......

 

You're 100% correct. Sadly.

 

Michael not only has to win the world driver's champioship, but in order to please the many critics he must do the following things:
1. He must apparently win with "Panache"!!!
2. He has to become over emotional and burst into tears every time he win.
3. He should not have professional "corporate" look.
4. He has to be subjectively "intelligent" according to your standards.
5. He must overtake other drivers even though he leads the race more than 80% of the time.
6. He must pay hommage to Senna who has won lesser world championships than him and was a lesser driver than him.
7. He should not keep in mind what behavior and image his sponsors demand from him.

... and the list of demands keeps growing!

Think about what you critics are saying. Michael Schumacher is the best F1 race driver to ever step into an F1 racecar. He is the greatest F1 racer of all time. Most people cannot stomach that! So they come up with idiotic comments like "Senna was smarter than Michael". Yes and my horses have wings and they can fly too!

 

You're missing the point:
I don't need Michael to be overly emotional in his interviews, just tell us what the hell was going on. Skip "to be honest" and tell us what the hell happened during the race. It is nice that he thanks the cleaning lady back in Maranello, but I'd rather hear what he thought about e.g. JPM's overtaking attempt in Imola or Sato's bump at the start in Monaco. Speak your mind Michael! If you think those were idiotic moves, tell us!

Yes, he has obviously an obligation to keep his and Ferrari's sponsors happy. OTOH he is the God of driving and even if he would speak his mind once in a while, Ferrari wouldn't sack him. Just don't call the car a truck (Prost's downfall). IMHO a driver has also an obligation to his fans, after all some of us actually buy those "Dekra" hats and other stuff from the MS collection. So how about some openness? As I said before, I'd still like to know what happened in Hungary last year.

 

That is Michael's style! Why go over something that is done. He won the race that is that. Thank the team for their hard work and head on home to meet the kids and spend time with the family. Why to speculate and give the media moor fuel to burn their fire?

I like his style of letting actions speak better than words. Everyone who watched the race saw what happenend, the Sato incedent, the JPM incedent, the Hungary incedent... draw your own conclusions, you have got the same two eyes and the same thinking capacity. (not necessarily reffering to tifosi12, but to critics in general)

Montoya's foolish driving cost Michael the Monaco GP. That is that. There was nothing to say. the world saw what happened. You saw Montoya stand there and defend himself in press interviews. Michael did not have to say anything. Montoya knew he was guilty, so he felt the need to defend himself. Move on to the next race, put in another great performance and let the media dogs bark what hey need to bar on about.

If you want an explanation of what happened, that is what race analysts, media comentators and news reporters are for. Don't blame Michael for them not doing their job. It is their duty to find out and tell you what happened. to look at race footage, photographs, and comments made by other lesser drivers that know they are guilty and report what actually happenned.

As I said, once something happens and is caught on TV... what is the point about discussing it. He put in a good performance for his fans. The race results are in. Everything is over. Nothing more to do than to spend time with family. No point in talking about what everyone saw.

 

thant's a great avatar btw....

 

Wasn't MS screwing his good mate HH Frentzen's girlfriend well before she was Mrs MS and while she was with Heinz Harold. What does that say about him in his private life? Normally when my mates knock off my missus I get a bit upset about it.

 

How in the world could we possibly know that? I gave details in another thread how Corinna left Frentzen in 1991 for Michael. She then married him 3 years later. I've seen and heard nothing in the last 13 years that backs up your claim.

 

It occurs to me that MS is trying to best serve his team by making the comments he does. Sure he has his own mind and would like to let loose every once in a while but perhaps he sees himself part of something bigger. Perhaps he sees himself as part of a large team and does what he can to support that team rather than spend time trying to placate his own critics. I feel that MS recognizes the focus on him and he knows if he wins the critics will tell you how dominant his car is and if he looses his critics will tell you he blew it. MS doesn't need to stroke his own ego; he does that when he's on the track kicking the collective asses of the best in the world. I don't think the concept of "team" is foreign to MS. I honestly feels it's "us" rather than "I" with him.

How many times has MS lost a race this year??? I still can't conceive how one team can so dominate the best in the world. People show up on Sunday to win; that's what counts. Everyone else has their own list of accomplishments but you don't win that many races and lead that many laps for any reason other than being better than everyone else.

 

Wowee. The assumption tree is sprouting roots everywhere...
First we debate Frank Williams comments regarding MS' intelligence v. Senna's, in light of the fact that MS has never driven for Williams, nor had much interaction with the man, aside from putting the wood to his team's cars week in and week out.
Then we imply that MS is less intelligent because he still enjoys winning; wow, I guess you've got to be some sort of savant to be happy with your carreer at the prime of your life. Who, in their right mind, would walk away from a team at its apex, and an annual salary of 40million [before endorsements]? Are you people MAD?
But, that's not enough, now we begin to dish out utter libel about the man's personal and sex life as a bridge to his implied lack of intelligence -- how's that lilac wine?
And, at last, in full bloom, we pick the blossoming fruit of our assumption tree in one last chance attempt at saying just about anything we can, we rail MS for his lack of verbal panache/verve in post race interviews.
Utterly amazing glasshouse logic -- so, who threw the 1st rock?
Williams wouldn't know Schumi's intellectual accumen from a hole in the ground -- of all the interaction he has likely had with MS, I doubt Schumi affords him much time. Frank's commentary was based on utter conjecture, and simply because he's in the F1 game, it's taken as gospel; Williams only had Senna for 3 races, before the Senna perished in one of Frank's crapwagons, and all of a sudden he's an expert on the man? And, then, he goes further to compare Senna's intelligence to Schumi's, while the latter has never even turned a wheel in a Williams, much less spent considerable time in the company of Frank himself. Bollocks.

 

I think you some of you guys are going over the top in interpreting Frank Williams comments.

Firstly, Frank Williams is easily one of the biggest fans of Michael. I have read several interviews of FW in F1 Racing where he was full of praise for Michael's abilities. He said in one of his interview that his open admiration for Schumi has gotten him flak from his own drivers who are peeved off by the lack of praise going their way.

Remember that FW started with nothing - he used to sleep on someone's couch (Jochen Rindt?) in the early days trying hard to make a buck. It was a lot of hard work and perseverence that got him where he is now. It also makes him the perfect person to appreciate how Michael has strived to mould the team around himself and get the maximum out of himself and the car weekend after weekend. He can see the same hard work and preseverence in the two of them.

About the comparison with Senna, it has been said by some others that while Alain Prost was "Le Professor", Ayrton was "The Philosopher". Ayrton had a unique ability to clearly articulate his point of view - IMO much better than many native English speaking drivers.

If you can remember the interview he gave after the F1 race @ Monaco in 1984, where he described his state of mind going into the qualification lap. I remember being spellbound by the quality of his speech there. Although he had just school education - he had a maturity in his thought process of a man many years older and wiser.

So FW's comments here comparing the two were not intended to be a snub to Michael but highlighting that Senna was capable of intelligent and thought provoking conversations in topics outside F1, also that he was a supreme strategist (negotiated his own contracts).

Being a native of Sao Paulo he was well aware of his good fortune to make a break when so many in the city were poor - he started a foundation with his sister to help the udnerprivelged kids. He had a sense of destiny and were it not for the crash, he would have done a lot of great things in and out of F1...

 

Every time I watch a race , I think it is history in the making. I don't know if being smart makes you fast but I do know Michael is fast. Senna must of been the greatest in so many ways. There is no way to compare the two.

Senna is a legend and so will Michael be.

 

Mr. Sir Frank "wheel chair pilot" Williams has his head up his arse