Happens to the best of us... Back to the discussion... This interview happened in 2000... before world championship 3,4,5,6, and 7 Compared to Senna's 3 world championships... Michael Schumacher has 7! Numbers don't lie... Michael Schumaher is the greatest racer of all time!
No. It is the Imperial world of WDC counting: Every championship you were in the team with counts. So Senna gets the ones he lost against Prost etc. In a way I like Impy's world of F1: There are a lot more champions in the field. It even has its own website: http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/parks/attractionDetail?id=ItsASmallWorldAttractionPage&bhcp=1
I would have to agree with Andreas. All Imperial has done is to stick to his guns about his opinion of Schumacher, yet all I can remember about this thread is that some of you have resorted to calling names and posting really stupid photos to make your point. You didn't succeed. When you resort to such childish behaviour, you totally negate your credibility, even if you are correct. In my humble opinion, Senna was one of the five all time greats, but Michael Schumacher has taken it one step further. It would have been fun to watch these two compete in modern times, but I would put my money on Schumacher in a Ferrari. The Ferrari part is very important and is the key, as it was the superior car for many of the last 8 years. Senna would have won the Championship in 2005 as I believe he would have been driving the Renault if he were around (Senna's personality would have complimented Flavio's), but MS would have still won at least 5 of the 7 championships that he did win driving the Ferrari if Senna was still racing. Just my opinion.
I can't imagine Senna driving in 2005 had he survived 94. He'd be way too old. I really think MS is a "freak of nature" in the sense, that it is totally unusual to still have any interest/motivation in keeping driving at his age AND after what he already accomplished. I don't think any other F1 champion ever had nor ever will be like that. Which is also why I believe nobody will ever eclipse his record of 7 titles (which is btw what I believe he will retire with).
Ron, actually when Ayrton's contract expired at Williams, Ayrton would have gone to Ferrari, according to his brother, girlfriend, Luca De Montezemlo, and Jean Todt. Michael would have probably remained at Bennetton and they would have gotten a Renault engine or Williams Renault. Post 94 Imola who knows. As far as Impy is concerned, I think the reason everyone gets sick of his crap is not the fact about him sticking to his guns about Schumacher, it is the way he speaks about the other drivers and his child like behavior. I am surprised he didn't see the movie "Cars" over and over again. You always present in all of your posts a very thoughtful analysis, no matter what section you are in. I think Luis and Impy like to stir one another up. However, it makes no difference with Impy as it is like speaking to a small child or more like a wall. Regards, Tony
Technology and conditions have varied greatly since the first races over a hundred years ago, anybody with any real understanding of this sport knows that it's impossible to declare somebody the greatest....merley the best of their time which MS is....in 5 years time it will be somebody else, time moves on and the heroic deeds of drivers eventually pases from current to past memory how can anybody state that MS is better than Ascari/Nuvolari/Fangio/Hawthorn/Clark/Lauda/Villenueve/Prost/Mansell/Senna when MS didnt race them whilst they were at their peak....
the early drivers did so with drum brakes, no seatbelts, leather hats and goggles.... Can't imagine MS surviving that to be healthy to run 7 WC Fangio did 5 at a time when technology had not evolved much past a tractor
MS himself said he would have never raced under those conditions. I remember a pic of him at the Ring in a fifties F1 Ferrari (?) where he was driving at touring speeds wearing his F1 helmet. MS also said he'd never race in an oval (and I can't blame him). So how can anybody say a F1 guy is the best driver of all times? If anything he'd be the best F1 driver of all times (and as others pointed out there are good arguments against that as well). There are many other racing groups with highly talented folks. WRC comes to mind. Or that other Schumacher, Tony as in NHRA. This is just as silly as the US TV commentators who call the Indy 500 the world's greatest race. BS. It is just one of the greatest races. I wouldn't say that about Monaco F1 or the Daka Rally or the Monte Carlo rally either. Superlatives are a dangerous and stupid thing.
Dave, do you think that he won 7 world title only "pulling bad stunts? It seams like that everybody is waiting for him to make a mistake that he can be harshley (too) critizied. Comparing NASCAR to F1 is like comparing wine and water.
"I don't think I ever will be. It's not a challenge I'm aiming for, you can't compare the two of us. You never know what he would have done in the future." IMO This part of the quote, seems to have been passed over by some here. In these words, he qualifies his previous statement regarding Senna always being King. He does not forsee the possibility that he will surpass Senna's remarkable accomplishments. A demonstration of humility and respect befitting a worthy and respectable competitor and champion. Bill PS...... Oh yeah, you $#@*@#^*%!!!
Read what I said. MS is a fantastic driver and that's what it takes to win F1, besides having the best equipment which he clearly did when winning most, if not all, of his championships. But his racing skills don't impress me. He would be well onto his way to a eigth championship this year were it not for bonehead moves in Monte Carlo (flat out unsportsmanlike) and Hungary (just plain stupid). No argument about NASCAR and F1 being wine and water. The different series put emphasis on different skills, that's all. DAve
Not to fan the flames of an earlier controversy, but Jackie Stewart made an interesting comment regarding the nature of driving today's versus 1960s/1970s F1 cars. The gist of his comment was that the nature of driving is different because older F1 cars, with less downforce, skinnier tires, and less potent engines required more from their drivers (often in terms of 'caretaking') and spent more time "at the edge of the envelope." Whether MS would thrive under those conditions is hard to say (much as its hard to say whether Stewart would do as well in modern cars), but it is interesting to think of in terms of how the racing has changed and when comparing eras.
I did search on yahoo as well as google. All I got was stuff about MS's qualifying stunt at Monaco this year. About 5 pages worth. I don't have the patience to look through all that. The numbers don't mean much in this case. Senna has 3 world titles in 10 years in F1. MS had 7 in 15 years. Give Senna 5 more years and how many more titles could he have won? You cannot possibly compare Senna to MS or Prost or Fangio, etc. They all raced in different eras. MS thought so highly of Senna's skill that he stated what he stated. He should know, he raced against the man and knew what it was like. For all your dumb statments insulting Senna, even you can't deny that MS though very highly of the man. He knows he's had it all his own way and probably likes it that way and who could blame him.
The issue is not with Imperial sticking to his guns. If he would discuss such things in an intelligent manner instead of just repeating the same thing over and over having no points to make then maybe you could have a good debate. He just says things to annoy people which is considered trolling is it not? I don't mind having discussions with people, everyone has the right to thier own opinions but have a point to make, not just say things to get a rise out of people. That when the insults and profanity start.
If I may be blunt, this not really what I see at all. Imperial is crazy as a horse, no doubt. But at the end of the day, he's just a harmless, young fool preaching his passion, a passion that probably brought most of us here in the first place. Imperial is stubbornly optimistic about Ferrari's performance, but you go to any other manufacturer's message board (or pilot's, etc), and you'll find a thousand kids like him, and I'll tell you what, they don't get half the bashing Impy gets here. I feel that you, on the other hand, and a couple of others like you, come here with a negative agenda to play out. Whenever I read your posts I get the impression that you're not fully happy unless you're admonishing Ferrari or MS with (often baseless) subversive jabs. And I wonder what it is that keeps such an attitude alive in a place like this. What do you get out of your commentary? A racing incident happens on the track, no matter whose fault it is: MS used evil, immoral racing moves. Some ruling goes against a competitor: It was Ferrari who wickedly masterminded a plot to their favor. Ferrari wins: Well it's easy to win when you have no competition; when the FIA is in your pocket; when you have so much money to spend; and my favourite, when Massa is just a puppet to step on for your advantage. This kind of thing is not what I come here to read. It's fine to disagree, but c'mon--When I see your username in a thread I know exactly what kind of comments you're going to make, and it's getting old. Really old. And inevitably, when this bitterness meets the likes of Imperial (the blindest of the optimists) out comes the name calling, the posting moronic macro images. And what I see is one sided--grown men who should know better beating up on a silly kid for saying Ferrari's current pilot is the best in the world, at a site called FerrariChat: wow, good job guys for punishing this insolence! It makes threads unreadable. It hurts this place. And this is an otherwise pretty damn good site, especially the Racing section, with its knowledgeable posters and impeccable moderation. So I don't mind telling you that I see you and your kind as a much more damaging troll to this place than Imperial. This is my opinion, and if many disagree, well, that's fine. But I'm an intelligent adult, and I can take it.
comparing MS to senna? just watch the 2000 italian GP post race interview. u guys might just find the answer.
i can't agree more. like MS once said, he's the greatest loser, and greatest winner MS has ever raced against.
There is always one constant that makes Michael Schumacher the greatest racer ever. No one in Lauda's time was driving a car with technology of a 2004 car. No one in Fangio's time was driving a race car with technology above an beyond its time. They had relatively the same technology in their cars. There was competition. Michael has had some great competition in his time too with racers who have available to them elatively similar technology. Michael currently has 7 world championships! Numbers don't lie. He is the best racer of all time.
Thanks for regurgitating my original post; you cannot compare people from different periods.......irrespective of their success When Schumacher went off at the British GP and broke his leg a couple of years ago, one of the Marshalls who got him out of the wreckage commented to me latter on that if that crash had happened when he (Mal the marshal) started helping at races MS would probably not have survived the crash & at best would be able to do a great impression of Douglas Badder! In no small part is MS's long career attributable to the improved safety of both the cars and circuits……..something many of the other great drivers didn’t have
