I Am Truly Bummed ***SPOILER***

Michael showed immense class today. Alonso was his usual self. I bet he didn't even offer any words of comfort to his teammate Fisi, who he clearly doesn't care about anyway.

 

Absolutely brilliant and most fitting commentary on the situation. I am in total agreement with every word you wrote. I'm so thankful for the opportunity to have been able to witness firsthand the record breaking drives from a fantastic person. I'll never forget that F1 Test Day at Fiorano with Michael and my memories and also etched in my mind is the small boy in a wheelchair there to see MS. He had made a small gift for Michael and was just glowing when Michael accepted his gift and had his photo taken - the smile on Michael's face said it all. Yes, a true champion in every sense of the word.

The starting grid for the first race of next season will certainly seem void.

Carol

 

This unfortunate incident will certainly keep the fire alive in MS. Maybe somehow he'll be a better person for it.

 

Well said tifosiron! I could not agree more. Seeing him thank the Ferrari crew spoke volumes.


JKnight you have a PM from me.

 

Ron, as usual, fantastic post.

yeah, i do agree that FA is a great driver on the track, no doubt about it. but i could have accepted the situation if Fernando took the lead and won the race if he made a pass on schumi on the track or via pitstops. and FA looked very childish when he punched the air as he overtook the stricken Ferrari.


i can't recall MS punching the air when he overtook a rival while they were in trouble. i remember spain 2001, when he went and spoke and shook hands with Mika when MIka retired while in the lead on the last lap. during the press conference, he also mentioned that he didn't like winning a race like this.

and i don;t remember him punching the air as he passed FA in the chinse GP when FA had problems with his tyres. very silly of FA, IMO.

on the side note, earlier this year, at the malaysian GP, there was this 7 yr old kid, who had cancer. he was given a few months to live, and he requested to meet Michael.

Michael, with all his busy schedule, made it a point to meet this small guy. he brought him in the the Ferrari garage, and was Michael's special guest for the day. Michael let him sit in his 248 F1, before giving him his Ferrari jacket and giving him a personally signed driver's cap.

this boy, after the whole GP that day, wrote in the newspaper that meeting Michael changed him entirely. he said he'll continue to fight cancer like how michael is fighting the championship. he said that he'll never give up on life, just like Schumi has never given up on anything.

that was a special day for a 7 yr old kid who has cancer. trully Michael, you'll be missed!

 

WTF? Should he blow his teammates nose? His "teammate " has done nothing all year to support him. Why should he give a squirt of plss over him crying like a woman on stage. Good for Fred. Last I checked this is F1 kill or be killed, not NASCAR where we all love each other, warm fuzzies and all that crap.

 

I don't understand.... FA lost an engine in Italy, MS lost a engine in Japan.
Over the course of 18 races each top team will blow an engine.

FA has had a string of bad luck, and badly timed FIA rulings in the last 5 races, now MS has it happen to him and its not acceptable because it didn't happen in a pass???

MS makes a strange move at Monaco, FA gets chopped 10 grid places in Italy... it seems each team will have a few of these situations that off-set each other over 18 races.

 

Don't follow NASCAR much, do you?

 

read my post properly again. i'm not saying that i'm hoping for bad luck for FA. i'm just saying, it's not fair to win a championship like this, with a mechanical failure. and read again, i mentioned about the way FA celebrated the win. he did not deserve the win. MS was in control t/out the race. he celebrated like as if he beat MS on the track.

and, FYI, FA got bummed 5 places to 10th on the grid in monza, not 10 places down.

sure, many things happened. i bet MS will be regretting like hell for that silly stunt he pulled in monaco, and that useless tangle he had with nick at HUngary. While i admit that MS is no saint here, it's just no proper way for FA to win the title like this. ( altho maybe u can argue that he deserves it ).

i say, last year's title was hard earned for FA. he kept his cool, held his nerve and did it. so congrats to him. not so this year. this past few weeks, his rants and grumbles, just make him not a worthy champ.

did MS grumble and rant last year when he lost the championship? think about it.

 

MS is my hero, and this just reinforces it. Amazing driver, amazing individual.

 

+1

 

It really is a shame that the WDC is going to end like this. I'm not saying that Alonso doesn't deserve to win it, both teams have had their fair share of road bumps along the way this season. Anyone who says that Alonso didn't actually win the Japanese GP is crazy, it would be like saying Michael didn't win when Alonso's engine blew. However I completely stand by the statement that Alonso did not conduct him self very well considering the manner that he won the race in. Granted he's pretty much clinched the title, but he could have been a little more graceful in the pass and in parc ferme considering the way that he was "allowed" to win.

It would have been great to see the championship go down to the wire in Brazil. I guess we'll just have to hope that Renault will blow an engine or Alonso will completely lose it and not play it safe to secure the championship. Stranger things have happened this season.

PS: This was the first race of the season where I fast forwarded through the last laps and skipped the podium/post race interview all together.

 

Come on, everyone. We still have WCC to aim for, which is as important, if not more, to me. Cheer up!!

 

Michael is the greatest racer of all time. Thank you for the memories Michael!

As gemm said, there is still everything to fight for. Anything is possible and Ferrari will bring everything they have to Brazil. It is just the team they are. Even if they cannot win either championship, Ferrari would still fight for the win.

A race is a race. Nothing changes that. Interlagos is a significant race and Ferrari treats all races like significant races.

 

Alonso's gesture when passing Micheal was perfectly understandable imo,..out of contention for nine races?,what a relief!
He's young.
Attrition is all part and parcel of this sport or the constructers championship would mean nothing,and ppl would not be waxing lyrical about Ferrari's heritage..
First engine blown since 2001?,quite a record.

I've not been a huge fan of Schumi over the years(less so of Ferrari/FIA tactics),but he showed great dignity when returning to the pits.

 

It was terrible wasn't it? I feel so bad for Michael. I truly thought he was going to retire as champion. I like Alonso - always have done, but I wish the title had been decided in a different way.
I am pretty sure Michael will be trying his hardest to get a Ferrari 1-2 in Brazil, just as a last thank you to the team and the fans. I'm really going to miss him. I've seen every F1 race he competed in and Brazil will be the end of an era. 2006 has been a great season, I just wish Michael's engine could have lasted till the last lap at Japan.

 

that about sums it up for me.

 

Oh really?

Do you remember him running Damon Hill off the road to win a WDC?

Or running into JV to prevent him form winning a WDC?

It is amazing how Schumacher as somehow morphed into thie paragon of sportsmanship when throughout his entire career he has stopped at nothing, even willfully and intentionally endangering other drivers, his own brother among them, to win.

 

it was Hill that ran into schumi. he saw schumi going into the tyre wall, and tried some stunt on him, instead of waiting for him to just cruise to the pits and be crowned champion that year. it was Hill's stupidity at that time.

and yes, i agree. MS did indeed cheat with that Jerez thing. however, he did come forward and admit that he cheated and did it on purpose to Jeremy Clarkson. he also said that if there's something he can take back, he'll take back that silly thing he did to JV.

why are hopping on MS's 94 and 97 incident? i'm talking 2006 here. now. now 10 years ago.

 

poetic justice, adios to the cheater. they could penalise alonso a few races ago to give mikey the cheater a chance, but they couldnt legislate his engine.
i'm sure bernie will find a penalty for alonso in brasil and hand it to mikey.

not much sport left in F1

 

in order to make a fair comparison, you have to compare alonso's current behavior with that of schumacher's from back in the day. if alonso goes on to have a glittering career like michael's, you can probably bet that when it comes to time to retire, alonso will conduct himself simiarly to the way michael is conducting himself right now, especially if alonso sticks to one team for the majority of his career.

taking nothing away from michael, i think it's unfair to compare the two drivers in regards to conduct as they are right now. one is in the twilight of an amazing career, and one is just getting started.

-james
my new love: alfa romeo 8c spider

 

I don't really like Michael Schumacher. Actually, ever since he crashed into Hill I hated him. But for the first time in my 11 years of watching F1, he finally showed traits of a true champion.

He lost gracefully, and with honour, and instead of blaming everything on his team, he thanked them for a great job. That is a rear show of sportsmanship for the Schumster, and I take my hat off to him.

On the other hand, Alonso should publicly apologise to his team for whining to the media that they don't help him. The team's reaction to his win said it all. Granted, Alonso was under a lot of stress and pressure, but now he should thank them. He failed to do so at the Press conference.

As for ze German with the sportsmanship in his last race, I will grow to respect him in his retirement.