For those who believe aggressive driving began with Michael Schumacher

No man you got it wrong. Prost admitted that he turned into Senna in 89. Plain and simple. What Senna did in 1990 was wrong, he could have killed himself and Prost, but don't try to make it look like it's the same as what MS did throught his whole career. 94, 97, his move on HHF for no damned reason and his little stunt at Monaco make him to be one of the biggest cheats in F1 history. He then had the balls to lie to all the drivers at the meeting at Silverstone. No apology no nothing. Chicken**** racing by a 7 times champ. It isn't the same, not by a long shot. There is "win at all costs" and there is "win at all costs, even if you have to cheat".

 

Senna would not have hit Prost if Prost not taken him out in 89. MS would take anyone out if he was going to lose the title. If he was clean the last few years it's because he had no threats. People may go a bit nuts in the heat of battle but they all know what's right and wrong. You race clean, if you win good, if you lose, fine take it like a man. Most Drivers drove in this way with one notable exception.

 

I am not aware of Senna driving a car with illegal electronic devices hidden in the software nor do I recall Senna ever vetoing a teammate out of fear of being outperformed.

 

Me either, everyone compares what Senna used to do to what MS did. Senna was NEVER at the level that MS was when it came to having things his own way or driving dirty.

 

I'd agree with that. My post was an attempt to explain why I see Schumi viewed so differently from Senna. In racing it seems that the means are very much a factor despite similar ends. ie, the motivation behind taking someone out appears to speak volumes on how the two greats are viewed by fans.

To me, Senna drove rough whereas Schumi drove dirty, but many might view that as semantics.

 

depends on who your asking. Prost complained about Senna's driving during Hockenheim 1991. Prost complained about Senna's driving during Silverstone 1993. Senna complained about Mansell's driving during Barcelona 1991.

Besides, in 1994 and 1994, MS vs Hill and MS vs Villeneuve the title was directly at stake. I should hope a driver would take it right to the line in those circumstances. Adelaide 1994 was just clumsy. On part of both the drivers involved. Jerez 1997 was a very bad case of judgment on the part of Schumacher, for which he got punished.

Anyone who wants to write off Schumachers performance during his career is a something of a whiner who hasn't been paying attention in my book.

 

oh, I don't know. I'd like to call the Suzuka 1990 incident a downright assault, but should we care in this day and age?

 

+1

I'm a Senna fan also but I'm amazed how people attempt to somehow justify AS's actions in 1990.

Bottomline:He rear-ended his main title rival on purpose. No doubt in my mind if he had lived AS and MS would have had some interesting coming togethers.

 

totally correct. I will never forgive Senna for what he did to Prost back in 1990 (also because Ferrari still had a shot at the title) but that doesn't stop me from being fascinated by the man and his driving talent.

and in that sense I can't see why people would stop at calling Schumacher a cheat thereby overlooking a bucketload of great moves, thrilling victories and just sheer driving superiority. Even if Schumacher was guilty of everything he is being accused of, even then a big majority of his success wasn't achieved by cheating but by simply being unbeatable. And I am glad he did most of it in a Ferrari.

I still regret Senna never being in one of those red racers.

 

Even earlier "aggressive driving".
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Those videos make me sad.

Senna was awesome in that first video.

 

People complaining about other people's driving is a part of F1. That will never change. But that's not the issue I was referring to. Senna took out Prost for the 90 title, just as Prost had taken out Senna for the 89 title. Before of after that did they touch? Other than a very rough move on Prost where Senna almost had Prost in the wall. No, they never did. Senna nor Prost nor anyone else that i can rememeber ever tried to nerf an opponent for the title in F1 as MS did. I get annoyed as do many other Senna fans do when the subject of MS's questionable moves are brought up and they say well Senna did the same thing. These people are simply wrong or don't know the whole story. Senna only had one instance in which he lost it and did something terrible. Everywhere else he just drove as he felt he had to. In a hard manner but never flat out dirty. Call what MS did cheating or call it win at all costs, the fact that MS has not just one, but a few blotches in his copy book only taint his legacy. If he never did such things there would be no issue. I never understood why he would lower himself to drive that way. For this reason i've always found him impossible for me to respect, regardless of his accomplishments, at Adelaide in 1994 MS busted his ass to make sure he was in Hill's way after he crashed. He got away with that one to an extent because it was subtle and Hill was a dummy for going for the trap.There was no excuse for 97 or 06 or his bodyslam of HHF right off the track for no reason.....