Personally, I think the 1998 season was MS at his peak. Absolutely ridiculous driving to take the title to the final race against a Newey McLaren that was far, far faster.
Interesting comment. I thought he peaked later like around 2002, but you might be right. Can't really say.
+1. He is fun to watch but at times appears sorely out of place. He should retire and allow the generation of drivers he does not belong with move on. He needs to go and I will post this again whether he wins or not. Frankly Nico has made the history and brought Mercedes to the podium and win. I have zero doubt that was not in the plan.
Nico could not have built the team like Michael did. That's my opinion anyway. There was zero doubt in my mind that Merc would be a front running team by the 3rd season with Michael and Brawn there. If it were just Brawn and Nico, no I don't believe the magic would be there. Regardless of wins and podiums, Michael at least deserves to have a car that stays together.
Clearly Nico has been underestimated. We all post how surely the team only makes 1 car right? This one appears to suit Nico pretty well. He is fast. MS is there adding to the mix but without testing his input has less impact along with every other driver. I do not think for a minute he ads more than Nico given those limitations. Nico is by no means a rookie at this stage. He's driven for multiple teams and has some accumulated experience. He has the win. Personally the team looks as much as Nico's and more than MS at this stage. Bad luck for MS and car problems. Part of the game as MS has said. He takes it in stride as the professional we all know and like. The sport is growing away from him and Im feeling he knows it and this year will accept it and leave. As in all things I predict I could be wrong lol!
I really think that question should be yours to answer since you seem to be the authority, no disrespect intended. I just know my driving skills have only become more honed over time and the age excuse is just as lame as it was 3yrs ago. The sandbox is getting a tad over crowded.
Brawn and Button did ok. I don't get all the MS crap. Is he as good as he was? I have no idea. Mercedes seems happy with him and I'd be surprised if he's near the worst driver on the grid. There are plenty of others that should go because of performance criteria before him.
you are starting to sound like an ass again, remember you were going to work on that? the reason you are still improving is because you never got to a high level to begin with, you had no experience before, you sucked after you started later in life, and you just suck a little less today. if you were really good to start then 25 years later it might be different. at this point you are improving, but you will never reach the potential as if you started karting at 6, F3 at 18, and reached your F1 peak at 30. I have over 250 club races under my belt, I was a competitive swimmer in college, and I have raced in over 100 triathlons/road races/bike races. I know exactly what it is like to improve before you cross the age peak, peak, and then post peak try to make up for age challenges with experience and maturity. I could go out there today and train 2x as hard in the pool and still not come close to my previous times. I could go out there and work 2x as hard on the race track and not come close to the pace and consistency I had at my age peak. It is a fact of life in any sport with hand-eye coordination and physical exertion. Don't act like you know when you don't have a clue what it is like to stirve towards the pinnacle of a sport.
who in the heck would say he's the worst on the grid? that would be so much easier to argue against than being the best on the grid.
Yet concert pianists and violinists do no peak until their 40s. Just sayin. Very physically intense yet surgically precise art/science forms they are.
do their heart rates go to those of a car racer? http://www.wired.com/special_multimedia/2008/pl_motor
I don't understand how it's even a point of conversation. MS's skills have CLEARLY diminished with age, as anyone's would. To insinuate otherwise is an insult to Michael's previous career and achievements IMO.
Depending on the technicality of the piece, yes. 180BPM during a Chopin piece with accompanying symphonic orchestra while having to pound on a heavily weighted 10ft Steinway or Bosendorfer concert grand. Believe it. If you want to get really nuts have a look at some of the more talented drummers out there, some are quite remarkable with how they are able to tune each limb into being its own metronomic device. Go have a walk around Berklee or Julliard and you won't see one skinny horn/violinist/pianist/drummer there. While I was at Berklee, I couldn't practice longer than 40-50 minute stints without at least a 10 minute break due to sheer exhaustion depending what I was doing. Still can't at 33.
Agreed, but it's interesting to notate some things that are also extremely demanding do no peak until later. Moving on right
I've said that time and again. Stating that the MS of today is as good as the MS of ten years ago is a great insult to the 7 times champ. Because (as you also stated earlier) the MS of ten years ago would have driven circles around Nico and would have wrestled any POS Merc onto the podium. It speaks for him that he is still able to perform at the level he does today but it is a far cry from ten years ago.
Not sure he's at the level he once was, but things have changed as well. The physicality of the sport has changed. MS recently likened it to driving behind the safety car all race due to the tires. All that said, have you seen the physical shape he's in? Perhaps not the chisled 22 year old anymore, but certainly not lacking either. The swimming/racing comparison isn't quite fair as the more effort/physical ability, the faster you'll go; that same thing can't be said about the racing (at least not in today's F1). Like all older elite level athletes, he's probably lost a step, but makes up for it with prowess and guile/wisdom. I'm still a believer that he posses everything necessary to win. I, for one, am glad he's racing again. I hope for victory as I think he's put in the hard work to earn it.
I think it's still debatable to prove if he lost any skills/reaction time from 2006 to now. I mean, he got the Merc on pole on arguably the toughest and tightest track on the calender. Such performance demands maximum precision and reaction as well as finesse.
It's in response to people who say he should leave the sport and make way for young blood. My assertion is that there are plenty who should go before him.
He has fewer points than Massa right now and the last 2 seasons, and he(Massa), is so loved here lol MS has seen better days luck or not. He doesnt belong in this generation. A resurgent MS is still not what he was in the past. He has served his time and made his mark. Another title is probably not in his future and I have no doubt Mercedes is looking past him already. He has 1 year or less. Im betting less. Ross may say otherwise but he is not the bill payer here in Stuttgart. MS is sounding alot like LH right now, very very coy about his intentions and future. MS was part of getting the team back up into contention. He is clearly not the future and we know this deep down. He was the face to sell the idea and bring recognition and marketing power, to a team that is now a winner and maturing very quickly.
I'm focusing particularly on this season. It took (far) longer than expected for MSC to get back into his groove, then part 2 of 2011 he started showing part of his own self again. No one can deny that Schumacher has been driving brilliantly this season, just had stroke after stroke of bad luck.
yeah...ok *shakes head* F1 is performance based, right? So, until he's the worst driver on the grid, he deserves to be there....regardless of his age.
