Michael Schumacher

Forza Michael..... the greatest of all time, without equal.

 

+91

 

Absolutely. He'd have taught these guys how to do it properly in his day, unbeatable

 

Naturally of course.

Forza Michael and congratulations, you've earned it and deserve it.

 

Phew...saw the thread title and opened it with trepidation..Forza Michael !

Best,

Sammy

 

Without question one of the all time greats. Well earned. May he one day recover sufficiently to experience this achievement for himself.

 

+1

 

So the obvious bias aside what makes so many so quick to call him the best ever? There have been a bunch of amazing drivers at times when the hot car didn't mean everything so what is it for the lot saying that?






VERY important to note I am not dissagreeing in any way but I came into F1 towards the tail of MS career so there is a bunch I won't know and am genuinely curious.

 

For me it's the sheer numbers of astounding drives he's done. He's had several wet races at Spa for instance when he's been multiple seconds a lap quicker, consistently, over his rivals and teammates. '97 I believe he was a frankly ridiculous 10 SECONDS a lap quicker than anyone else. Anyone! It wasn't just for 1 lap or so, either...he continued this relentless pace for the next 6 laps until his gap over the guy in 2nd was over a minute. A minute! in 6 laps...Bear in mind the Williams he was racing was a second a lap quicker than others, he was the only one matching the Williams that year, his teammate often 1 to 2 seconds a lap slower than season.

A year later at the famous '98 Belgian GP he once again decimated all in bad weather. In some ~15 (racing) laps he already had a 40 second lead over the next guy...and was lapping the Mclaren, which outqualified the Ferrari's by over a second!

'94 Spanish GP (in the dry), driving with the car stuck in 5th gear most of the race (even making a pitstop with this!) and still finishing 2nd, a minute ahead of #3.

'96 Spanish gp, in a frankly speaking bad car, another rain race...after he took the lead he started lapping 3 seconds a lap faster than the next fastest guy...the entire race!

He's done so many great performances, there's no doubt in my mind he was the very greatest.

 

Ridiculous natural talent. This is a guy that came in and beat Senna in the standings his first full season in the sport. Moved from a great WDC winning team (Benetton) to a historic but then-mediocre team that hadn't won squat in years (Ferrari) and built Ferrari into a juggernaut. Could take a car much slower than his rivals and still win races and challenge for titles (seasons 1996-1998). Unbeatable racecraft, focus and ability to adjust on the fly (doubt his fastest laps record ever gets broken). Rewrote the book on work ethic and fitness. Arguably the best wet weather driver in history. Handled his successes and failures with class. Great family man off track. All in all he is the consummate professional. Certain guys were faster over 1 lap like Senna, but no one was so good in so many areas as Michael.

If you came in at the end of MSC's career, you missed his best years, which were IMO 1995-2000. By the later Ferrari years the team and car were a dominant force and to someone that never saw him before you might think "sure this guy is good but how much is the car?" Still...even with the best car I doubt anyone ever again pulls off being on the podium every race like MSC was in 2002.

 

That's exactly what I was looking for. I really need to get the drivers for all the old races you showed me. I'm so out of my depth in that I think I'll toast my computer though lol. I'll have to give it a go.

 

Don't forget Monaco 1997 - led by 22 seconds after 5 laps in the rain

Hungary 1998 had to put in lap after lap at qualifying speeds to make a crazy fuel strategy work. And he did! Which I should mention no one will ever be better than MSC at laying down smoking fast out laps and in laps!

 

I'm sure I send you a PM about it a while ago, correct?

It's a big old file...download individual seasons instead and delete the ones you've seen .

 

You did! and thanks again, the torrent thing bugged me out. I always that was basically begging for a virus. I've been told different since and will get on it. Cheers!

 

+1 There's just so many to choose from. From the current highly heralded guys, how many truly stunning races have they done?

Hamilton - Silverstone 2008. Won by a minute I believe in the wet.

Vettel - Obviously Monza 2008, winning in torrential conditions in a bloody Toro Rosso. IMO Fuji 2007 should be there also, up in 3rd place in a Toro Rosso, lead before his pitstop and was gaining on Webber and Hamilton

Interlagos 2012, when he got hit by a Senna I think on the first lap...he had to climb all through the field to win the title, and he did.

He also had a singapore race for RBR and dominated it completely, and was over 2-3 seconds a lap quicker than anyone else for a long time...

Verstappen with obviously his Brazil 2016 drive, China 2017, USA 2015 when in his little Toro Rosso he was harassing the Ferrari's, Red Bull's and even the bloody Mercedes' in the wet...just crazy.

 

The record books don't always tell the story, but in the case of MS, they really do. He was so dominant for so long. The drives already mentioned were all classics in their own right, but his records will stand for a very long time. They are simply miles ahead of anyone else. That isn't an accident. That's outrageous speed and monumental long term consistency.

This video is a good one if you want to understand more about his technique and how it made him different:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtaV_cOGgTM

 

All in all, Michael devoted his life to F1 in order to be the best, he introduced proper fitness levels, had massive involvement in the development of every aspect of the car, and regularly was the guy switching off the lights at either maranello or whatever race track they were at.

He made rubbish cars dance like thoroughbreds, won races missing entire gears, in one race drove almost an entire race in qualy mode so that he could make four pit stops and win. No driver took him for granted, no driver felt they had his measure. They might be sitting in a car much quicker than the ferrari at times, and yet they still shook at the prospect of racing Michael. He didn't just beat his teammates, he destroyed them week in week out, yet he was always gracious enough to recognise when he had a bad day, or a bad setup, to recognise their achievement if they beat him. He didn't ever punt his teammate out the way, he didn't need to, if he was behind them and had no issues, his teammates got the hell out the way contracturally - yes - but also because they knew he would not stay there for long, he would outrace them anyway and they would lose confidence.

When asked to come back after his broken legs, he didn't just get in and have a drive, break himself back in gently and have to build himself back up, he destroyed the field, made the two guys fighting for the championship look positively second tier (and one of them was Mika, a great driver himself), and helped Irvine the best he could to get the championship (which Eddie failed to get as he couldn't quite get his part done)

As an ambassador for the sport, he was perfect, gentlemanly, helpful, always available. His charity work was under the radar for years, but it has been confirmed that he has given many millions to worthy causes, including one million dollars to the tsunami appeal within days of it happening that terrible xmas.

In his day, they got less points for everything, and thee were half as many races. It doesn't really matter when anyone beats a number of points record, or a most laps record, or number of ....... stat really, except that he won SEVEN drivers titles, and while some you might argue were as an automatic result of the car itself, most were not anything like that, certainly no car was like the recent Mercedes. However, to build that dominant car, you had great designers of course, great engines, bit you also had the greatest ever driver, devoted to developing that car into the focussed, sometimes unbeatable, vehicle that it was. He should be held in the highest esteem for all of his titles for that reason alone.

When any of the current crop retire, not one, not a single one, will have made the difference to formula one, and any team, as Michael schumacher. For that reason, he is the true greatest ever, and greatest that will ever be. No driver can now influence the sport itself in such a manner as Michael

Forza Michael...... come back to us soon.....

 

WDC: 1994 / 1995 / 2000 / 2001 / 2002 / 2003 / 2004

Absolutely the best.

With the current Drivers WDC tally of:-

Sebastian - 4
Lewis - 3
Fernando - 2
Kimi - 1

I do not foresee any Driver eclipsing that record.

 

Yep this was great...Malaysia 1999. He outqualified the field by over a second. A second! Laughable really. With Irvine in it till the last race, Schumacher would've wrapped that title up long ago. That was truly sensational...

 

MSC was robbed of a win there thanks to Charlie "safety car" Whiting. He was clearly the best car on track when it was wet but too many laps were run under the SC which allowed it to dry to the point inters weren't even necessary and he was a sitting duck for the much faster McLaren and Red Bull. A farce.

 

He could of won 97, 98 and 2006.