To show how important this recent run of success to Ferrari is have a look at these stats: From the begining of F1 up to 2005: Team, No. of years in F1, WC, WDC, Wins, Points scored, No. of GPs, WC/GPs, WDC/GPs, Wins/GPs, Points scored/GPs Ferrari, 55, 14, 14, 182, 3292.5, 704, 0.020, 0.020, 0.259, 4.677 McLaren, 39, 8, 11, 138, 2867.5, 580, 0.014, 0.019, 0.238, 4.944 Williams, 32, 9, 7, 113, 2436.5, 450, 0.020, 0.016, 0.251, 5.414 Lotus, 36, 7, 7, 78, 1299, 493, 0.014, 0.014, 0.158, 2.634 From the begining of F1 up to 2000: Team, No. of years in F1, WC, WDC, WC/Years, WDC/Years Ferrari, 50, 9, 9, 0.180, 0.180 McLaren, 34, 8, 11, 0.235, 0.326 Williams, 27, 9, 7, 0.333, 0.259 Lotus, 36, 7, 7, 0.194, 0.194 Note: Lotus was actually beating Ferrari in the per years battle ... and the only thing Ferrari topped (by themselves) was that they had been around the longest! Pete
He's everything to Ferrari. Mr. Todt and friends had been in place since 93 and it wasn't until they had MS that they turned things around. He is the driving force behind the juggernaught. JT knows it as well. He'll never stick around if MS goes. He along with the others will plan their retirement in to coincide with MS.
The same time they hired Schumacher, they also hired Eddie Irvine and the car developed from there to the almost title win in 1999 by Eddie. ...yes of course I'm biased. Eddie is my hero!
A better gauge for championships(as championships are a function of season, not number of GPs): WCC/Year, WDC/Year Ferrari: .254, .254 McLaren: .205, .282 Williams: .281, .250 Lotus: .194, .194 And yes, Schumi is worth every penny they pay him. Probably worth more.
Yeah I did those too ... but it was hard work putting the figures in so left those out for the up to 2005 part But it does clearly show take the last few years away and Ferrari do not look so good at all. Ferrari have ofcourse done 5 WDC's and 6 WC's in a row which is a bloody impressive feat ... Anyway here are a few more numbers: From the begining of F1 up to 2005: Team, No. of Years in F1, Wins/Years, Points/Years Ferrari, 55, 3.309, 59.864 McLaren, 39, 3.538, 73.526 Williams, 32, 3.531, 76.141 Lotus, 36, 2.167, 36.083 Which still makes McLaren and Williams look pretty impressive. Pete
Whatever one's opinion about the amount Ferrari is paying him, no one can argue that he isn't EARNING his paycheck. He is doing EXACTLY what they are paying him to do. I just hate the day when all this is going to end. I haven't felt like this since the last half of football season 1982.
I think Schumi deserves 50% of credit. But even he wouldnt have done shi* if he had raced for the Ferrari prior to 1993. Assume he would have raced in the 80s, he might have got fed up with the politicking and jumped to Williams or somewhere else. The dream team (Todt, Brawn, Byrne, ...) deserves the remaining 50%.
Formula 1 is a team sport and a team effort. Just like you need tires to drive a car, you need a driver to race in the car. Ferrari and Michael and company are F1's version of the dream team.
you could easily argue that without ms there would be no brawn, byrne and a few others; and without them there would not have been the kind of teamwork possible that produced such a stunning engine, pit crew etcetc. he is worth every penny they pay him (actually they dont pay him, shell does). when he leaves, so will the others, and will all retire very wealthy. the next driver in the door will reap the benefits for maybe a season. after that, if he is not cut of the sam cloth with a good tema around him, ferrari will climb the wall of worry and re-descend into the morass of italian disorganization and political wrangling.
DING! This is spot on, no need to do statistical point analysis, the team is built around Schumacher and he has everything to do with the success. I just hope that they'll be able to maintain some semblance of competency after the Schumacher-Brawn-Byrne era.
Double DING! I spent many a year cheering for backmarker Minar....er, I mean Ferrari. People like to hee-haw about Ferrari's dominance, but as far as I am concerned, we are just makin' up time! MS would have done fine with Ferrari, oh, pre 1982ish. After that, Enzo's health dictated that more and more control of the F1 team was delegated out. And THIS was when they "re-descend into the morass of italian disorganization and political wrangling." Not saying the old man didn't make some big mistakes in his time (didn't seem to hurt things though, now did it?). I think Enzo would have liked MS's style greatly. Would he have allowed MS to "build" his own team? I doubt it. We will never know. I guess the same could be said for Stewart and Lotus. Dream Team? Jim
I remember how fun it was rooting for Michael his first couple years at Ferrari. You knew they would get it right eventually, but in the meantime it was the rare chance to watch the best driver in a mediocre car and see what he could get it to do. Andreas, remind me next time you've got a beer or three in you to have you explain the Irvine-lust
In an almost perverted way I'm looking to the Ferrari years after the dream team went into retirement. Then it will be less fancy to root for Ferrari again and that's when I'll be cheering again the loudest. I supported them until they nailed the title a couple of times. Now things are too predictable. The post MS era will be interesting again. Weird, but that's how I feel. As far as Eddie goes: Well, part of it is rooting for the underdog. Part of it is because he was one of the last playboys in F1, one of the last true characters. Also the stuff he said has become unthinkable in the politically correct world of F1 today. He was a pretty good driver, at least until he drove for Jag. And lastly: It helps when you go on a drinking tour with his dad...
Agreed on the first point! As for the Eddie info, well that says plenty, and I'll never question it again!
DUHOH! I hope I didn't ruin the point I was trying to make! BTW, THOSE were the golden years of F1! thanks, Jim
Each to his own of course. As far as I'm concerned, the golden years of F1 were the mid eighties: Slicks, Turbos with 1100+ hp, cars that looked like rockets, engines belching six feet long fiery plumes at every (manual!) downshift, drivers that spoke their minds and almost total access for the fans to their heroes. Ah, que lastima! Coincidentally the same era that saw Group B cars in the rally championship. Remember the days when racing was dangerous and ....
The Hakkinen - Schumacher rivalry is right there with the best in F1 history. Those were some good times.
I agree. I love it that the team is so centered and you can just feel the excitement from the launch and the interviews. That is something I wish they will have after MS and the "dream team." I don't know what to think about Eddie. He does fit the profile of being a playboy and saying what he thinks, which sometimes the commentators would make fun of. He did have some good ideas, saying that adding a groove in the tires isn't the answer to slowing the car down because it will make braking distance longer (I think that was when they went to 4 from 3 grooves or something like that). And what was up with his crazy hair and glasses. I am looking for RB to make some head way this year. There is just something about that guy that I like. I didn't watch in the era but I just wonder what it would be like if F1 rules hadn't changed that much. What would the cars be doing on the straights, and what type of G's would they be pulling. Just makes you wonder. Joe C.
