Where has “The God” gone…
Apr 6th, 2006 by Haas
A lot of people refer to Michael Schumacher as the “God” of Formula 1, and why not his impeccable record speaks for itself… But the last year and a half as seen the fortunes change and the new (proclaimed) “era” screams the end of the “Domination of God”.
The last 22 Grand Prix (19 in 2005 and 3 in 2006) have seen possibly the worst results of the German’s career and on the contrary Fernando Alonso and Kimi hv had the best races of their comparatively short careers.
Here are some of the Stats that speak for itself
Drivers Races Wins Podiums Poles Michael Schumacher 21* 0* 5* 2 Fernando Alonso 21* 9 18 6 Kimi Raikkonen 21* 7 14 6
* Excludes the result of the 2005 US Grand Prix where only 6 cars ran(Michael Schumacher won the race and Trulli had qualified on pole)
To put those results into perspective consider the last 85 grand prix that Michael Schumacher ran before 2005 season…
Wins: 48, Podiums: 66, Poles: 40
That is clearly one of the best drives F1 has ever seen…
So how do you go from Hero to where MSc currently stands in the championship… Ferrari might be the answer after those amazing seasons 2005 was the first one any Ferrari fan might want to forget… so far 2006 has not been a dream season either.
Fernando in one of his interviews after being crowned 2005 World Champ said “I now understand that to be a World Champ you need a Car that can win…” Maybe he was talking about Michael and his changed fortunes… But considering the bad season Ferrari had in 2005 they sure had their days, when they were close to 2nd and 3rd best… yet no wins(I’m excluding 2005 US Grand Prix away from debate… for obvious reasons). Cant the “God of motorsport” win with a car thats second best?
Ok I agree I’m being hard on the multiple world champ… he has proved to be the best of the best more than once and deserves more slack than I’m giving him. But back to Imola in 2005 when Ferrari for the only time in the season had the best car on the grid… Michael proved it with his amazing driving yet Alonso stood defiant and stole the victory from Ferrari’s hands after a champ vs champ battle for 12 laps(That race was enough for me to believe that Alonso’s time for glory had come).
As for the fans… last year saw waves of blue and yellow replacing the Tifosi that crowded each circuit… change of an Era alright. The cries of “Ferrari is Back” died down towards the end of the season and the questions changed to “Can Ferrari compete with Renault and Mc Laren?” and “Will Michael retire?”
2006 started in better ways with Michael fighting with Alonso for the victory… Again Alonso stole it but this time the case was different Renault had the better car… but Michael was on pole and Alonso started in 4th… The bigger point is Both Ferrari’s qualified ahead of Alonso, yet Renault came out superior in strategy.
Its believed by many including me that if Michael retires now… the next decade will belong to Alonso and Kimi… better yet if Mc Laren keeps them both for 2007, Mc Laren will be a force to reckon with. But can we count the “God” down and out…
Great Sportsmen have had their good and bad patches… Its the greatest who fight back from the bottom to reclaim their destiny… There is clearly a lot of fight left in the German and maybe the multiple world champ is not the same dominating self he was 2 years back… but it will be crazy to count out the champ now.
There was a time when the German National Anthem was synonymous to the end of each Grand Prix… slowly the Spanish are taking over. Without a shadow of a doubt Michael was the best and the greatest ever but the question remains amid the performances of the Alonsos and the Raikkonens is he still the best currently?
Well, it is better first to think and then speak, especially when we reffer to Michael, the man who has broken almost all records in F1. Our friend Haas forgets(or maybe he is too young) that when Michael won his first F1 championship did not have the best car on the grid (like Alonso last year). He drove a Benetton. Things easily forgotten (or are completely unknown) to people that get “pleasure” by trying to make Michael look old or diminuished. My friend Haas, Michael is 37 and drives like mad amongst youngsters like Alonso and Kimi. Just think about that and study a bit the past…
Thank you Nick for your comment… I guess the issue here is that those stats changed a lot during this season and its hard to compare two drivers when they work with different machines. As for the 95 season, Nope I did not watch any of it or most of the racing in that era. I hv seen the videos and personally feel that during that time the cars very very close wrt competitiveness compared to the recent seasons. I hv not seen the races so will dare not comment on things I hv no idea about
As for Alonso and last year, let me remind you that for over half the season Mc Laren clearly had the best car and way ahead of the Renault.
I am certian that I dont seek ‘pleasure’ in calling one of the oldest drivers in the grid “old”.
Well then we should define the term best car. Do you really think that last year’s McLaren was better than Renault?? Faster yes, better nope. Just remember on how many races Kimi had retired due to mechanical problems. When defining the “best car”, reliability must be taken into consideration and last year McLaren had none. Unfortunately in the last race it all came down to tyres. Once again (i have lost count by now) Alonso was very lucky with Michael’s retirement. We ll see what will happen on Turkey (It will be my first live F1 GP since I ll be in Instabul to watch the race and i really hope this will be combined with another Michael win).