Michael - what's different about him

[sameerrao]

Last year this time, Michael had 8 points with a 16 point deficit to Raikkonen. It was clear to the world that Bridgestone was letting him down (aside from his driving errors in Speang and Melbourne)... Yet he didn't publically moan or whine or lash out at his team/Bridgestone whatever..... What he did was quietly work with his team to get a string of good performances that eventually handed him his championship.

It sometimes disgusts me to see the likes of Ralf and Montoya and a few others of newer generation - when things are going well - everything is peachy and they strut about like proud peacocks ... However, when things don't work out well for them - they start loudly blaming their teammates, the team, the tires, other drivers whatever...

While Michael clearly has his faults (aggressive driving for one) he has certain strengths which none of the others have picked up on ..
- Work ethic - the man is the hardest working driver there
- Team building skills - supportive in bad times and dedicated to getting the best out of them at all times. Michael's mechanics would go through fire for him.

The others are also supremely skilled drivers (especially Alonso, Raikkonen, Webber and Montoya) but they seem to lack the extra something that makes Michael stand out.

... You can only take out what you put ....

[SFDMALEX]

What seperates Schumi from the rest is his inteligence. No one can argue against this fact. This guy knows more about the mechanical aspect of the sport then any other driver out there. He takes out the car, does to laps, examens the track, gets out of the car and knows what to tell the mechanics. "Lets take off a few NM on the right damper........".

Another of his strengths are his manners. He may not have the carisma that some of the earlier drivers possed but the guy is pure skill and hard worker.

Montoya looks like a man who only knows how to push the pedal and some how he gets fast laps...(I dont like that) even when he talks about the car he uses primitive language(and yes I know he is Columbian but that is no excuse) because he really doesnt know what the car is doing. Never liked Montoya and never will.

Kimi. Kimi got grande cojones. He showed that quite a few times. He lives for the moment...he got lots of talent, and that Finish race spark.

Alonso is good, but thats all I got to say.

Webber is a great driver with lots of skill in a bad team.

But in the end all these drivers miss out on Micheals work ethic. In racing you only become better by racing, driving all the time...Look at Schumi. He always races, be it F1 or go karts...

[SL55 AMG]

Schumi if you also notice goes around to his whole team and thanks them after winning pole, race whatever not missing a single person. Also on the podium he congratulates whoever it is up there.

[stracing]

also he never bad mouthed anyone. i'm trying pretty hard when he last did it. prolly belgian gp '98 when coulthard slowed down in the wrong place. but that was in the heat of the moment. he always respect his competitors yet villeneuve, coultahrd, montoya, hill etc always talked trash about him. to me it just shows how much of sore losers they are.

[Vansquish]

If Michael Schumacher has been driving aggressively, then look at Montoya and Ralf, they've had more incidents this year than Schumacher by far, and they're certainly more hot-headed than he is. Montoya, never mind the fact that he's a fabulous driver, is a whiny, sniveling ass when he's not on top. Ralf has some similar problems as well.

[ae86_16v]

sameerrao I think you are pointing out that Michael Schumacher is a real Gentleman. Win or lose with grace. And he knows the fact that he is the one behind the driver's seat.

I totally agree with you. There are guys on other teams that are willing to take all the credit but none of the blame. They forgot that the bottomline is responsibility. Take responsibility for your actions.

[sameerrao]

Maybe another way of looking at this is ... Can you take an existing driver and team combination and move the driver elsewhere and see if he will fit in. With the likes of Raikkonen and Alonso, we could easily visualize them with Mclaren, Ferrari, whatever... The drivers are interchangable. They have no emotional baggage invested in their current teams - they are true mercenaries - find me the best car and I'll drive my best.

With Michael on the other hand it has been true for a many years past and future that it is impossible to think of him ever driving for anyone else even if they offer him $100 MM a year. He has invested his heart and soul in Ferrari. Like SL55 pointed out he is passionate about his team - personally thanking his mechanics for their efforts and always going on about how much he is love with Ferrari.

I remember watching him go through tremendous hardship with his supreme skills compensating for his slow Ferrari in 1996. Ferrari was clearly not a dream team then. How many of today's drivers will choose the road less travelled by... He was instrumental in bringing the team up to where it is now. Jacques Villeneuve tried to emulate him and look what happened. Great driving skills are not all it takes to build a team up.

From his records and achievements, surely Michael has earned the right to be a prima donna but chooses not to. A low-profile humble and way cool guy.

Looks like Button and Webber are in the same cross-roads of their career right now. Do they want to stay where they are (the tough route) or join the likes of Williams (the relatively easy route). I hope they both stay where they are and invest in their team - they would be far more respected

[ae86_16v]

. . .
Looks like Button and Webber are in the same cross-roads of their career right now. Do they want to stay where they are (the tough route) or join the likes of Williams (the relatively easy route). I hope they both stay where they are and invest in their team - they would be far more respected

Excellent point Sameerao.

Yeah, I am pretty sure that Button will stay at BAR, especially after the progress they have been making this season. And it looks like he wants to stay.

Where as Webber, I don't know. Sir Frank Williams might get him next season. Also, Ford/Jaguar doesn't seem too interested in F1. It seems to me that they are there for the sake of being there, for the prestiage of being in Formula 1.

Yeah, BAR is definitely up and coming, too bad I can't say the same for Jaguar.

[5vz-fe]

I think his age give him the advantage over today's young guns. They just push the car unecessary too hard, and start blowing up things. I gotta agree the 40 continous race without engine failure partly due to luck. But it's also partly due to the fact that he knows how to pamper his car.

[aj887]

Michael Schumacher has what other drivers doesn't have because he's started out from the bottom and made it to the top. He hasn't always been on the best team, but he's stuck it out like has been said before. He's also very determined to be the best at everything even if it isn't racing. It has been said that Schumi is in the best shape out of any of the drivers on the track at any given time. Also I think that Michael has a lot of patience when it comes to his racing and this is a result of accidents that have cost him such as with Damon Hill in 1994 or with Villeneuve in 1997, the latter crash costing him the championship. When someone passes him or is coming up behind him fast, a situation that rarely occurs these days he doesn't try to block them, although he still drives aggressively, he doesn't do anything stupid. Everything he does is deliberate and with lots of precision. You can see how precise he is when he comes into the pits because you see he that he gets every last bit of speed he can before having to break to follow the pit speed limit. The others are very skilled but what they don't have is experience. Button probably has the best chance b/c he's been in F1 the longest out of the young top contenders. He has also proven that being on the team with the greatest budget doesn't guarantee you success. He's gained more this year with BAR Honda than he ever did with Williams and this just shows that putting a young kid in good equipment is useless if he has no experience and now that Button is experienced I'm sure that he will be in the Top 3 in points this season.

[SPAD]

HOLY SHIT! you guys took the words right out of my mouth! I agree with all of u guy completly.Nomater wat people say,this guy is the best driver to ever live,and he is the best for a reason.and that reason is him.

lol his only flaw is the fact that he is not italian.

[SPEEDCORE]

Nothing more to add to the great responses but F1 will loose a True Champion when he retires(lets hope not for awhile yet :D )

[astonmartinandy]

I completely agree with the way in which Schumi is a unique driver in his intelligence and strategy (with Ross Brawn), his driving style, which is aggressive in some ways but without aggression how can you be the best? Definitely the most important thing as was mentioned that he is a team player and will develop and enhance the team if something is wrong rather than moan!

sameerrao : Your point is so true about sticking with their teams. I would hope that they will stay with their teams and reward the investmentand work put into them by putting them at the top in a years to come. (Only after the living legend retires..)