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Ferrari2007
and not to blow our own horn, but also RichlandF1, where we have reported only the straight facts since the incident first occurred on Monday.
And you're not blowing your own trumpet. I've seen a few references to the site elsewhere, with credit given for only reporting what's known, so thumbs up.
Speaking of the individual (which I make a point of doing very seldomly) I've always sat on the fence with Schumacher, with vastly contrasting thoughts depending on his success at the time.
My first real association with him, like many others I'm sure, was in 1994. I hadn't really followed his progress up until that point. I'd watched every race from some time in 1989, but I loved Mansell. It was his glowing praise in one of his books that I got for Christmas in 1992 that pointed out Michael's potential in the future. He wasn't wrong. Looking back, at that point Schumacher hadn't displayed any of his ruthlessness - clearly that was primarily reserved for the finality of championship battles - but prowess and forethought were clearly abundant within.
During the Hill vs Schumacher years of 1994 and 1995, I swung in Senna's and Damon's direction. Being a Mansell fan, I was genetically programmed to hate Senna, but during 1993 and in the dawn of 1994 somehow with him appearing the underdog, that swung briefly (and now permanently), and despite Schumacher having only won, what, one grand prix(?) prior to 1994, I found myself supporting Senna. That only served to increase during the season, following Senna's death, and Williams trying to take the battle to him. Of course, Michael made it easy with his and his teams' willingness to push the boundaries, but I maintain, irrespective of Schumacher's intentions, we'd have poured scorn on Hill for taking a punt at that corner had the internet been what it is back then. Somehow Hill came out as the victim, but Schumacher had utterly dominated the season from the off, despite an unprecedented number of penalties, deserved or otherwise.
When he moved to Ferrari, once more I found myself willing on the underdog. After the Williams dominance of 1996 carried over to 1997, I wanted Schumacher to win. As loveable, in an Finnish sort of way, that Hakkinen was, I wanted Schumacher to take the fight to the dominant McLarens. Hungary in 1998, that third stint, remains, by some distance, the most formidable, aggressive and mesmerising display of driving I have ever witnessed, respectively or otherwise. As some sort of homage to Schumacher I watched it back the other day, and I was still mesmerised - it's more than every bit what I remembered. Senna and Vettel could and can take a couple of seconds a lap out of a car on the best of days with the best car, but in dry conditions on such a short lap, I don't think I have ever seen a driver take three seconds each lap out of two cars which were nearly half a second faster the day before. The only drive which comes close is 1999, when he turned up at Sepang, barely able to walk in a straight line, and went and stuck it on pole by a second... not content with that, he, despite what
must have been a shortcoming in fitness in the most humid race of the year, was
way above the pace of 2-stop drivers while carrying 1-stop fuel loads, able to turn it on at will or hold up the opposition without breaking a sweat. Ferrari would have walked the championship in 1999 if they hadn't gone and broken his brakes and leg at Silverstone.
Of course, he went on to utterly dominate the next five years and I, along with the rest of the human world, wished someone would take it to him as we wish someone would step up and challenge Sebastian now. Montoya was very nearly that man (oh how I wished Interlagos 2001 would be repeated many times that season), but ultimately it took a change in the tyre regulations and the most relentless man currently in F1 to finally grasp that trophy from him. And in 2006, he still refused to let go in the tug-of-war until Fisichella's wing disagreed with his rear tyre. A man that had had more success than any of us could dream of still refusing to budge after sixteen years and seven titles.
Not content, he wasn't finished. His quench returned. I loved the circus around his comeback. As much as I wanted the rest of the human populace to beat him during the latter half of those Ferrari years, I yearned for him to get a race win with Mercedes. That run in Montreal; his pole position at Monaco showed he still had the ability to turn it on. He might have lost some of his killer instinct, that much was shown by his relatively friendly paddock demeanor, but he could still dish it out when he wanted to. As much as most scorn his comeback, I have always applauded it. A bloke in his 40s, old enough to be the father of many of his opponents and having been through all he had been through previously, entering the top level of motorsport, with completely foreign cars on finite margins, and competing with the 'golden generation' still blows me away. For the past couple of years I haven't even been able to pick up my steering wheel and get within a couple of seconds of my Grand Prix Legends performances and I'm only 34... this was a family man a decade older trying to take it to people nearly half his age.
He might not come back as the Schumacher we know. God forbid he might not even live. But he's still one of the best, and perhaps the best, this sport has ever seen. He's probably the best I ever saw (Senna and Alonso included). I just hope he's still able to appreciate what he did pressing two pedals and turning a circular thing. It makes you think, like never before, that if such a relentless, unstoppable human being can lie prone the way he is, that the human body is both capable of some magnificent things but is yet so vulnerable.
I'm not sure I subscribe to the possibility of losing my life doing something I love, and in such instances it's easy to suggest that life is a cruel thing, but if could go back 34 years, I'd swap mine. I'd have loved to have been him. I'd still love to be Michael Schumacher. He still is.