davidm Wrote:
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> I think thats a key thing and that for 4 of his
> Ferrari titles Michael had the best car and
> perhaps more importantly the best tyre (almost
> bespoke to the Prancing Horse).
Exactly that's the key difference.
When Schumacher raced with Senna, Prost & Mansell he was a rookie with untapped potential and had a car disadvantage. Mansell & Prost were veterans at or slightly past their peaks and with a significant car advantage with the Williams. Imola 1994 robbed us of a great rivalry Senna v Schumacher should have been epic.
Schumacher's titles in the Benetton were impressive because they were taken against the superior Williams, which is why ultimately we haven't classed either Hill nor Villeneuve as being a true threat to him. Schumacher himself only took Hakkinen seriously and in 98/99 the Mclaren was superior.
From 2000 when the Ferrari was at very least the equal of anything and usually the superior he won everything. Only in 2003 did he face a real threat from more than one driver, Kimi, Montoya & to a lesser extent Ralf. And that group of drivers were still relatively fresh and incomplete compared to Schumacher who was by then a veteran at his peak.
When Vettel won in 2010 there were 5 drivers in the championship race, (3 of them being recent champions). And that's the point... Schumacher never had that level of competition behind him (he briefly had it ahead of him Senna, Mansell/Prost). The last 2 or 3 years the spoils of F1 have been fought out between at least 5 drivers every race you couldn't rule out and a couple of others who could spoil the party if things went to them. In Schumacher's era he was the
only driver in his league. Today.. that top league is a group that primarily consists of Vettle, Alonso & Hamilton (this is already a bigger spread of the mantle) plus there is Kimi, Button & Webber who can't be discounted whilst one or two others... could yet break into that group.
In Schumacher's era if in the pub someone asked "who is the best driver in F1?" it would be a rather short debate lasting about 5 seconds. Today? You could argue all night between Vettel, Alonso, Hamilton/Button and still not reach a conclusion. If that isn't greater competition at the top then I don't know what is.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/07/2012 10:47AM by J i m.