Ten years since Schumacher's last title glory

The Belgian Grand Prix, Spa-Francorchamps, 29^th August 2004. Sitting second on the grid Michael Schumacher must have been thinking another win would come his way, after all he’d spent the previous five months almost winning everything; 12 wins from 13 races. Surely he’d wrap up his inevitable seventh title in victorious style.

It wasn’t to be, although it would have been so appropriate to claim his last title at the track which was always so intertwined with his career; his debut for Jordan in 1991, his first win a year later, a controversial disqualification, the defeat of Damon Hill on a wet track while on dry tyres, several classic strolls into the distance and another mesmeric destruction of the field in the rain.

Spa did give him the title, he finished second to Kimi Raikkonen after slipping back at the start, but after having won the title so many times, I guess in a year of supremacy the only way you’d want to clinch the championship is in style, and second wasn’t the style he was accustomed to.

Schumacher dominated the sport for so long it seems incredible that today marks ten years ago that he wrapped up his final and seventh world championship. Even now for those who have only a peripheral knowledge of the world of Formula 1 he is the name that is conjured up. So complete was his hold on the sport that many people thought he was still out there winning.

Perhaps that is because he so embodied everything about the world of Formula 1, its good and its bad points. He took it to a whole new level of professionalism and brought or established new things which many would now consider essential tools in the driver trade.

His absolute dedication to his fitness, his ability to motivate and be a full part of the team driving them in a positive direction, his constant search for perfection, being one of the first drivers who would twist and turn various instruments during the race which is now common place.

Schumacher was a class apart, his commitment to his goals was unmatched. Nothing was left unturned in his pursuit to be the best out there. Many people at the time became dissatisfied with his constant glory but I thought it was great to be watching a legend do his work right before us. His seven titles (1994, 95 & 2000-2004) and 91 wins could well be matched but it’s going to take someone of complete single minded determination to maintain a win rate such as Schuey had.

The alarming thing is he could well have won a lot more. The titles he missed out on could be said to be even better than some of the championships he took. To my mind at least his 1997 season was majestic. For a modern day comparison think of Fernando Alonso taking the championship to the wire in 2012 except that in ’97 the Ferrari was even more of a dog of a car.

He lead the points into the final race but obviously to the greater world his year was tarnished when faced with the possibility of losing to a car and driver which should have had the title sewn up several races ago if it weren’t for the efforts of Schumacher he swiped into the side of the Williams of Jacques Villeneuve.

A bad ending and one of his professional fouls which he actually admitted to, but to me it takes nothing away from the fact that he had no real right to be challenging for the title that year anyway. The following season he was up against the equally superior McLaren of Mika Hakkinen as the Williams had been before. Again he managed to take the title to the final race. Finally, while leading the 2006 Japanese Grand Prix ahead of Alonso he was just 17 laps away from taking a two point lead into the final race of the year when his engine failed. His luck which had always been so good was finally deserting him as his first career came to a close.

Of course it possibly should have continued at Ferrari for another year or two. For reasons which remain unclear Kimi was signed without Schumacher’s knowledge and he was ushered into a retirement he wasn’t really ready for. Can we speculate what might have happened? Well you can never be sure, but I’m pretty sure nevertheless. 2007 wouldn’t have been the three way classic between Kimi, Alonso and Lewis Hamilton. It would have been a final Schuey title.

The way those three capitulated and the fact Kimi and Felipe Massa were so evenly matched when Schumacher had mostly had the beating of Massa pretty comprehensively leads me to believe he’d have used the 2007 Ferrari to devastating effect. It certainly would have been interesting to witness the following year, Hamilton against Schumacher in equally matched cars. It's a missing highlight just like the lack of a proper full title fight between Schumacher and Ayrton Senna, it's added to the long list of what could have beens.

We caught a glimpse of how good it might have been in the 2011 Italian Grand Prix with an epic dual between Hamilton and Schumacher which was an utter joy and also beautifully aggressive. Because of course Schuey did retire at the end of 2006 before coming back in a blaze of glory in 2010 for Mercedes.

It didn’t work out quite as well as had been hoped, the luck I mentioned earlier was practically non-existant this time around. Despite Mercedes spawning from the ashes of 2009 championship winners Brawn GP, the car wasn’t up to it. In fact the car, the tyres, the competition had all moved on. Schumacher was also faced with ageing, even he couldn’t hold back time. There were stupid accidents, moments of indecision and several poor races. But there were highs too, that battle with Hamilton, fourth in Canada 2011, the pole lap of the season in Monaco 2012, his podium in Valencia and a comeback charge from the back to seventh in his final final race.

He said later his Mercedes comeback taught him how to lose, but you could see that mostly he was still enjoying it, I think gone was the total commitment to winning, he still wanted to certainly and some of his on track manoeuvres proved that, but he was a more relaxed individual in the public eye and seemed happy enough to be racing and working towards something.

The rewards never came but as we’ve come to appreciate, his comparison to Nico Rosberg is nothing at all to be ashamed of as Nico matches Hamilton in this years championship. Schumacher was often faster on race pace, so despite not demonstrating the devastating winning habit that characterised his first career it wasn’t quite as bad as some make out and when analysed properly doesn’t take anything away from his legacy. 

Not only is it ten years since his last title but later on this year it will be twenty since his first title. No one else has managed to sustain such comprehensive success to stay at the top of the sport for season after season, he will forever be talked about amongst the greats.

Of course there were the controversial moments, including questionable driving methods, favouritism from his team and the sports governing bodies. With regards to the team favouritism, he worked himself into that position so why should he not have benefitted? But these controversies are not what should be remembered about his career.

It should be just how exceptional he was, how much of a racer he was and how much he loved the sport he dominated. I remember the first time I saw him win live at the 1998 British Grand Prix in the pouring rain which encapsulated his career for me as it showed the racer and the controversy. It was mesmeric watching his hands dancing on the steering wheel as you could see him delicately balancing the car coming through club, driving hard through the spray but to win in the pit lane created uproar at the time.

You always knew something would happen when Michael Schumacher was racing. Since he retired for the second time he was still looking for challenges, looking for fun and thrills while also helping extensively with charities which wasn't overly publicised. I truly hope he can make as good a recovery as possible from the horrible skiing accident at the end of last year that left him in a coma for nearly six months. So now is the time to remember his success and continue to wish him well for more success in the future. Keep fighting Michael.

For some of my favourite Schumacher moments, please click here

all photo's taken from autosport.com

Ferrari vs McLaren: The Greatest Rivalry

The Ron Howard directed movie ‘Rush’ about the 1976 Formula 1 season depicts the rivalry between James Hunt and Niki Lauda driving for McLaren and Ferrari respectively. It’s a great film, the on track action is exhilarating, and the performances great, particularly that by Daniel Brühl who plays Lauda.

But this isn’t a review of the film, great though it is and well worth seeing, this is about looking at a few more of those McLaren Ferrari rivalries, because in many ways they have come to define the sport. How appropriate that a Hollywood Formula 1 film should feature the two biggest names of the sport. These two teams have been competing now for 50 years; theirs is one of the most enduring conflicts in Formula 1 history and always gives that extra edge when they’re competing for the top prize.

1974 was when they first duelled properly for the title. Clay Regazzoni missing out for the Scuderia by three points as Emerson Fittipaldi took the Woking teams first drivers title and their first constructors crown too.

Niki Lauda hit back for Ferrari the following year trouncing Fittipaldi, then came the famous ’76 season in which Hunt and Lauda emerged as motor racing greats and firmly established the McLaren and Ferrari rivalry in the veins of the sport. Lauda’s come back from almost being burnt alive has to go down as the most incredible piece of heroism the Formula 1 world has ever seen. While Hunt's drive in Japan to secure third and the title in the final race was mesmeric too.

There then followed a period where the teams never really competed on an equal footing despite some brief scuffles such as Ferrari’s Michele Alboreto offering a vague sort of challenge to McLaren’s Alain Prost in 1985 . However, here in chronological order are some of the best McLaren and Ferrari scraps.

1990

This started out as an Ayrton Senna vs Alain Prost/McLaren vs McLaren war, but when Prost left to join Ferrari, the battle was joined between the two teams once again. Much has been written about the intense rivalry between these two greats. Needless to say it was never going to end well. Resentment and bitterness had been boiling away for well over a year by the time we reached the start of the 1990 season. 

All season long they battled, Senna starting off the best, but Prost steadily catching him until they reached the penultimate race in Japan. We all know what happened, as Senna deliberately crashed into Prost at well over 120mph to secure a title that looked like it was slipping away. 

1990 was a political/conspiratorial drama that was fuelled by a years worth of personal feuding that played itself out on the track in the most thrilling and ultimately dangerous way.

1998 – 2000

After years in the doldrums Michael Schumacher had lifted Ferrari once again to become title challengers. They were surely about to overcome Williams and finally take the title for the first time since 1979. They didn't figure on Adrian Newey leaving Williams and moving to McLaren to work more of his aero magic.

McLaren were dominant in 1998 and Mika Hakkinen had come of age. This was a friendlier and more respectful rivalry between the Finn and Schumacher, but it had its intensity too. Ferrari fought back after a poor start and Schumacher managed to take the title to the last race of the season in Japan. 

He stalled and a charge back was thwarted by a puncture, Hakkinen dominated the race and took McLaren back to the front for the first time since Senna won in 1991. Ferrari meanwhile were still waiting.

In ’99 Schumacher broke his leg and I think Hakkinen and McLaren believed they had it won. That season turned into less of a McLaren vs Ferrari battle and more into a Hakkinen vs himself battle. The lack of Schumacher seemed to dull him, and he had to fight hard to not let Ferrari’s number 2 Eddie Irvine snatch the title away. Another last race battle kept Hakkinen as Champion.

Finally it all came right again for the Scuderia. Schumacher dominated the early stages of 2000 for the Scarlet team, but a mid-season slump allowed Mika back in, and he was leading the title chase with three rounds to go. Schuey struck back though, and at the penultimate race, again in Japan, he could wrap up the title. 

What followed was a performance by two drivers who were just on a completely different level than the rest of the field. They tore away, and it was only a spit of rain that turned it in Schumacher’s favour to end 21 years of hurt for Ferrari; a tremendous way to win.

2003

Schumacher had now gone onto dominate the next couple of years, but a new Finnish superstar Kimi Raikkonen had arrived on the scene and was showing just how good he could be. Despite taking only one win to Schumacher's six he took the then five time champion to the last race in Japan. 

Kimi went full tilt at his first chance of glory while it looked as if Schumacher crumbled; eventually though second wasn't enough and Schumacher managed to just about scrape a point to secure his sixth crown.

2007

Kimi was now at Ferrari but this season was more about McLaren vs McLaren again, as Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton went head to head. It was a messy season with the spy-gate affair going off and Alonso falling out with the team, it was a drama you couldn’t take your eyes off. So inward was their battle they forgot about Raikkonen who stole the championship from them by one point at the final race in Brazil. McLaren and Ferrari took a clean sweep of victories that year.

2008

This was an equally dramatic season as the one before, but it came down to Lewis Hamilton for McLaren vs Felipe Massa for Ferrari. They both had their share of glory and of woes, but this season between the two teams was a friendly battle, but no less intense. 

In fact 2008 was perhaps the most dramatic finale to a Formula 1 season ever. Massa had won his home race in Brazil superbly and with Hamilton lying sixth as they’d entered the last lap, he’d also won the championship. But the rain was falling, Toyota driver Timo Glock had stayed out on dry tyres, and Lewis was catching catching catching. On the last corner of the last lap Lewis passed him for fifth and so won the crown in the most amazing way. 

The Lost Years

Since then we haven’t had a good McLaren vs Ferrari battle. We should have done, in 2010 Lewis was involved in the title fight to the last race with Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber as well as Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso but he never had a chance. In 2012 too Lewis should have been a challenger, but his team sadly let him down, an Alonso/Ferrari against Hamilton/McLaren would have been spectacular as some of their all too brief on-track battles have since demonstrated.

But sometimes other teams come to the fore, Red Bull being the latest, but soon McLaren and Ferrari will recommence battle and the oldest rivalry in the sport will be fighting for the grand prize once again.