F1 and Michael Schumacher - End of and Era!
The man has entertained me on most sundays for well over a decade and now it looks like he's stepping out of the circus.
After a career Spanning 15 years in formual one racing the motor sports most successful competitor has announce his forthcoming retirement.
At the end of the current season Schumacher says he will be leaving the sport.
The Most Impressive carreer of Michael which includes 7 world driving championships with 90 Race wins garnered in 245 Grand Prix starts will probably stay in the record books far a very long time. This year is also not over yet so we may yet see some more magic from Schumi as he now lies only 2 points back of current world champion Fernando Alonso and the Ferrari Team now in the Cat Birds seat for the Manufacturers Crown.
Schumacher has amazed and disturbed race fans with both his ourstanding driving performances and some on track antics that were less than noble to say the least.
Often willing to resort to dirty tactics such as hindering traffic or even crashing out world championship competitors to prevent their gaining points in the series.
In my view he's probably the most mercenary of F1 drivers and despite the antics of some in other series ( CART, IMSA, NASCAR come to mind ) has few rivals for title of biggest bastard in all of racing! He has had the ability to cow many of his opponenets on a regular basis.
He's certainly shrewd, a first rate race tactician and most capable of wringing the maximum performance from a race machine. In spite of the controversies and low-lights that have marred his carreer from time to time his driving performances in clinch situations have been the shining highlights. Backed up by an unbelievable ability to sustain consistent performance his skills have been the key to success over all other drivers to date.
A lot has been said about the relative merrits of the vehicles that Schumi pilots but we must keep in mind that many many races that he contested successfully were in Cars that were not superior in overall performance. His tenure at Ferrari took that team from mediocrity and failure in the mid 1990's to dominance in 5 consecutive years of 2000 thru 2004 and he did it with machinery that was not for the most part dominant on its own. Michael Schumacher may be a prima donna among drivers but he's a consumate team player and the most capable test and development pilot in the business....and that's what makes the Ferrari team successfull!
But what of Ferrari now? I predict that the house of prancing ponies will be in turmoil.
Regardless of who they bring in to replace the man they will not be getting anyone with the same combination drive, intelligence, ruthlessness, experience and ability that Michael takes with him.....no one is even close.
And as I understand there will be other retirements and even defections in the Ferrari camp. It's not the first time that internicine politicing has torn apart the company's race program.
And, there is much rumor and speculation among the sports pundits about the current circumstances of the retirement and the potention fall out.
My prediction is that the Renault Star is once again on the rise and that McClaren will be a major force as well. I also believe that the Williams group will not stay in the ranks of the mediocre for much longer.
Maybe Schumi will even show up in another teams livery someday!
You never know....
OMMAG
After a career Spanning 15 years in formual one racing the motor sports most successful competitor has announce his forthcoming retirement.
At the end of the current season Schumacher says he will be leaving the sport.
The Most Impressive carreer of Michael which includes 7 world driving championships with 90 Race wins garnered in 245 Grand Prix starts will probably stay in the record books far a very long time. This year is also not over yet so we may yet see some more magic from Schumi as he now lies only 2 points back of current world champion Fernando Alonso and the Ferrari Team now in the Cat Birds seat for the Manufacturers Crown.
Schumacher has amazed and disturbed race fans with both his ourstanding driving performances and some on track antics that were less than noble to say the least.
Often willing to resort to dirty tactics such as hindering traffic or even crashing out world championship competitors to prevent their gaining points in the series.
In my view he's probably the most mercenary of F1 drivers and despite the antics of some in other series ( CART, IMSA, NASCAR come to mind ) has few rivals for title of biggest bastard in all of racing! He has had the ability to cow many of his opponenets on a regular basis.
He's certainly shrewd, a first rate race tactician and most capable of wringing the maximum performance from a race machine. In spite of the controversies and low-lights that have marred his carreer from time to time his driving performances in clinch situations have been the shining highlights. Backed up by an unbelievable ability to sustain consistent performance his skills have been the key to success over all other drivers to date.
A lot has been said about the relative merrits of the vehicles that Schumi pilots but we must keep in mind that many many races that he contested successfully were in Cars that were not superior in overall performance. His tenure at Ferrari took that team from mediocrity and failure in the mid 1990's to dominance in 5 consecutive years of 2000 thru 2004 and he did it with machinery that was not for the most part dominant on its own. Michael Schumacher may be a prima donna among drivers but he's a consumate team player and the most capable test and development pilot in the business....and that's what makes the Ferrari team successfull!
But what of Ferrari now? I predict that the house of prancing ponies will be in turmoil.
Regardless of who they bring in to replace the man they will not be getting anyone with the same combination drive, intelligence, ruthlessness, experience and ability that Michael takes with him.....no one is even close.
And as I understand there will be other retirements and even defections in the Ferrari camp. It's not the first time that internicine politicing has torn apart the company's race program.
And, there is much rumor and speculation among the sports pundits about the current circumstances of the retirement and the potention fall out.
My prediction is that the Renault Star is once again on the rise and that McClaren will be a major force as well. I also believe that the Williams group will not stay in the ranks of the mediocre for much longer.
Maybe Schumi will even show up in another teams livery someday!
You never know....
OMMAG
posted by OMMAG at 7:36 p.m.
1 Comments:
Mikey is a god. The combination of him and Ferrari turned F1 On it's collective ear. I never actually tried to guess the winner of the race, it would always be who would place second or third.
It actually kind of turned me off F1 for awhile, because I really liked the McLaren team (something to do with my favorite car of all time being the F1), but you cannot deny the talent of Shumacher and the Ferrari team.
Congratulations Mike, you deserve it.
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