OK yeah this quote is taken out of context

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport...one/7692480.stm

The rest of this interview is tonight at 2320 UK time (GMT).

I think they (the BBC) took it out of context and a little irresponsable too.

Of course its possible, it's possible my sister could do it too but lets at least wait until after Brazil when he has ONLY 7 more titles to get to beat the record if he wins a first one.

At least MS could have included "very difficult" somewhere in his lines, a tad too nice this time I think - I wonder if he will start to be "busy" when asked for interviews by the English press after/if Hammo gets his first title.

I don't see how it's irresponsible, but it is making a story out of nothing, which I guess is the journalistic equivalent of padding. It's a no-story really, the best thing to do is ignore it

It is more than possible,. If you can just imagine all the other teams unable to produce a car as good as mclaren in the next few years and mclaren becomes the best car of the grid by far, similar to ferrari 00-04, Lewis will walk away with the titles.
This record is not up to lewis alone, as a driver he has what it takes to collect win after win when his car is the best. I also doubt Ron will hire a top driver to challenge lewis, so from that perspective he is safe...

Could he? Sure, but only time can tell if he will. [/obvious]

For 8 years in a row? No, I can't imagine it.

Then that is not Lewis's problem... He certaintly can do it with the right equipment, same as Schumacher did...

What Michael actually said was that Hamilton OR Massa OR Vettel or whoever could beat his record, because records are there to be broken, that's natural. He didn't talk exclusively of Hamilton, only BBC chose to put Hamilton in their headline...

I agree, though I think with the way the rules are going it is going to be much harder for one team to establish dominance over the others.

I hate this sort of 'journalism'. Headline barely connected to the story, it's so cheap. And another MS interview where he's asked about Hamilton, I don't know how he stays civil.

Me, im just wondering what the oracle, F1 great and former triple world champion Jacky Stewart thinks about this.

But I admit the BBC and especially andrew benson have a nick of writing a lot of lewis porn. I wonder if he could contain himself whilst writing that piece.

It's also a bit funny. I mean people are going on about how Lewis will break Schumacher's records when he is yet to win one title. In a week he probably have that first one in the bag, but then it's still 6 to go, more than anyone has ever won except Schumacher himself. Lewis may achieve that, yes, but IMO it's a bit pre-mature to talk about it until he has 6 titles. Things can change so quickly in F1.

A more fitting title for the news item might have been "Several young drivers could win more titles than I did."

Or even, more honestly, "There is no news today"

Or: "There is no news but we have an interview showing tonight to plug ..."

Everything I've seen recently makes me believe that BBC's coverage of F1 in 2009 shall be no better than the tripe we've had to endure from Ryder and co. for the past several seasons... :yawn:

I dont believe that. Its just mainly that idiot, lewis loving andrew benson. He was sacked at autosport in 96 and fled to the bbc. Gutter press reporter, vivid pro mclaren and anti ferrari. The bbc coverage wil be up to standards.

So we don't need to watch it and find out, because we've all made our minds (sic) up already?

Jeez.

Champ, I've seen a couple of BBC interviews with Schumacher in the past week and both of them have been all about Hamilton. So much so that Michael was getting pretty irritated in one of them.

I see you have mastered the art of random answers...

All these retired champions should keep quiet, F1 has changed too much for their views to be relevant.

(Sarcasm in reference to the other "shut up former champions" thread)

Careful!
You'll be deafened by the whoosh of irony going over their heads!

I think Lewis is capable of winning 7 championship if he's given the right car many years in a row.

I think Alonso is capable of winning 7 championship if he's given the right car many years in a row.

I think there might be other drivers on the grid capable of winning 7 championship if they're given the right car many years in a row.

The number of WDCs don't show how good a driver is. Winning more than 3 WDCs doesn't only require enormous talent but also lots of luck and it depends very much on the circumstances.

(Not taking anything away from MS, he got the chance and did the job. An extraordinary job.)

I agree. I think drivers with 3+ titles are usually in the same league whether they have 3 titles or 4 or 5 or 7. Any driver who wins 3 titles is a legend. I think that's what Alonso said once too - you know in his comment that was misunderstood as "I will retire if I win 3 titles". That's not what he said, he said if he wins 3 that's when he will be satisfied because on his mind every all time great had three or more titles.

I think Alonso will get his 3rd and I think Lewis has a good chance of getting there, just needs to get off the blocks, the only others I can see also doing it is maybe Kubica or Vettel

Here is the whole interview in video format:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tv_and_rad...ort/default.stm

I'm not sure if he can match MS, mostly because I'm guessing F1 will be more balanced competitively than during much of the Schumacher era (LH has already lost one title because he faced strong competition from 3 drivers, and there probably will be an ace like Alonso around Ferrari down the road). But he's got the best chance any driver had, given age and the ride he started in. It wasn't that long ago that even a top talent like Senna did his time at Toleman and good but not WDC capable Lotus.

It will be interesting to see if he reaches a point where he has to make a big career move decision, like MS in 96, which ultimately paid huge returns, and also JV which, well....

Cheers for that! Missed it and iPlayer dont have it up.

I enjoyed the interview more than the previous BBC Schumi one. MS did a good job again of not being as Lewis centric in his answers as the initial questions were but after this the interview was great I thought, particularly when he was asked about Raikkonens fortunes this year. His liking of great golfers asking each other for advice to Kimi not asking him was very apt but also quite telling of the politics inside Ferrari.

MS being close to Felipe can't be good for Kimi in that it could well be an unfair advantage for Massa. I wouldnt be happy in that situation if I was Kimi and I believe Alonso wouldnt be either if he were to go there in Kimis place.

From the outside it appears more obvious that the reigning champion is fighting an uphill battle at Ferrari than when reigning champion Alonso claimed favouritism of Lewis at McLaren last year. The difference in their respective attittudes towards the situation could be no better an example of a stereotypical Latino and Nordic temperament if you tried!

I don't see anything unfair for Kimi there, nor "politics inside Ferrari" about it. Ferrari, like any team, has to take any opportunity to maximise their chances. In Massa's case that means consulting with MS, taking his advice etc. For him it works and he is not too proud to not to seek those advices. So why shouldn't he? Just because Kimi was struggling, he too should have struggled? If he could sort out the F2008 better than Kimi, good for him. If it was with Michael's help good for him also.

It would only have been unfair to Kimi if MS would have said "I help Felipe but I don't help Kimi". Obviously that wasn't the case, it was Kimi who wouldn't seek MS's advice. No problem with that, he wants to do it his own way and you have to respect that. But I don't think it is something that you can blame on the team or on MS.

Wow does the British press ever ask anyone a question without mentioning Hamilton?

I hope no one ever beats that record, simply because that means there will probably be some serious domination years. That is never very exciting or fun to watch.

Hamilton is well positioned to have a decent shot at it, he entered F1 fairly young straight into a Mclaren and he is obviously very talented (but still error prone). It's MUCH too early to start talking about 8 WDCs though, when he has ZERO to his name. If/when he gets a few, then it's more reasonable to start talking about it.

The number of WDC doesn't necessarily label you as the greatest driver either (not saying Schumacher wasn't amazing). Senna "only" won 3 WDC, but many people consider him the greatest driver in history, largely due to his brilliance in the Lotus/Toleman years, or 93' in the seriously disadvantaged/underpowered Mclaren.

be careful.. there are many hardcore fans out there that would tell you that you are nuts and that the number of wins and titles is indicative of the greatness of a particular driver..

It's very possible. Most records will be broken over time, even those of Michael Phelps ;-) - I think Lewis has it in him, let's hope McLaren can provide the car for him to be able to do it.

Lewis, what you doing here? Ron told you not to surf the net.

And he's up after 9 on a schoolnight!

Shouldn't these questions be asked in a few years when he has say 3 or 4? What will they talk about then?

Way too early to even begin to speculate.


Cooper

Just watching a replay of the interview.

Schumacher comes off quite relaxed and a lot less arrogant than in the past.
It's a very good interview and shows his enormous professionalism.

He makes a nice comment about development of the car not fitting Kimi well, and also gives us some inside information on the driveablity of the Ferrari.

Great interview.

Just how long did ti take for someone like Schumacher (and Ferrari's dominance + an unusual slump from the other major teams) to come along and break Fangio's record?

Let's be serious, it will be a long time before such an unusual combination of success factors ever comes together again.

So no, It will not be Lewis, Vettel, Alonso, Massa or whomever on the grid today.

Schumacher is being too modest.

Could - that's an interesting word.

So far he has not won any, only lost one.

I was very happy to see Michael again; good interview it was.

He could, if things go the right way for him.

I more and more doubt however that F1 will survive in the current format for that long.