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Would Michael Schumacher be in the title fight if he was at MGP?


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#51 Gyno

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Posted 04 August 2014 - 16:03

Had he stuck with Ferrari in 07-08 he would have won both years easy.

He came close in 06 and a few mistakes cost him that title, like Austraulia he crashed out after going wide in the last corner and his parking in Monaco pretty much lost him the title.

He finished 6th in Monaco after starting from last place, That to me is one hell of an performance at monaco.

 

He showed some speed at Merc in his last year there, Pole at Monaco for instance but the bad luck he had at merc is just unbelivable.

Always something with his car while Nico had no problems atall, abit like it is now, Lewis gets all the problems and Nico just cruises at the front.

 

In Lewis car, No he wouldn't win the title.

In Nicos car, yes he would win the title.

 

Without his 09 bike Accident where he almost got paralized, who knows maybe he would have beated Nico every year at merc.

It must have done something, afterall he has metal plates in his neck from that crash.



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#52 George Costanza

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Posted 27 August 2014 - 01:22

How would Schumacher handle Lewis/Nico's "saga"?

I think if he was there, there would be no saga......



#53 Nick Planas

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Posted 27 August 2014 - 10:25

In answer to the thread question - yes.



#54 sopa

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Posted 27 August 2014 - 10:29

How would Schumacher handle Lewis/Nico's "saga"?

I think if he was there, there would be no saga......

 

Had M. Schumacher punctured Hamilton's tyre like that while competing together for the championship... my god, I don't want to imagine the forum discussions right now.



#55 Ferrari_F1_fan_2001

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Posted 27 August 2014 - 11:01

I've always said this. 

 

Lewis is the fastest guy out there but IMO he doesn't have the mettle to keep a lid on his emotions for a full season. There is just too much baggage surrounding him. 

 

I think Rosberg - his deviousness, arrogance, and mental aptitude - would present Schumacher with a bigger challenge. I think Rosberg would slight it if he carried momentum. 

 

However, a Schumacher who is in the groove - who doesn't look behind or apportion blame - and has momentum behind him is a very difficult beast to beat. Once he got going....he got going!



#56 MikeTekRacing

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Posted 27 August 2014 - 11:13

Had M. Schumacher punctured Hamilton's tyre like that while competing together for the championship... my god, I don't want to imagine the forum discussions right now.

which would be funny as fisico cut his tyre in brazil 06 with no outrage generated...



#57 Szoelloe

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Posted 27 August 2014 - 14:04

He would, most definitely.



#58 Szoelloe

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Posted 27 August 2014 - 14:05

How would Schumacher handle Lewis/Nico's "saga"?

I think if he was there, there would be no saga......

 

Absolutely agree.



#59 Afterburner

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Posted 27 August 2014 - 16:16

I think yes, quite honestly. A taste of ultimate success can do a lot to change people, and I don't think MS was an exception. MS v. NR with a title at stake would've been a very different battle, one with which I don't envisage Nico dealing very well.

Now MS v. LH is a different story. LH at this point in his career would probably be a bit faster than MS. With perfect reliability, I don't think MS would ever get close enough to LH to have any impact on him mentally. But if LH was the one 'mysteriously' ending up with all the reliability issues, well... it would have been a season to remember. :cat:

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#60 HoldenRT

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Posted 27 August 2014 - 16:17

which would be funny as fisico cut his tyre in brazil 06 with no outrage generated...

 

No calls for a penalty for Fisico.. no forum outrages.. like an alternate universe. :p
 


Edited by HoldenRT, 27 August 2014 - 16:18.


#61 Shambolic

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Posted 27 August 2014 - 17:02

I think yes, quite honestly. A taste of ultimate success can do a lot to change people, and I don't think MS was an exception. MS v. NR with a title at stake would've been a very different battle, one with which I don't envisage Nico dealing very well.

Now MS v. LH is a different story. LH at this point in his career would probably be a bit faster than MS. With perfect reliability, I don't think MS would ever get close enough to LH to have any impact on him mentally. But if LH was the one 'mysteriously' ending up with all the reliability issues, well... it would have been a season to remember. :cat:

 

The only downside to this is Rosbger is clearly close enough to Hamilton to more than niggle at him, and Schumacher was matching if not surpassing Rosberg in their last season together. So there's every chance the two Mercs would be tripping over each other at the front regardless of which 2 out of 3 were sat in them.

 

Rosberg was Hamilton-ing Schumacher (ie "robsutly" defending) whenever the two were together on track, and I don't recall him making the most tasteful remarks off track. However, Schumacher was always better with such things, he'd shake a driver's confidence moreso than make petty nasty little remarks.

 

Hamilton would almost certainly try and find ego placation via "heart on sleeve" press whoring, much as he has done this year.

 

So mentally I don't think Schumacher would have had any trouble from either driver, though both would have tried to use increasingly cringeworthy comments to do so. Pace wise, Hamilton would almost certainly have edged it over a lap, for most of the season, but it would've been too close for it to make a difference come Sundays.

 

I can't help feeling Schumacher would've managed his races better than Hamilton, and had just enough pace over Rosberg. And he'd have certainly saved Mercedes a hell of a lot of media headaches.

 

I've come to think Schumacher made his comeback too late, and took his second retirement too early.



#62 MetallurgicalHedonist

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Posted 27 August 2014 - 18:25

Generally answering the following question:

 

Would Michael Schumacher be int the title fight if he was at MGP?

 

Oh man, that's quite stretching it... with 45 years of age in modern F1?

 

I mean in 2010, sitting with 41 years of age in a RB6? Maybe. And even back then, it would've been dependent on who would've been his teammate. If Webber, then probably yes.

 

But further FOUR years later? At some point, the limit is reached. I don't know maybe, but only if someone like Massa 2006 was his teammate, meaning somebody who, like Massa back in 2006, was more his fanboy than a real threat within the team.

 

But, for example, against Rosberg? At least, by now where everyone knows that Rosberg is also someone who is scarily ambitious as hell and willing to do almost everything to be the winner against his teammate... very difficult for Schumacher.

 

Remember, Rosberg was no one who has been awestruck regarding Schumacher. Even when Schumacher was demanding the lower number on his car, Rosberg didn't give a sh.t. Others maybe would've made a big fuss about it. But that episode had no impact on Rosberg.

 

 



 

Rosberg was Hamilton-ing Schumacher (ie "robsutly" defending) whenever the two were together on track, and I don't recall him making the most tasteful remarks off track. However, Schumacher was always better with such things, he'd shake a driver's confidence moreso than make petty nasty little remarks.

 

 

... such as telling everybody during or towards the end of the 1994 season that Hill is not championship caliber (even if it was true) and that Senna would've driven circles around him?

 

Or (read it somewhere) asking Brundle (when they were teammates) whether it wouldn't be too expensive for a future test driver, after Brundle showed him his expensive watch (Rolex?)...

 

And the demanding of the lower number come the beginning of the 2010 season was also an attempt of intimidating, sorry (no matter how often it was said that he was superstitious regarding the numbers on the car).



#63 jstrains

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Posted 27 August 2014 - 18:38

Superb documentary on MS and his view on his title fights with Benetton and Ferrari, and comeback to Merc



#64 Ubik

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Posted 27 August 2014 - 18:49

No, he would have had little chance of beating Hamilton or Rosberg. He was getting too old and he was beginning to make far, far too many silly and avoidable errors. Only car failure for Hamilton or Rosberg would have given him a sniff of further WDCs 2014 and beyond.
 
Whilst he was a great driver at his best, there will always be question marks about some of his success i.e his unchallenged no.1 status, an era of relatively few top level drivers in other teams and some highly questionable stunts he pulled, some of which were downright dangerous.
 
Given his success, it is easy to mythologise his abilities. But the fact is that would be he would be a 45 year old going up against two excellent drivers in their late 20s.
 
But most importantly of all, I hope he makes as good a recovery as possible from his awful brain injury.  :up:


Edited by Ubik, 27 August 2014 - 18:49.


#65 MetallurgicalHedonist

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Posted 27 August 2014 - 18:51

Small addition:

 

I've come to think Schumacher made his comeback too late, and took his second retirement too early.

 

I think all the "mess" of retiring and having a comeback started in 2005/2006 when he decided to retire after it was clear, even before 2006 I guess, that Raikkonen would join Ferrari. And back then in the mid 2000s, Raikkonen had an exceptional season with a clearly inferior car in 2003 against Schumacher and, one year later, he destroyed Schumacher's charisma in Schumacher's "living room" called Spa Francorchamps with an inferiour car and, another year later, Raikkonen was the Montoya destroyer. And Montoya was considered very quick and strong (remember some encounters of Montoya and Schumacher on track). The prospect of driving against that Raikkonen made Schumacher retire. Then he saw Raikkonen against Massa and he probably thought, "Huh? I retired because of the "menacing" prospect of Raikkonen driving against me in 2007? Man, did I act overcautiously or what?"

 

And then after the Brackley team was having a great year, he decided to have his comeback against "only someone" like Rosberg. Maybe he thought, "Rosberg is certainly not as good as Raikkonen let alone better"... and "woosh" there it went.


Edited by MetallurgicalHedonist, 27 August 2014 - 18:57.


#66 Longtimefan

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Posted 27 August 2014 - 19:51

I think its plainly obvious to most people that if he hadn't had all that really bad luck in his last year, he would have beaten Nico convincingly.

 

Would he be in the title fight?  I say yes, he'd be leading it.



#67 Nonesuch

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Posted 27 August 2014 - 20:25

which would be funny as fisico cut his tyre in brazil 06 with no outrage generated...

 

Imagine that, eh. :lol:

 

In the end that might have been a fortunate accident. In Brazil 2006, Schumacher's chance of winning the WDC was minimal at best, and would have depended on an extremely unlikely series of events. What could have been a fairly standard drive to the podium, only to lose out in the WDC, ended up being a great final race that overshadowed pretty much everything else that happened that day. :up: