Michael Schumacher: what's the secret of his success?

[empy]

well, i watched the US GP...and it's nothing new - another day of dominance by Ferrari and another disappointing day for BMW Williams.

as i was watching the red and yellow cars leave everyone behind, i couldn't help thinking about Schumacher...and how he will almost certainly be the most successful F1 driver in all of history when he finally retires.

but why is he so successful this year? is it:

his superior skill,
the car
or the fact that his competition sucks?

[mazdamazda]

i guess it is a mix of all those things...

car. you can't just attribute it on the car. doesn't sauber-petronas share the same engine and tranny with ferrari?

you just have to admire the teamwork of the whole ferrari team. samples of these are when barichello blocks passers while schumi takes a pit.

strategy. in the canadian gp - the victory was snatched by ferrari by only pitting 2 times! they may be losing time by driving around with full fuel loads but it paid off in the end.

competition. i dont' think that the competition is going soft. it's just that their engines aren't up to the new "reliability" rules.

[kimpOy]

F1 is a 1-2 seconds sport.

if your car has a difference of 2 seconds on the pack, rest assure of the constructor championship unless bad luck and crashes comes along the way.

as for mclaren lets wait for the B version of the MP4-19

as for Williams, both drivers are jusr eager for the next season GP (both drivers will not stay for williams)

add: tire puncture causes the scary crash of ralf lastnight

BAR is the only competitive right now,
nagka cash flow sila nung umalis si high priced driver jacques villnueve he..he

as for michael schumacher why is he so dominant???
1. skills
2. high budgeted team ergo wonderful car
3. his team (precise pitstop anytime anywhere)

[RedHorse]

kimpoy,

heard (3) yon daw ang parating practice ni Schumi

[otanex]

ibang klase talaga di schumi .... no fear ika nga ... ride like a sound sya...

[skipper]

You forgot to mention Scumy's also very well-motivated. After winning so many times, a lesser driver will have no more drive so to speak(think Mika). Not Schumy, he's still as determined as ever and with the right tools and skills, he's gonna keep on winning.

[baiskee]

galing ng teamwork talaga ng ferrari...

[RedHorse]

I not discounting the fact, that someday may mag-publish ng book about the work ethics of this winning ferrari team...

[turk182]

he's the clear no. 1 driver of the team.. team orders are not allowed anymore but ferrari still treats him as their undisputed favored one... that's why many f1 fans refer to barichello as schumi's bitch...

he admittedly has very good skills but he is also driving the best car on the grid for several years now...

he is also a ruthless competitor to the point of being somewhat unfair... there are some incidents of him purposely crashing to another car in trying to win the championship... also, he sometimes does some crazy and dangerous moves to prevent others from overtaking him with the most recent one being at indy, one with barichello involved and another one with sato at the start...

[empy]

i think you definitely cannot use the reason that his competition sucks in his earlier years, not while going up against the likes of Senna and Hakkinen.

but today, i just feel that no one is up for the challenge - except for Montoya, who i think does it in a sometimes foolish manner.

the car and the team also have a little bit to do with it...look at Barichello's success.

i wonder what would happen if we put Kimi Raikkonen or Fernando Alonso in a Ferrari and Schumacher in a McLaren....that would be an interesting race :cool:

[logbook]

absolutely.... i do think its mostly the car nowadays. there's no lack of talent on the grid with the likes of montoya, alonso, raikkonen and button.

i'm not taking away schumi's skill behind the wheel, he's good i admit. but most of the competitions cars either aren't up to speed or aren't reliable enough to take the fight to ferrari

[effone]

There can be no sport more secretive than racing Formula One. This is hardly surprising as, much as we like to idolise our favourite drivers, the majority of the competitive edge comes from the machinery. Consequently, technical improvements and refinements become closely guarded secrets because, if everybody had them, they would no longer be an advantage and would become merely a minimum requirement.

we cannot say that Schumacher is the secret - the likes of Raikonen, Montoya, Button, Alonso are equally talented as Schumi.

and if you say the car - i dont think so, as compared and researched by the F1 afficionados. BMW is the more powerful and if not, the most powerful engine in Formula racing. aerodynamics in that case is dominated by Renault team as well as the Lauch controll system.

Tire - most of them now uses Michellin.

--------------------------------------------------------

to top this all, is the team. the timing and most of all - the patience.

just my 2 cents...

[artpogi]

Michael Schumacher: what's the secret of his success?

IMHO aside from his driving talent and the Ferrari Team.

Another factor is Michael's ability to relay the correct/necessary information to the engineers so that the engineers can make the necessary adjustments to the car/engine for optimum performance. This IMHO plays a big part to the success of Ferrari and Michael.

[brg998uk]

Success??
The german can never beat Senna's record, as he has taken some 40+ races to equal it.
MS is an average driver with a perfect package, nothing more.
HHF consistantly beat MS when they raced identical touring cars.
Mika consistantly came out on top in any head to head.
Kimi has more natural skill than any other driver i have seen since the 60's.
Ignore the Senna/Prost battles, and MS is the only driver to win a championship by deliberatly ramming another driver, Hill and JV.
I watched Senna lap an entire field in a go kart race, 3 times.
MS often loses go cart races.
Put Kimi and MS in the same car, any car and see who is better.
Put MS on Edsa and watch most jeepney drives beat him!
Do F1 fans want to see a driver race or a team race? I just hope MS stays for a few more years, Kimi, Alonso and Button will show him up for what he is, an average driver without competition.
Actualy he has no choice, if he retires now the media will say he is scared.....
Easy to post more but the people who think any red car is MS will never believe it anyway

[odell]

galing talaga grabe.. edi pag nagretire si MS.. un bitch naman nya un parang MS ngaun?

[effone]

I watched Senna lap an entire field in a go kart race, 3 times.
MS often loses go cart races.
Put Kimi and MS in the same car, any car and see who is better.
Put MS on Edsa and watch most jeepney drives beat him!
Do F1 fans want to see a driver race or a team race? I just hope MS stays for a few more years, Kimi, Alonso and Button will show him up for what he is, an average driver without competition.
Actualy he has no choice, if he retires now the media will say he is scared.....

Easy to post more but the people who think any red car is MS will never believe it anyway [/B][/QUOTE]



i think you should reconsider your post - brg998uk

[/QUOTE]The german can never beat Senna's record, as he has taken some 40+ races to equal it.[/QUOTE]

senna's records??? Michael Schumacher is making history.

MS is an average driver with a perfect package, nothing more. HHF consistantly beat MS when they raced identical touring cars.

if MS is an average driver then what do we call kimi, motoya, button, alonzo, barichello, trulli and everybody else who always caught on accident not to blame the car but the driver....this drivers exceed to the limit where MS always in no doubt think twice to move on. For me, they will not be in F1 racing if they are not that good but the best.

Mika consistantly came out on top in any head to head.
Kimi has more natural skill than any other driver i have seen since the 60's.

If Mika is better that schumacher then why he quits. they are quitters coz they cannot accept defeat.

Ignore the Senna/Prost battles, and MS is the only driver to win a championship by deliberatly ramming another driver, Hill and JV.

think again, not in same scenario but the intention when in one race, coulthard deliberately bump MS for Mika to pass and win the the championship.

and dude! EDSA? this are professional race car driver, they dont do it on streets. and i dont think jeepney drivers can hadle the power of an F1 car. and this jeepney drivers dont think - they just do their stuff what ever it goes. para ka naman others!

this are the making of man and machine - team effort ika nga - MS success if ferrari's success...

negative feedbacks do come out bcoz MS continue to win.

this drivers will have their time and lets wait for it, but for the meantime lets cheers for "Michael Schumacher"

[skipper]

Nice to see a fellow Senna fan. But I have to disagree on these points:

>The german can never beat Senna's record, as he has taken some 40+ races to equal it.
Senna won 41/162 races(about 25%). MS won 81/207(almost 40%). Or are you talking about the poles.

>MS is an average driver with a perfect package, nothing more.
Then why do you think Ferrari would spend so much for MS? If they can win with an average driver why not get cheaper drivers?

>HHF consistantly beat MS when they raced identical touring cars.
When was this? You mean to say MS is the same driver he was 15 yrs. ago? That he never improved one bit?

>Mika consistantly came out on top in any head to head.
I want to see Mika return.

>Kimi has more natural skill than any other driver i have seen since the 60's.
Then maybe natural skill is not enough to win races consistently.

>Ignore the Senna/Prost battles, and MS is the only driver to win a championship by deliberatly ramming another driver, Hill and JV.
Not indicative of the driver's skills.

>I watched Senna lap an entire field in a go kart race, 3 times. MS often loses go cart races.

>Put Kimi and MS in the same car, any car and see who is better.
Yes, I'd like to see this. Kimi's definitely better than DC in the same car. But MS has shown he's betten than Rubens in the same car.

>Put MS on Edsa and watch most jeepney drives beat him!
Then those drivers face a bright future in motor racing.

>Do F1 fans want to see a driver race or a team race? I just hope MS stays for a few more years, Kimi, Alonso and Button will show him up for what he is, an average driver without competition.
Actualy he has no choice, if he retires now the media will say he is scared.....
Age will catch up with MS. Now's the time for teams and young drivers to challenge MS. Mclaren seems to have a reliable car now, and we know they're at par with Ferrari as far as strategy is concerned. Let's see Kimi take take the fight to MS.

>Easy to post more but the people who think any red car is MS will never believe it anyway
Please post them. Who knows, they might enlighten us.

[1D4LV]

hmmmm. i think the secret is the "chin".... its more "aerodynamic" than the competitors.

go easy on the debates guys... ;)

[theveed]

Senna ran over teammate Irvine's front wing to claim a win...

I love Senna, but I do respect MS for what he has done. I don't think he's good for the sport, but the man earned the right to be called the best F1 driver in history so far if you're basing them on facts and stats and not subjective favoritism.

I'm a Senna fan for life BTW... Senna vs Mansell... Best days for me...

Oh, just like Kobe vs MJ, don't bother comparing sportsmen from different eras... Too much variables to consider.

[brg998uk]

Yes, sorry, poles. Senna's record is from 161 starts. Senna had serious competition, some say this was the golden era.
Schumacher to date has only had Hakkinen.
Just trying to keep it in perspective as so tired of recent armchair media fed "fans" who have never been near a GP who think they have the right or wisdom to speak.

Raikkonen is the only driver capable of proving what MS is........and will do it.

Why did Ferrari take him? Simple, his fantastic ability to draw money.
I was lucky enough to work at Benneton while MS was there. many in that team said the same, with Michael's money we can win. They were proven correct.
F1 needed a showman to make money, they got one.

What F1 needs today is the equivalent of the ProCar races. Equal cars, driver skill required.
I am not saying F1 should become some US race clone, but a ProCar style race before or after a GP would allow people to know which driver has skill and who is a passenger in a very expensive package.

Oh yeh, Montoya might as well go back where he came from.

I admire Mika's skill, but he should not return as it would most likely be a spectacle, only boxers should return when they run out of cash.

Certainly MS has improved, but if HHF had his showman skills, had drawn the cash then he would be where MS is today.