A website by people with an incurable obsession with Formula One Racing
Furthermore to The anatomy of an overtaking maneuver posted recently, this next video shows the Brazilian Raikkonen/Schumacher battle in it’s 5 lap entirety - all footage is onboard from both cars involved! Theres nothing more to add that hasn’t already been said, so just enjoy!
In Brazil this year Michael Schumacher was forced to storm through the field following a tire puncture which relegated him to the back of the field very early in the race. With typical ruthless efficiency he dispatched one back marker after another until he was within the point paying positions. Even in the final eight positions some of the drivers like Kubica simply moved over for him. Then he was within reach of 4th place but in front of him was his replacement at Ferrari next year and Kimi Raikkonen wasn’t going to just move over.
As if to reinforce his run of bad luck in the last few weeks Nick Heidfeld had a big accident at turn 1 just as Schumacher was ready to catch and try to pass Kimi. Heidfeld’s accident meant double waving flags at the premiere passing spot on the entire track and so Schumacher was forced to momentarily pull back from his amazing run through the field. What followed next in the last 5 laps of his last F1 race ever was a perfect demonstration of this champions amazing ability to make an F1 car obey his every wish and beat any driver for position. My only wish after 16 years of watching Schumacher race is that I wish he hadn’t spent all those years in a dominant car. I wish he had to fight more for his glory because then we would have seen more of this …
With double waving yellow flags at turn 1 Schumacher was desperate to get passed Raikkonen so if turn 1 wasn’t available then why give up? So he tried a move on the outside at Cotovelo.
Turn 1 is now clear so just 2 laps after trying his move at Cotovelo Schumacher has a look on the inside down the pit straight but Raikkonen covers the line.
On the next lap Schumacher has figured out how to get by. He makes the same move to the inside and Kimi covers but then he moves back to the racing line to set up for turn 1 and to his great surprise Schumacher is still pushing down the inside. For a brief moment you can see Raikkonen is caught completely off guard and his car twitches as if he is about to close the door hard on Schumacher but he realizes the corner is lost and tries to out brake him into the corner but Schumacher has massive amounts of grip and easily navigates his Ferrari on the inside and gains the coveted position from his heir apparent.
I don’t care if you love him or hate. If you’re an F1 fan or not. That is just brilliant, brilliant racing.
All videos Copyright FOM and ITV
When I think of the Brazilian Grand Prix I think of Interlagos. That’s the name most commonly used for the circuit which has hosted the Brazilian Grand Prix since 1973. But that’s not the official name of the circuit. The official name is Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace. For the record the ‘c’ in Pace is pronounced like the ‘ch’ in cheese.
Anyway Pace was a Brazilian driver who started his career in the early 70’s, driving his first F1 race at Kaylami in 1972 for Frank Williams. He was a Brazilian driver (born in Sao Paulo) coming to prominence at the same time as the sensational Emerson Fittipaldi who would become the youngest F1 champion in 1972. Pace didn’t languish in Fittipaldi’s shadow but he also didn’t rise to the same level driving for Williams, Surtees then Bernie Ecclestone’s Brabham team. He did however pull off one feat which not even the great Fitipaildi can claim to have done. In 1975 Pace won the first point paying Grand Prix in front of his home crowd at Interlagos beating the undoubtadly crowd favorite Emerson Fittipaldi who was driving for McLaren. It was Pace’s only F1 victory.
Pace stayed with Brabham and teamed up with Carlos Reutemann through 1976 and 1977, at times showing brilliance. An airplane crash near Sao Paulo claimed the life of Jose Carlos Pace at the young age of 32.
