Monday, February 25th, 2008
Between the 2001 US Grand Prix and the 2002 Japanese Grand Prix, Michael Schumacher set a record that’s unlikely to be broken any time soon. The German stood on the podium for 19 consecutive races, more than twice as much as the previous record holders Jim Clark, Niki Lauda and Nelson Piquet and 4 more than Alonso’s impressive podium run between 2005 and 2006. After having finished the 2001 Italian Grand Prix in fourth, Schumacher ended the season with a second place at Indianapolis and a win in Suzuka to claim his fourth World Championship.
What happened in the next season was incredible. Schumacher put his Ferrari on the podium in each of the seventeen races of the season, displaying a level of dominance that had only been achieved by Jim Clark in 1963, Nigel Mansell in 1992 and Fernando Alonso in 2005.
When the F2002 made its debut at the third race in Brazil, it’s power became immediately clear. Schumacher won the first four races in the new car before coming second in Monaco. Three more wins and another second place meant that Schumacher clinched the World Championship in France, after just eleven rounds. After that, the German took his foot slightly off the pedal, helping teammate Rubens Barrichello win three races in which the World Champion came second.
In the first race of 2003, it looked as if Schumacher would continue his impressive sequence after having qualified well ahead of the pack. However, in the race things went wrong when Schumacher damaged the car while driving over a kerb. A fourth place just behind Kimi Raikkonen meant that the string of 19 consecutive podium finished had come to an end.
Posted in Countdown 2008 | No Comments »
Thursday, November 15th, 2007
Last week Michael Schumacher set a lap time just 5 seconds shy of the times set by top riders in MotoGP. Schumacher rode Casey Stoner’s Ducati GP7 around the Valencia track just five seconds slower than Dani Pedrosa’s fastest lap during the final race of the season.
Five seconds off the pace is an eternity in any speed sport but think about this;in 2005 Schumacher ran a MotoGP bike at Mugello and was 15 seconds off the pace. Se he’s improved. Now I’m assuming these bikes are hard to ride. For example I know how to drive a car (very well if I do say so myself) but that doesn’t mean I can jump in an F1 car and get within a decade of a race fastest lap. This guy hops on a MotoGP bike and runs within seconds of the fastest lap. It’s not like he is getting out everyday to practice. Anyway I find it pretty amazing and combine this with his recent success at testing the driver-aid less F2007 and I sure do wish he would come back to racing. Watch for yourself.
All credit to the original poster of this video clip.
Posted in Audio/Video/Pictures, Op-ed | 10 Comments »
Saturday, March 17th, 2007
Michael Schumacher might be gone from F1 racing but we can hold on to his memories a little longer with this quiz posted over at the F1 Gallery.
Posted in F1 Quiz | 1 Comment »
Sunday, October 29th, 2006
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!
Posted in Audio/Video/Pictures, Race Review | 5 Comments »
Friday, October 27th, 2006
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
Posted in Audio/Video/Pictures, Race Review | 2 Comments »
