SCHUMACHER IS BACK: RETURN OF THE ‘RED BARON’ IS GOOD FOR F1
December 23, 2009 by Negative Camber
Filed under F1B Op-Ed, Negative Camber, Parc Fermé, People & Events, Top Story
Having started his career in 1990 with Mercedes Benz, Michael Schumacher is now officially making his return from whence he came. The 7-time world champion has been announced as Nico Rosberg’s teammate at Mercedes GP Petronas for the 2010 season.
Once thought to be forever linked to Ferrari, having delivered five world titles to the Italian team, the controversial and demonstrably talented German driver has surgically removed himself from the Italian teams branding and steeped himself back into the German culture that gave birth to his assault on the Formula 1 series.
It is not lost on his detractors that a motorcycling injury sidelined his potential return as a replacement driver for the injured Felipe Massa in 2009 at Ferrari. Many have denounced his image, ability and potential for the coming season but others less prone to emotional rhetoric have remained silent as they know all too well the brewing storm that could happen if time, space, resources and gray matter align. In short, if the Brawn/Schumacher machine can be restarted from its dormant state—opposing teams could be eviscerated.
Some will suggest that lightning never strikes twice and that age will pay a factor in the champion’s return. They will argue that the Brawn-lead Mercedes team is bereft of some of the essential key players that made the Brawn/Schumacher/Ferrari dynasty so surreal. They’ll suggest that Mercedes GP Petronas will not have the “right stuff” to deliver a package competitive enough for an age-diminished driver facing fierce, younger competition. They may argue that his past sins will continue to deliver bad mojo for his return as a penitence for his Hill, Villeneuve, Monaco debacles.
The list of reasons why the Return of the King is not a good idea is long. Many counterpoints are centered on the ill effects of his media attention, the damage his image will suffer if he fails, the impact of his presence in F1 as a cheap attempt to trump up a financially waning series and the betrayal of Ferrari. That’s just a few of the topics I have seen discussed here at F1B and elsewhere.
Here is why the return of Schumacher is good for F1, teams, the FIA, fans, detractors, pundits, owners, FOM and television:
He is a singular person who defies adversity in times of strife and who galvanizes the sport of F1 like no one has since the days of Senna, Lauda, Stewart and Clark. He never quits…EVER. His fighting spirit to the end of even the most doomed race is his testament to the drive that turns failure into success. His presence in F1 will sell tickets, merchandise, TV adverts, sponsors products, tires, cars and F1 itself. His appointment at Mercedes will give that team its best chance to win titles not just races.
His pairing with Nico Rosberg delivers a mentorship for the young German to learn from arguably the most successful F1 driver of all time. His talent and pace are ranked among the very best the sport has ever seen and while his “questionable” moments have been built-up to epic lifetime-ban proportions, he is of an era where racing was brutal, physical and on the limit. He causes controversy; he delivers astounding performances and creates excitement, good or bad, wherever he goes.
To put it bluntly he is, as Bernie Ecclestone said himself, one of the greatest characters F1 has ever created. Is he bigger than F1? No, of course not. There is too much history and too many phenomenally talented champions to have walked the halls of F1 but what he does represent is the greatest character and arguably the greatest driver of this era. That, if for any other reason, is a key essential to what F1 still needs.
The arrival of Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg and other young champions hasn’t been enough to propel F1 through a financial crisis. With all respect to each of them, they have not taken the mantle that Schumacher left and until one of them can successful rise to be larger than Schumacher himself—perhaps F1 still needs its elder statesman to continue to carry the torch until the youngsters gain more traction, hearts and minds of the fans sans financial crisis. We’re still trying to argue that the current world champion actually deserves it as his title-claiming performances were met with some serious doubt for crying out loud! That was never a question for the Schumacher era at Ferrari.
“But people like close racing not domination of the sport like Ferarri/Schumacher did, Todd!” Really? Then why the lack of interest in “the show”? Oh, that’s right…no passing. Pleeeaaassse! Pinch yourself; you’re having a bad dream.
Alonso’s victory over Schumacher in 2006 may be a foregone conclusion to many but for this F1 fan, it was not a clear-cut case of pure domination by the young successor. Not like Schumacher was doing to Senna prior to the Brazilians untimely death. I, and many like me, don’t believe Alonso proved to the world that he was faster, better and capable to carry the torch from Schumacher. His latter performances at Renault have scuppered his chance to prove that 2006 was a brutal stamp on F1 as the current king to be dethroned.
Schumacher, in many people’s minds, was forced into retirement by Ferrari’s acquisition of Kimi Raikkonen in 2006. The media was told that it was to make room for Felipe Massa but I didn’t buy that at the time and I doubt that many did. Schumacher has unfinished business in F1 and regardless of his success at Mercedes he will have served to show us once again that F1 can be exciting and its shortcomings are minutiae when there is a galvanizing driver who forces the action to the track and not the court room or Chelsea loft.
Schumacher will place all eyes on the track where it belongs and keep the young drivers on their toes. The teams will operate in the penumbra of potential domination by a system that revolutionized F1—for good or bad depending on how you feel about Ferrari’s corporate death grasp on the sport—and that always creates controversy but that controversy will be brought to the track in 2010 and the “Red Rule” may just become the “Silver Rule” and who doesn’t love that conspiracy theory being bandied about for another three years?
If Schumacher was as bad and talentless as many of his detractors say he is, if he was as corrupt and underhanded as they claim, he wouldn’t need to come back to this sport. The puritan genius that is Hamilton, Alonso, Vettel and Rosberg would have taken the sport further but as they have not done so, perhaps the old man can spin the system up once again to create a level of disdain to see him off with yet another record—the most hated F1 driver in history? The most hated driver who may very well just save F1 from itself as well as further financial decline.
Give it a rest folks, the man has every chance to be mediocre in 2010 and have little effect on the presumed Alonso, Hamilton, Vettel battle but anyone who has watched the German champion would do well not to underestimate what a 40-year-old can do when given the right car and proper motivation—this 40-year-old is no ordinary bloke mind you. He has seven titles to prove it and if you choose to discount two of them, that’s still more titles than any driver on the grid today. He’s proved he can win in inferior cars and that is where I believe he will excel. To his caution, Vettel, Alonso and Hamilton have had time to prove they too can win in an inferior car so the 2010 season should be damned exciting and for all the Schumacher detractors…shut it! The king is back—just pray he doesn’t punt your driver Adelaide-style!
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Perhaps it will be different this time around. I’m sure it will be. I don’t think the Merc team will be as dominate as Ferrari was with the shume. But what I’m hopping will be different is even if they are, MY view of F1 with the Shume will be different. I loved F1 when I was in college (my first time with cable and able to view it), and the few yeas after, but being young, mostly irresponsible, drunken, and out late on saturdays, programing the VCR to catch a race with the knowledge that the Shume was just going to win another one, never happened. I stopped watching F1 for most of the Shume years. Yes, I was one of those people who was completely turned off to the sport by the dominance of the Shume. Now that I’m a bit older, not quite as drunken or irresponsible, and with a much bigger passion for the sport, perhaps a Shume dominated series won’t matter to me. Perhaps I can watch a a race, and still care, if the Shume has won the last five. I still won’t get up early, but a DVR is much easier to program than the VCR.
And thus the crux of our disdain with the Schumi years…damned VCR’s!!! :)
Sorry for this but this article is full of nonsense. Schumacher the king, Schumacher the red baron, Schumacher the great. For God sakes are you reporters serious or haven’t you been watching F1 all this years? It seems like you are some kids who started watching F1 this past few years and only heard of rumors of Schumacher and are amazed to his number of championships.
Is the guy a good driver? Of course he is. He is a top driver. Is he the Superman of F1? No. There where many top drivers threw the years, the fact that others have 1 or 2 or 3 championships doesn’t mean they weren’t as good. The fact that this guy has 7 is nothing more but the fact that he had good circumstances with good cars during his racing years. 11 of the years of his career he was driving top cars and at 3 of them the car was so much better from the competition that even Pique.Jr would look good driving it. So he really had to fight for the championship against another guy with a good car only 8 times and from those he managed to get half(although 94 is a big question for many things that happened except that little incident at Adelaide). That seems like a pretty normal percentage to me for a top driver.
But the truth is that if Hamilton or Alonso had to fight for a title for 8 years then it’s not that impossible for them to manage to take 4. You all get excited about his numbers and you fail to see the truth. He had talent but no one had good cars for so many years. His not at all better than any other top driver. He just was a little more lucky in his career.
Hell if Senna didn’t die for example the 94 and 95 titles would have been his. If Hill could get them to the last race then Senna would have definitely won them. So suddenly Schumi has 2 less. And if we suppose that Senna wouldn’t leave while winning then the 96 and 97 would have been easy with Williams. Suddenly Senna has 7 championships. And who knows if Schumi would have gotten the Ferrari seat with out getting the 94 and 95 titles?
What am i trying to say? Am trying to say that the number of titles really makes reporters and fans think that he is some kind of God despite being as good as other very good drivers. He definitely is a top driver(or was, we don’t know how good he is now) as Alonso or Hamilton also are, but all the other staff is a little based on luck. G.Villeneuve doesn’t have even one and under other circumstances he could have quite a few championships. Heck if the gearbox wasn’t playing games in Brazil 2007 Hamilton would have 2 titles from only 3 years in the sport. It’s all in the details. Schumacher never had some magical fire coming out of his ass that made him go super sonic. And i know what am talking about. I saw every race from the time he started racing and i know very well how he reached where he is now.
No gentlemen, there is no Superman or a magic man that would drive rounds around the new drivers if he was there age. His just a very good driver that had good luck with cars. Ross Brawn was a part of that luck.
Off course a bad or a mediocre driver wouldn’t manage all that but lets take the cars in comparison with success.
Schumacher: 11 good cars – 8 years he had to fight for it – 7 titles
Alonso: 3 good cars – 3 years he had to fight for it – 2 titles
Hamilton: 2 good cars – 2 years he had to fight for it – 1 title
Button: 1 good car – 1 year he had to fight for it – 1 title
Rosberg: 0 good cars (ability completely unknown)
I believe i made my point. The younger aren’t as different from Schumacher as you think. Well at least the really good ones.
Also can you explain to me what this, is suppose to mean?
“The puritan genius that is Hamilton, Alonso, Vettel and Rosberg would have taken the sport further but as they have not done so”
I don’t get it. What exactly did you wanted them to do? How exactly would they have taken the sport further? We had three exciting years with races being decided at the end and some amazing GPs. What else did you expect them to do? Take the business from Bernie?
And this: “Alonso’s victory over Schumacher in 2006 may be a foregone conclusion to many but for this F1 fan, it was not a clear-cut case of pure domination by the young successor. Not like Schumacher was doing to Senna prior to the Brazilians untimely death”
Please tell me you are joking. Are you referring to the start of the 1994 season? The year barely began. The guy died in the 3rd GP if am not mistaken. Did you really put a serious thinking when you where writing this?
I know i sound negative but actually am glad his back if the races will be more interesting. I just thought that it was a good time to put some things in to perspective for all those new fans who saw Schumacher only after 2000 or by hearing only the numbers and they think his some kind of Super Alien with magic abilities and they act like crazy admirers when they saw very little of him.
Nice list of drivers, cars and c’ships; I like that perspective.
@Monad- I’m sorry mate, but have you gone bonkers? I’m not really a Schumi fan, but the guy was amazing. Surely there was an element of luck in Schumi’s success, but there is an element of luck in everyone’s success. Schumi with ross and the rest of the ferrari/beneton staff were responsible for producing those 11 great cars. Schumi had an active roll in developing the car. He wasn’t merely gifted fantastic drives for showing up. Schumi is known for his ability to help develop a car. Let us not forget that Ferrari wasn’t a winning team until Schumi and ross arrived.
You may say luck, but I say an incredibly talented driver that was prepared and took advantage of opportunities that were available to him. I believe the thing that seperates him from his predacesors was, and hopefully is his ability to remain focused on the ultimate goal, which is to win world championships. It is a team sport, so some of the credit must also go to the ferrari and beneton crews, but ultimately he is the one that drove it home. (Pun intended.)
I find that the best way to judge drivers from different eras is to compare how each respective driver did against their peers at the time. Schumi won 7 drivers championships. No matter how you cut that, no one else has accomplished that, and no one else has had the level of domination that he aand ferrari did during 1999-2004.
As far as Senna is concerned, we’ll never know. Senna was a fantastic driver. Defintely on par with the greats of the sport, but we’ll never know what would have happened in 1994 or after. What ifs are what ifs. If frogs had wings they would fly.
Also, I don’t think i quite understand teh distinction between having a good car- and having to fight for teh title in your list.
The distinction is clear. The times you have a good car but not some hard competition, are not consider to be “having to fight for it”. They are very easy to win because of the difference. Schumacher had three years like that where the car was so much better that he didn’t really had to fight that much to get to the title. A walk in the park as they say.
If we applied the same rationale, would that then suggest that Prost was a gross under-achiever? He fought for every race and title right?
What are talking about? You must be confused. Prost didn’t always had a title contender car. As i took mediocre cars out of Schumi statistics the same will be done for Prost. I didn’t put every car than won a race with, in Schumi statistics. Only the ones capable for a title fight.
Prost will be like this:
8 good cars – 7 years he had to fight for it – 4 titles
It doesn’t seem that bad to me? Are you sure you understood what i meant?
Doesn’t Schumi have a hand in making those cars so dominant? It wasn’t as if he just sat idly by as his engineers made things perfect. If I am not mistaken, didn’t schum take a more active roll in developing the car than most other drivers did?
The fact that Schum had so many good cars is a testament to his car development abilities. I don’t see it as a knock against him
A driver can to very little to develop a car. Sure his right input can help. But the fact that people think that drivers can help create good cars is a myth. When the car is design the driver can’t to anything. The driver drives the car in the first testing and if the car is a dog there is no chance in hell it will become a good car by the start of the first GP.
A driver usually uses his knowledge for a good setup for each race.
Many drivers can say what is wrong with the car when they drive it but after that is all up to the aerodynamic department and mechanics to fix the problems and usually that’s the hard thing.
All the people working in building a car probably laugh there ass of each time one of us claims the ability to develop a car about a driver. If the driver says completely incorrect things he can make a big mess but if his correct on his input his contribution is only a very very small piece of the big picture. Almost every experience driver gets it about right in his evaluation. The ones who have to battle with telemetry,driver input, aero tunnel resolds and put together all the pieces of the puzzle are the other guys in the factory.
What Schumacher did better is choosing Ross Brawn who is also very capable on putting people at the right places so they can to a good job.
Great opinion. I agree that Senna probably would have won but ultimately he didn’t just as we could argue that Button’s win this year was perhaps not justified but in the end he won. Sure, many drivers could have been massively successful but they weren’t. No one can claim to have a better CV than Schumacher as he owns that record because at the end of the day, that’s how it was.
He is no super man of F1 but he is a super start of F1 and like that or not, he demands that status when he climbs in a car. That’s not a glowing endorsement or slobbering fan position. He has his issues…trust me.
I agree with your research but the leap to the hypothesis is ultimately where research becomes opinion and I absolutely love yours. I agree with much of what you say and I do want to point out that this article is actually an Op-Ed piece so some creative fanboi liberty is certainly allowed right? Great points mate. Thanks for keeping me in check.
PS- I’ve been watching longer than year 2000. :)
As an aside, I do owe you an answer on the two points you quoted.
Regarding Hamilton, Alonso, Vettel. These drivers have not punted anyone off the track or parked it at Monaco. They have been pure racers and put on a terrific show and yet the return of Schumacher has created a chaos of news, interviews and hysteria. My point is that even steeped in controversy, many find inexcusable, he still galvanizes the sport and has had a larger impact on it in the last month than Alonso did all year. The point is that he is an impact player in F1. Good or bad, he creates more action amongst media and businesses than the other three. I didn’t expect them to take over the sport, what I was suggesting is that they have not seized it by its throat like Senna or Schumi did.
Speaking of Senna, 1994 was a tragic year. My reference is from reading several accounts of the sentiment in the paddock at the time that Senna knew very well that Schumi was coming. That he was brilliantly talented and Senna was put on notice that this young man was going to dominate the sport in years to come and that he was the new successor to F1’s crown. It was evident at the time and reading the words of those involved. Senna knew this as well. That didn’t stop him from being Senna and driving like the champion he was but Alonso’s victory in 2006 didn’t put a stamp on his rightful place as F1’s successor to the crown in my opinion.
Maybe that’s a good thing in hindsight and as you point out, the competition is good. I don’t think Schumacher will repeat the Ferrari domination like in 2004 next year because I think Alonso, Hamilton and Vettel are too strong. What I am suggesting is that Schumacher’s return is good for the sport, the competition and likely to hurt those who underestimate the Brawn/Schumacher team at their own peril. If he is marginal and retires without adding race wins or titles to his CV; that’s alright too but I think it will make for some terrific racing. He is not super human or super man but he is a super star. The only person that I can think of who has galvanized the sport since Schumacher’s retirement, as odd as it sounds, is Kimi Raikkonen.
Were the media as excited about Schumacher driving in the championship at 1999 as they are now? No. Wasn’t he the same man as he always was? Yes. Then why weren’t they as crazy then? He hadn’t found the how to galvanize the media secret book? The only reason that the media are making more noice for him than they do for the current drivers is because of the same reasons they weren’t going crazy as they are now about Schumi in 1999. Just think about it.
About 1994. Yes they saw a young talent and people were speaking about it. That’s what people do. So what? They were saying the same thing about Vettel last year and this year. That doesn’t mean that Alonso and Hamilton won’t be able to kick his ass for the next few years. People always talk when they see a talented guy. I don’t know if 2006 can be consider as victory of Alonso over Schumacher or not but Schumi did even less against Senna so your example wasn’t good. People talking is not a serious argument.
I hope we will have some exciting racing too. I pray that at least Maclaren,Ferrari,Mercedes and Red Bull are close to each other so we can have interesting fights. If none has a clear advantage we will probably have 8 different GP winners in this year. Looking forward to that.
It is great to see both the sides of the coin, in my opinion where shumacher is different from others is he knows how to build the right team around him, in terms of car development he can be compared to Rossi, very specific and detailed in his feedback, one’s driving talent alone does not make him a seven time world champion, it is much more than that, I doubt the younger ones have completely got that. But the good news is that can easily develop those capabilities, it is much easier that improving their driving skills, but are they aware of it? only time will tell. For the past few years we have been seeing that the difference between the first and last was getting smaller, which means there is lesser margin for error, it is obvious that in a capable car anyone of the top guys can win a WDC as Jenson has proven it. This is where I think the combination of Ross Brawn’s car design and the strength of the mercedes engine and Schumacher would make a deadly combination.
Above all I get NC’s point that beyond all these factors, Schumacher can bring a lot of energy and vitality into the sport.
I am pretty sure that in Schumi’s mind he would be targeting the WDC in 2010, he does not care what other think about him and for sure this is only going to galvanise the young guns like Hamilton, Vettel as well as Alonso, Massa etc.,
Infact one of the more under-rated guy in the paddock is Massa and he is on a comeback, so for Alonso it is Massa that he has to watch for, but I doubt he would.
Bring it on 2010….
All I want to add is that I told you so. It will be an exciting year.
Ah. Okay, I think I understand your logic now. It’s looking at the titles won “car-corrected”. Hmmm. Not sure I agree as it is subjective as to which car was not capable of winning and which was. Nigel would have an interesting calculations with this criteria.
Applying car-corrected criteria and reducing a drivers “car development” impact is just something we will disagree on. I have read too many stories and heard too many engineers talk about how crucial the driver input and affect on car design and development is to think it is a marginal, post design effort with minimal impact.
Alas, that is what it is to have an opinion…not everyone will agree nor would I want them to. I think Schumi is a singular driver and F1 character and that is why his return is a good thing. I think he faces his stiffest competition in 2010 and that may scupper any chance of him adding titles to his already bloated CV.
agreed.
I think that the legacy of Schumi is based on the contronversy that sorrounds his career; that mix of good and evil, of fallible human and cold-blooded racer that left nothing to the rest of the field when he had a winning car at his disposal. The amount of records Schumi holds to date tells by itself how good he is to be in the right place at the right time; no one can steal that from him, he won the right to be there and he played it hard at times as a consequence. People tend to talk about Schumi as a cheater and about Senna as a pure racer, a saint; in both cases the statements are incorrect. Racing is about finish in front of your rivals, in some cases under difficult circumstances. I never liked Schumi, I did not like Senna either but I respect them as racers, I admire the way they dominate the field with courage, not an inch when possible.
After starting his winning streak with Ferrari, Schumi saw for the first time some challenge when Raikonnen and Fred and it was the latter who provided us with two extraordinary seasons (05-06)….for the first time in years we smiled at the prospect that something exciting was happening and Schumi was defeatable…thanks to Renault and Fred….an incredible preamble to the retirement of Schumi, not when he was at the top but when he realized it was getting harder and harder to race and stay competitive, even with the best car of the grid.
At some point the hype for Schumi’s comeback is overrated; eclipsing the exciting news about new teams, drivers, it stole the limelight from Button, and the new “era” of Fred at Ferrari. I just look forward to see an unpredictable 2010 season; I hope, 4-6 teams to fight for wins and maybe we can see some thrilling racing ant Brazil and Yas Marina
Todd,
I’m afraid I have been meaning to take you up on this for a while now.
When you say
“Galvanize” – to stimulate to action
do you, by any chance mean
“Polarize” – to cause a group to be divided into extremes?
Thanks for checking me Dreary. I actually meant galvanize in the sense that he has this impact on the sport and people. I can see where polarizing might be just as applicable if not more so but I think Schumi does galvanize the sport and fan base to a large extent.
hope that make sense but it wouldn’t be the first time I have not. ;)