Michael Schumacher- a different view
 

I want to say up front I am a MS fan. I have been reading various posts on here regarding MS and his career, his style etc. and I wanted to share my opinion based on a event I attended a few years ago. Aprox. 2 years ago our local Porsche club was lucky enough to have David Hobbs and Steve Matchet ( sp? ) as guest speakers at our Christmas party. Both of these guys had nothing but good things to say about MS and you can take that for what it's worth. But what really caught my attention was what Steve Matchet had to say. He said that when he was at Reneault that MS was putting in tons of hours with the team, staying very late night after night working with the engineers to understand what he was feeling when he drove the car. Steve also said it was not unusual for MS to suddenly disappear for 20-30 minutes and then appear pushing a cart with coffee,donuts,pasteries etc. and delivering it to the crew. It sure sounded like Michaels people skills were much better than what the media portrayed. According to Steve -Michael knew everyones name at Reneault and Ferrari and called everyone by their first name. Steve said this really helped everyone think they were part of the team and was very motivating for all involved.Also according to Steve he never saw a driver that could give feedback to the engineers like Michael and be so accurate compared to the downloaded telemetry. From what Steve said the engineers ask the drivers to give verbal feedback for every turn and each turn is sliced up to entry,apex and exit and MS could do a 30 minute run and give this type of feedback for every turn for every lap and it would be spot on vs. the telemetry!! This conversation just had me riveted to every word Steve had to say, I was truly blown away by the evening. Steve is a excellent speaker and knows what he is talking about and I respect his opinion. I really believe Michael will leave a void in F1 and will be missed.Flame suit on.

when MS got out of the car at Monza, his first stop was his race engineer and crew. No mugging for the camera or schmoozing with the owners. He's no idiot...he knows who keeps him fast. And your story is in line with everything I've read about him: he is totally involved the the team, and analyzes *every* bit of data he can get.

He is the consummate racer. He works harder on his body, car, team and his driving than anyone, ever. He is easy on his machinery. He communicate with his engineers and crew better than any driver. He drives his team to be the best. He holds just about every significant record in F1. He is blessed with natural talent. He is generous and a quiet philanthropist.

Yet, people will always hate other people who reach the pinnacle of success. Always.

did you see the look on his face when the corporate head of Ferrari tried to hug him after jumping the fence. :eek: :mad: :rolleyes:
priceless

The thing that blew me away was the feeling that this guy that makes 100 million per year was involved with every aspect of the team and made himself available to all for the greater good. He is no saint and has his flaws ( who doesn't ) but for a guy that is put on a pedastle he seems like a regular guy according to these F1 insiders.C'mon guys if you were making 100 million a year for 5,6 10 years in a row would YOU have the convictions to be a "regular guy" in front of the world?

Did alonso give $100 mil to charity?
MS is a great champion, he helps make the car fast and then drives it fast. He's 38 years old and in better shape than the 20 year olds. He works his butt off.
Huge shoes to fill and a true hero, someone to look up to.
Because he is so driven to be the best i dout he will be able to walk away completely, I look for him to buy a team and make it the best.

Agreed. He is truly a special talent with tremendous leadership skills and a big charitable heart. He will be missed. I remember watching and imagining the unbelievable pressure he was under as Ferrari made its way back to the front. Those two or three years before the car and the team were so dominant. You could see how much he wanted that (first with Ferrari) WDC and Constructors - not just for himself but for everyone. It was a golden moment in F1 when he dragged Ferrari back to the top past McLaren and Williams.

But I think he "vill be back".... ;)

Don't think he's earned quite that much yet! Besides, we don't know what he has done for charity....

some statistics (sorry in German), but the figures speak for thmeself:

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formel-1-Statistik#Fahrer_nach_Podiumspl.C3.A4tzen

153 times on podium out of 247 F1-races.

Ahhh Gee...lets all hold hands and sing for dear Michael...afterwards a group hug. :rolleyes:

I keep meaning to pick up Steve Machet's books, I bet they'd be an interesting read.

There's a blurb in this weeks Autoweek about how much MS gives to charity. Pretty impressive.

Those books are VERY interesting... I highly recommend them.

He goes into more detail about MS and how he worked with the team in them, and it really is a very interesting insight into MS.

It's really hard to get a proper idea about an individual from 5 minute media interviews and the occasional quote. I have yet to hear anyone that's worked with him speak badly of him... they all have nothing but great things to say about his work ethic, his skills, etc.

This book goes into the year that they won the Championship. Also goes into the pit-lane fire at Hockenheim, when Steve was the rear-jack man on the car that caught on fire. Somewhat enthralling, to say the least. It gets two thumbs, way up.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1158361616.jpg

A couple of hundred years of this, you unerstand how people eventually get nominated for sainthood :)

Second thumbs up for Machetts books - The Mechanic's Tale is also a great read.

I haven't seen the Autoweek article yet but what I read on-line from a newspaper in England about his charity work was truely impressive and was a side of him I don't recall ever hearing about.

Given his work ethic and approach to the team you would think some of that would have rubbed off on his teammates over the years yet you never hear that.

Reneault? tolman team bought by the sweater guys benetton

MS was a VERY good driver [ maybe the best ever]
but a poor SPORTSMAN

Nobody is denying either his success, which is remarkable, nor his dedication and ability in motivating a team and getting the best from them.

This makes him the most successful F1 driver ever, and possibly one of the most able (in terms of skill behind the wheel).

Greatness however is more than that, it is the manner in which his contribution is delivered, the manner in which a person goes about his aims and achievements.

Success and greatness are not interchangeable...there are great drivers who did not have a fraction of MS's numerical success, but their greatness was achieved because of the way they went about their lives.

There are sides to MS which reveal a humanity and concern for others which is not able to be seen in the race day snippets...but are they the true man or people skills deployed to bring people on side and deliver the most from them to his benefit?

Love-hate relationship with MS here. . .

Racing legend? Yes.
Skilled driver? Yep.
Good athlete? I believe so.
Dedicated? Absolutely.

But a Sportsman? No way.

While I basically agree, are there any real "sportsmen" at the top of any racing series? These guy's careers depend on their performance and not so much on how nice they are. Maybe some of the older "gentleman" racers in sports cars could be called "sportsman" (somebody like EFR or Bob Wollek), but look at the rest of the top series. A bunch of Paul Tracys and Tony Stewarts.

Back when Prost was rolling up his 51 wins (or whatever the tally ended up being) I felt there was no way that anyone would ever eclipse that record. No one else was even close and no one else (with the exception of Senna) even had a chance. Most the 'greats' in F1 had only a fraction of the wins of Prost. And then Schumacher blows them all out of the water.

Love him or hate him, you can't deny his talent and longevity.

Mike