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

It has been said during the race broadcast that MS wants constant info. He needs to be fed info all race long. What his lap times are his oponents lap times, split times, etc.. He likes to know everything while he is driving.

He is a fierce competitor and some mistake that for a character flaw. I think his generosity and his relationship with his team speakes volumes.

His competitors hate him and their fans despise him, big suprise. It must have been a really frustrating last 10 years for all of them.

Are you a lawyer with an international firm by any chance MFAFF? You sound just like an associate I once fired.

Please tell me:

(a) How, exactly, do you expect MS to reveal "his humanity and concern for others" in race day snippets? (Good grief!)

(b) If MS is really the ungentlemanly, opportunistic, ruthless a__hole you believe him to be, do you think he would really give tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars to charity just "in order to bring people on side and deliver the most from them to his benefit"??? (Reality check please!)

(c) Can everyone else above be wrong about him? I met him once, only very briefly, in Kuala Lumpur, but found him charming, modest, self-effacing, almost shy in fact. He's really just a very normal, simple and decent guy at heart who loves to talk about cars and soccer.

What is with this constant vilification of the man because of some racing incidents that occurred in the heat of battle, the number of which you can count on the fingers of a severely mutilated hand, and which are spread across a stunning career of more than a decade?

Dottore,

No thankfully I'm not a lawyer, use them lots; but not one of them.

And to be honest I have had a long professional and personal association with one of the 'greatest ever' in my own field.

And you know what... MS fits that mould exactly...a dedicated, talented, focused person, whose entire life is their profession.

To all those who meet him he is charm personified, attentive and modest...he has built up a very successful business that employs hundreds of people, he has generated income that is, in our field, unheard of previously, he has won awards and accolades globally for the work his office produces, has built professional links to national leaders in almost every continent... you get the drift..yet that in itself is a facade, a mask deployed to ensure people are supportive and do their best for him.. a remarkable leadership trait. But it is all a mask, a skill being deployed for his benefit...

The reason they are modest and shy is often insecurity, not in their abilities as an XYZ, but in their social skills. They have devoted so much of their time to success that they have omitted to provide time for social development...and being perfectionists they seek to work even harder to fit in, to not appear aloof and arrogant or worse , not as able as others.

Similarly the giving away for vast sums of money is only partly altrusitic...even MS, living in Switzerland has tax issues to deal with. This donation is a means of accomodating that, of creating a good profile and of genuine concern for others..

Get beyond that mask, strip it away and an entirely different beast is revealled. One which knows no dissent, no compromise for others, in any area of life...because they do not permit it to themselves. This never demeans their success or ability, but it does bring into question their greatness.
Whilst they may be the best ever, they may not be great.

On the other hand I have know truely able, successful and great people in other fields. They have all the success, all of the ability, but they also know that regardless they are not special people. They are ordinary people with extraordinary abilities....their first priority is to enusre those skills and abilities are what they are known for, not thier success, not their generosity or records, but the skill.

Race day snippets...whilst he is gracious in this thanks to his tema and sponsors.. he has rarely acknowledged his competitors. As we know the best championships are those which have pitted two or more protagonists in a down to the wire result. The only time he has was against Mika H, when he was outdriven, not by a better package, but by a driver who displayed more determination to win.. that he respected and admired. He was ungracious in losing the championship last year, perfering to leave excuses about the material than acknowledging his part in that team failure.. afterall if he takes credit for the rebirth of Ferrari he takes equal blame for the glitch..

As for the hand full of incidents perhaps looking at it the other way would help... If you live a life of probity and conformity, yet just once you break the law and get caught for it you are still a criminal.

Say Paul Thayer or Randy Cunnigham... great heroes, American symbols, very successful in their filed; whose weakness is what they are actually accountable for...

In F1 terms MS falls into that category, a brilliant driver, a dedicated professional with a fanastic record of success, yet with the certain knowledge that he will 'cheat' for want of a better word, to win.

In saying that I do not for an instant think that FA is a 'greater' driver than MS.. he has yet to prove himself in both consistency and ability, all he has done is beat one of the best in a convinncing manner. It brings him into the contention but does not make him a fully fledged member. He needs a few more years to do that.

As for bitterness I think you are mis-tagging my comments. I couldn't care less who or which team wins.. provided it is the person and team that on the day made the most of the opportunites, the work, the conditions etc on the day and did so within the rules that are set out...I'm equally happy to see a Super Aguri win as a Renault or McLaren.

I'm less happy to see a Ferrari win because at the back of my mind is the lingering doubt, a suspicion if you will, borne out over time that they are not playing to the same rules as every one else..and that to me is a sufficient bar to greatness.

Like Lancia's domination of the rallies in the 90s being over hauled by Toyota..it was all great until Toyota were 'discovered' to be using illegal turbos.....it undermines the results, it undermines the sport...and hence makes it a cynical exercise.

MS's ability is uncontested, as is his record...what is being ontested is his greatness...he is a remarkable competitor..but is he a great one?

I think we have to agree to disagree on this one MFAFF. We've already flogged this horse to death.

Geez....you can say that about almost anyone. That pretty much sums up human nature. Do you hold everyone to an impossibly high standard? The greatest F1 driver (possibly ever) has character flaws. I shall alert the media...

What next? A politician who lies? A business executive who takes advantage of competitors? A common joe who has a few too many and insults his friend? My gawd, the humanity!

Dottore,

Agreed,


Nostatic,

Too damn right....

Considering what he gets paid, and the attention that he has been under for these last 10+ years, MS comes across as incredibly well balanced and mature. Without mentioning any names, he has never been reported in situations which others of his level of fame or wealth have fallen into:

- Exposing himself while drunk in a London strip club
- Having police raid his home during a party (or worse finding a body there!)
- Being involved, or even insinuated in any way with drugs or criminals
- Having an affair or progressing through a string of temporary wives, or worse -- nannies!
- Abandoning responsibility to his kids.
- Sticking his foot in his mouth in the political arena, or making grandstand charity contributions for the sake of publicity.

and the list goes on. Pick up a copy of people magazine for other examples of poor behaviour that MS has managed to avoid. I hope that he has a safe conclusion to his F1 career and is able to retire a safe and happy man with his wife and kids. That being said, I'd love to see him pop up occasionally to take a swipe at Le Mans again (so that he can improve on his 5th place there), not to mention IROC or NASCAR just for kicks! I suspect that he already owns a few Ferrari dealerships, and numerous other investments thanks to Willi Webber.