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Back to the Schumacher debate...
I think he is an incredibly talented driver and obviously the most succesful in F1 history.
Comparisons are always difficult. Personally I was a great fan of MS since his Le Mans days on the Sauber C9.
I also remember his first laps in the Jordan and the first races in the Benetton.
In the Sauber C9 he was on a par with Harald Frentzen, Jean Schlesser and Karl Wendlinger, all products of the great Mercedes Benz junior racing programme.
In F1 he showed fantastic speed from early on and he could do incredible things (a little bit like Kimi when he started).
His 1st world championship was in 1994, the year Senna and Ratzenberger died. He won 6 of the first 7 races and the Benetton team was under pressure by the allegations of cheating with the traction control. Plus there is the Hill accident controversy.
In 1995 he repeated himself winning the title against... Johnny Herbert
In 1996 he went to Ferrari and nearly collided with Berger at Monaco for slowing down after his qualifying lap when Gerhard was still going for it
In 1997 he hit Villeneuve at the European GP
In 1998 he won the British GP in the pit lane
In 2000 he won his 3rd championship, fair and square against Mikka.
This was the 1st WC for Ferrari in 30yrs and coincided with Ross Brawn and Jean Todd being in the team.
From then onward (signing JT as the team manager) winning at all costs became the mantra at Ferrari.
MS was just the most fitting tool in a well oiled winning machine. I am sure everybody remembers (Autria 2002) Barrichello yielding wins even when there was no need in order to secure the championship.
This was a striking difference from how other teams (namely Williams and McLared) had dealt with 2 top drivers (remember Mansell and Piquet battling at Adelaide only for Prost to take the win in the WC?).
So 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 were dominant years for the Ferrari team and MS
And the rest is recent history.
I was a huge fan of the early MS. The 94 incident reminded me of how Senna and Prost decided their championships at Suzuka...
The 95 title was in a vacuum, against no competition (sorry Hill and Herbert).
I started to dislike him when he moved to Ferrari. And maybe it's funny coming from an Italian but I hate how Ferrari has managed to turn this sport into a win-at-all-costs circus.
I didn't like how MS needed a special #1 driver contract, clearly being that much better than Irvine first, Barrichello second and Massa last.
I didn't like how any controversial decision made outside the track by the FIA ended up defending or not punishing Ferrari.
So I think MS was a victim of the JT approach to winning (remember him at Peugeot for the LeMans bid?).
And for this is not my favourite driver ever.
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