What you think about Michael Schumacher? Is he the greatest ever in the history of F1?

Question

I think yes, because he is a person who's made F-1 popular,The most elegant driver, having the most dominatig career,a driver who can drive at his best in any track cond. let it be wet or dry no beat to Michael. Though there are controversies behind his success, he is the king of Formula 1. If Alonso brakes his record he can't get his position.

I agree that he's surrounded by the controversies, but I called him greatest ebcause it's very very rare that 37years old compete with 25years old Fernando & many others. There is no sign of declination in his driving.So dont you think he's the best ever driver in F-1. I don't know much abt the former drivers but from my sources he'll be always best for me.

I agree that he's surrounded by the controversies, but I called him greatest ebcause it's very very rare that 37years old compete with 25years old Fernando & many others. There is no sign of declination in his driving.So dont you think he's the best ever driver in F-1. I don't know much abt the former drivers but from my sources I think he'll be always best driver
for me.

Answer 1

Hasn't this question been posted 100 times before?

Answer 2

My dear Gaurav d,

I am forced to give away my age a bit here. I started to follow F1 races when I was in Europe and I was 6 year old. I have been following F1 ever since for 40 years now. Every race, every championship, etc. I think I have a pretty vast database of F1 information in my brain. And the question that you ask is very intriguing.

On paper Michael is unquestionably the number one F1 driver of all times.

In reality he is not the greatest. It is very strange, but to be the greatest you need to encompass a certain degree of charisma, attitude, fairness, decisevness, speed, control, and the ability to capture the crowd. Well, Michael had many incredible characteristics, but he lacked charisma, fairness and the ability to capture the crowd with the heart. Even in his homeland Germany there is controversy, and people hate him there as well. He is an icon, but for some people he is a phony.

I don't hate him. Not whatsoever! I respect him for what he has done.

Objectively speaking, the man was able to capitalize on circumstances that played in his favor: A team who supported him 100% without teammate competition; A car technologically so advanced that nobody else could compare; a period of time where competition thinned down a bit from the Senna's (unfortunately gone), the Prost's, etc. So he took advantage of the situation. Nothing wrong with that. However, a couple of deliberate incidents in 1994 and 1999 really painted a bad image of Schumacher that will never go away, regardless of the good side. Also in 2006 there was an incident in Monaco that left bitter taste in everybody's moutth.

You see, Michael won from being "perfect". The German computer. The cold calculator. The mechanical Red Baron. And everybody thought he was perfect. So, when intentionally he committed a few mistakes, those mistakes became huge factors against his popularity. If other drivers made those same mistakes, it wouldn't be so much of a big deal.

He was dominating. But the image of a dominator is also scary. Many people don't like dominators, dictators, and bosses. So in my opinion Michael is the driver who accomplished the most in F1 ever, and in our generation we may not see another driver match or surpass his accomplishments.

But to say the greatest...I cannot say it. I am a Ferrari fan and lover. I appreciate and thank for what he has done for Ferrari through the years, therefore I should jump on Micheal's bandwagon and say he is the greatest. Guess what? 40 years of F1 devotion tell me that I cannot quite say it. Sorry to disappoint you. It's more of a moral, charismatic and fair-play issue than just winning. Is he among the greatest? Yes. Is he the greatest? No.

Answer 3

Michael Schumacher was the best of his era and I'll put a huge asterisk beside that, but he was not 'the greatest ever in the history of F1.'
During his years with Ferrari, the team was `built' around him (both Rory Byrne and Ross Brawn were recruited from Benetton when he joined Ferrari) and there was no real competition among drivers at Ferrari. He almost always had the best equipment and, let's not forget, the benefit of two exclusive test tracks.
With few exceptions, for much of his 16 years in Formula One there really wasn't much competition from the other teams.
If your knowledge of Formula One goes deeper than the Michael Schumacher years, you'll remember the competition between Fittipladi and Regazzoni, Hunt and Lauda, Piquet and Mansell and Senna and Prost.
To suggest that Michael Schumacher ' is a person who's made F1 popular,' is to discount drives such as Mario Andretti, Niki Lauda, Jackie Stewart, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna ... and to suggest he's 'the most elegant driver,' would suggest you haven't watched some of the `greats' of racing, and I'm not so sure elegance is often associated with racing drivers.
Calling him 'the king of Formula 1' would indicate you are quite unfamiliar with many of the true `greats' of Formula One, the ones who raced against teammates and raced when the cars were far more difficult to drive and safety at the tracks was an afterthought.
I'm sure this isn't the answer you wanted, so I'll be content with the two points I get for this missive.

Answer 4

I agree with you he is amazing. The fact of the matter is he si probably the best there ever was and ever will be. What a sad day it was for F1 when he retired.

He's the best. He totally changed the face of F1. I heard somewhere once that in one particular race he retired and something like 6 million people switched off. Apparently they can track these things. Either way, a very popular driver, say what you will.
Yes, there is nothing wrong if we say Schumi is the greatest driver of F1. No one in F1 history has 7 titles. Before Schumi there was nothing in F1 called Pitstrategy. He became the first to start his own style of racing, pitstrategy is nothing but widening the gap between cars (say for 10ec) so that the racer comes out the pits and rejoin the race at the same position. He was very aggressive until the last race of the career (drama between Kimi and Schumi for 3rd place). He did not show a sign of ageing and he looked as young as Alonso. He is one man whose name will never be forgotten in Formula One.

Answer 5

Those controversies are too big to be overlooked. Because of those controversies he is not even in my "greatest ever" top 10 F1 drivers. And he has been beaten in similar cars. Look at 1998 and 2006.
And he didn't make F1 popular. In the 2000-2004 period, his domination brought the audience figures right down and made F1 boring to watch. And he isn't the only driver who can drive at his best in any conditions. If it hadn't been for the issues in China, Alonso would have smoked Schumacher.

Answer 6

Yes, there is nothing wrong if we say Schumi is the greatest driver of F1. No one in F1 history has 7 titles. Before Schumi there was nothing in F1 called Pitstrategy. He became the first to start his own style of racing, pitstrategy is nothing but widening the gap between cars (say for 10ec) so that the racer comes out the pits and rejoin the race at the same position. He was very aggressive until the last race of the career (drama between Kimi and Schumi for 3rd place). He did not show a sign of ageing and he looked as young as Alonso. He is one man whose name will never be forgotten in Formula One.

Answer 7

He's the best. He totally changed the face of F1. I heard somewhere once that in one particular race he retired and something like 6 million people switched off. Apparently they can track these things. Either way, a very popular driver, say what you will.

Answer 8

Statistically, yes. He is the greatest F1 driver of all time.

Personally, yes too. I have admired him since his first title with Bennetton, and am honoured to have seen a legend in the making.

Of course, there are some flaws to him. But nobody's perfect.

Answer 9

properly... if he replaced into doing it these days and driving a Ferrari? No difficulty! driving a McLaren? He could have been penalised thousands of situations, pointlessly, undermining the two the sport and his own efforts. How he ought to get away with taking away Hill to win his first championship, and Lewis have been given a penalty in Japan '08 for only pushing Kimi and Kovy off the song??!!??!!??!!??!!

Answer 10

I agree with you he is amazing. The fact of the matter is he si probably the best there ever was and ever will be. What a sad day it was for F1 when he retired.