300 not out!

landogeorgelewis1

Champion Elect
At Spa Michael Schumacher will celebrate his 300th F1 race in his career. Whether you like him or not you can't deny he isn't a F1 legend.

What has been your highlight from Mr Schumacher's career?

Was it 2003 where he'd been pushed to the limit by two youngsters in Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Raikkonen.

Was it his first title victory for Ferrari, considering the Italian team hadn't won the title for a while.

Or was it the records he's broken along the way.

For me his highlight season was 2003. Kimi and Juan pushed him and Ferrari all the way in the title hunt. A couple of points or more and we would have only been looking at a six times world champion. Still an achievement in itself and the Ferrari was much closer to the Mclaren and Williams on pace.

So over to you guys to discuss this Legend!
 
It's a shame that Bridgestone cried to the FIA in 2003 because it ruined the end of the championship. It's a shame that the moments I remember most from his career are all controversies..... Australia 1994, Jerez 1997, Monaco 2006 just to name three of them
 
- I still remember his impressive victory in torrential rain in Spain in 1996.
- As HammydiRestarules already mentioned his WDC in 2000 was pretty emotional as he had to wait a long time for it and considering his work and dedication he put in rebuilding Ferrari since his move in 1996.
- I loved his battle with Fernando Alonso in 2006 and remember his blown up engine quite vividly and I also remember me throwing stuff around after it happened.
 
Having only started watching in 2007 I can't really comment on his 'first' career's ahcievments. However I think he deserves more credit than he's given for his comeback. In 2012 in particular he's shown he can match Rosberg and in some races (such as Spa 2011) has shown that he can be the class of the field.

Not only should he be credited for his semi-successful comeback, but he should also be commended for actually attemping it. He has the finest statistics of any driver in F1 ever, with many records and ratios. All of them have since taken a knock since his first race in Bahrain in 2010. However in my opinion this doesn't dimish what he achieved between 1991 and 2006.

It's difficult to gauge how successful he's been since his comeback. On one hand he's started to match Rosberg (particularly in 2012) but on the other he has looked slow and made decisions (Canada 2010) that are not expected of a 7x world champion. There have been two factors in 2012 that have really hurt his credibility. One being abysmal mechanical reliability, the other being Kimi Raikkonen. Raikkonen has also made his comeback and in term of results it has been much more fruitful than Schumacher's. MS suffers from this as a result, but I think he's a victim of Rosberg's success (a possible WDC in many people's eyes) whereas Kimi has faced Romain Grosjean, a driver who looked like he didn't belong in F1 in 2009. I'm not saying Grosjean hasn't improved greatly since 2009 but what I am trying to convey is that he is not a proper yardstick and that E20 could be the class of the field for all anyone knows (I don't believe this I'm just trying to make a point).

Comeback or not he deserves his place in the history books as one of F1's greatest ever drivers, he did things his own way and people seem to remember these his 'incidents' more than other drivers' which is unfair.

Incidentally I believe that this is now the second 300th race for a driver in F1, Barrichello had his 300th race at Spa in 2010 but retired after rear-ending Fernando Alonso on the first lap. How strange that they will both have taken place at the Belgian Grand Prix.

(Sorry for my longish sort-of off topic post about Schumi, I just wanted to give my opinion on him as someone who didn't witness his 'glory' years.)
 
Boring the pants off me for so many years but not being able to drag myself away from F1 as I watched in awe as the greatest driver of his generation destroyed the opposition. Oh, and seeing stick it in the wall at Silverstone ROFL
 
For me its him trying to dead heat with Rubens in 2002 and almost crashing Rubens in 2005- both at Indy. Most of Schumi was before I really started watching besides the one I went to.
 
The highlight for me was 1998. The year that Ferrari were supposed to win the wdc, as they had spent the last couple of years building up to it, then in Melbourne, the McLarens blitzed the field and laid down the gauntlet, proving ot be the class of the field by a margin.

I the single most compelling act of defiance I can recall in many years, Michael refused to lay down, and single handedly took the fight to the McLarens. OK, he didnt win, but his sheer force of will seemed to make the difference, and prevent Hakkinen from tying up the championship by mid season.

Conversely, Martin Brundles commentary "Oh No, you've hit the wrong part of his car my friend" shows the worst of him.
 
First, its his 299th Grand Prix because he did not start the 1996 French Grand Prix.

Best Schumi moment? I think the thing about Schumi is he wasn't about great moments. He was about winning regularly. There were few underdog moments because he was usually the favourite.

Anyone still expect the start of the Italian national anthem when they hear the end of the German one? That's why Schumacher was great.
 
Brogan - Jackie Stewart entered the 1973 US GP but is typically held to have started 99 Grands Prix, so I'm going with that measure. He will likely hit 300 at Monza anyway.
 
A few events that stick out for me about Michael Schumachers career.

Parking the Ferrari at La Rascasse in 2006
Destroying the field in the wet in Spain in 1996
The crash with Damon Hill in Adelaide in 1994
Winning in the Pit lane at Silverstone in 1998
Trying to put Heinz Harold Frentzen into the front row of the stand in Canada in 1998
Austria 2002.
 
Back
Top Bottom