What If Schumi Stayed?

[Emmcee 0]

Do you think he would be doing better this year since Mercedes have lifted ther game,or you think it was done before it started?

[radical-one 0]

Good topic.

Based on where Merc was when he returned and where Merc is now, I do not think there would have been much difference.

Schumi did well with his return considering Merc's car condition. I also believe that Lewis is doing all he can to adjust in his new seat but Merc overall still is not level with the top teams.

Had Schumi stayed, he would have not one win still by now...

[Emmcee 0]

So obviously you think nico would still be out pacing him? Now here's a question, do you think his form was down to how different the car was now compared to 2006? If the cars were the same now as then, do you think has any reason to do with him not being AS successful, I agree he did ok but he wasn't his former self,not at all,he had never been beaten by a teammate until his return in 2010. I guess what iam trying to say is,do you think Schumi or Hamilton is doing the better job,because I read an article that said Hamilton thinks Schumacher lost a bit once lewis got to merc and saw the progress.

[Emmcee 0]

So obviously you think nico would still be out pacing him? Now here's a question, do you think his form was down to how different the car was now compared to 2006? If the cars were the same now as then, do you think has any reason to do with him not being AS successful, I agree he did ok but he wasn't his former self,not at all,he had never been beaten by a teammate until his return in 2010. I guess what iam trying to say is,do you think Schumi or Hamilton is doing the better job,because I read an article that said Hamilton thinks Schumacher lost a bit once lewis got to merc and saw the progress.

[HandyNZL 1]

Mike the Shoe would continue to go as well as Rusty the Enforcer is going in V8's...past the optimum prime to be competitive agianst all the teeny-boppers.

This is not to say that Mike has lost it...just lost it comparatively to the rest of the F1 field.

Nico would have again down troued him at the majority of races.

[Emmcee 0]

Nico has improved immensely though IMO, Hamilton is having a tuff time dealing with it, you can see it on his face. I think last year was Schumi best out of the three, he put it on pole in Monaco abit the penalty and put it on the podium, but it still isn't enough with his reputation of sheer dominance,that to me has made Vettel looke better than he is, if only he could drive in 2009 like he planed to take over Massa, oh what a different story it could have been.

[HandyNZL 1]

Nah. Hamilton, Nico, Seb, and Freddy are just plain better than Schuie. Schuie just lucked into a peachy period of less competition, sort of like a big fish in a little pond scenario. His closest competition was Mika through his dominant years. He had more competition in his Benetton years but who knows if they cheated or not back then, and frankly, I don't care if they did or didn't - his name is in the record books.

If he was ten years younger he would have been on par with the other four, but he wasn't ten years younger. He was ten years slower. Ten years less hungry. Ten years with his mind more on other things. Ten years worse in his eyesight. Ten years worse in his reactions.

(Although in saying that, in thirty years from now, his reactions and race craft will be better than what mine is today!! )

[Emmcee 0]

No way in his prime he was almost unbeatable and don't discredit hakkinen he was a phenomenal driver, I just think he left it to late, he shouldn't have retired in 06,IMO anytime away from any sport is no good, he just came in to promote merc I think. But like I said who knows

[radical-one 0]

No way in his prime he was almost unbeatable and don't discredit hakkinen he was a phenomenal driver, I just think he left it to late, he shouldn't have retired in 06,IMO anytime away from any sport is no good, he just came in to promote merc I think. But like I said who knows

Agree. Schumi was great and was hard to beat in his prime. With luck or without, he made it 7 times over and that's a record in any books.

He was however a little older when he came back and cars has changed, regulations and was out for sometime and just did not fit in any longer.

So yes, Nico would have still beat him this season although the gap may have been closer.

[Emmcee 0]

Not to mention every year from 1997 on HE was the man challenging for the title against villeneuve,hakkinen,alonso, if he didnt win the title for more than ten years he was the one to beat for the title, mega impressive, even the 96 Ferrari was crap but he still won 3 races in the thing and Barcelona 1996 was one of his greatest wins IMO. Even when missing 7 races in 1999 was still able to finish 5th and would have won first race back if he didnt hand the win to Irvine. Like I said he left it to long to come back,to much had changed he was always 12 months behind everyone else in experience driving this particular style car, but when I still saw some old Schumi every now and then making it hard for Hamilton to pass him in china sticks out in my mind,he gave lewis a torrid time them and a lesson of respect your elders, he made it extremely difficult for some to pass and the incident with Rubens I think was just out of frustration, still wrong though.

[Massa 0]

Would Rosberg be pushing as hard without Hamilton? Has Hamilton brought the best out of Rosberg (it seems he brought the best out of Button, too, so that either means he's horrible and his teammates can always stay close, or there's just something about racing with Hamilton that excites his teammates about having the chance to beat him)? Has having a "star driver" motivated the Mercedes team to deliver some better work?

There are things we just can't measure.

The car is better this year (still flawed) and there were signs that Schumacher could still do a good run or two every now and then...

...but the time has come and gone. F1's a different sport than when Schumacher won. Adjusting to the new aero package, adjusting to the tire characteristics, adjusting to driving to a different kind of strategy, playing some of the DRS games that get played, etc. is all just different. Part of racing is that, like in any sport, the athletes age and their performance declines a bit. That's natural. But what makes it extra punishing on older drivers is that they have to constantly re-learn. In no sport that I know of does the sport itself change so quickly and so regularly. The equipment they use is always being designed under new rules, and the tracks they go to change, and the flow of the races change. You're fighting time, but you're also almost held back by experience. The 42-year-old ice hockey player faces the same things that the 42-year-old F1 driver faces physically, but the ice hockey player really doesn't have to change his game much. Yeah, maybe one coach plays a little different system, and yeah, maybe the game's getting faster with skaters who are huge but not at a loss for speed. But it's not like F1. If it were like F1, the skates would be different to use, the ice surface would be different to play on, the sticks would be different to shoot with, the strategy of the game would be entirely revolutionized. The plays you used to make would be irrelevant. The style you used to play would be outdated. You'd be falling all over the ice trying to skate the old way. You'd be missing your shots trying to shoot the old way. Your coach would be chewing you out for not following the new strategy. That's the real challenge, I think, for an aging racing driver. The sport doesn't stay the same. This isn't the game it was in 2000. It's not the game it was in 2006. It's not the game it was in 2010, even.

[Emmcee 0]

Very good description, I have to agree with 100% as for Rosberg and Hamilton, I think nico is out for childhood revenge from there karting days, IMO he is basically saying, hey mate I know your quick and you beat me before, but this is my team and your not beating me now. I don't think as much he brought the best out of button. I think they were quite good mates so maybe more was shared from both sides of the garage than normal. Who knows but one thing is for sure, Rosberg has lifted his game.

[Quiet One 15]

I disagree about the whole "Schumi was simply too old" for some very good reasons:

1) I am almost as old as him and I do not feel old. In fact, I have the same bladder control I had as a baby. So there.

2) He's 44, not 80. Reflexes don't decay so much, neither does mental skills. As long as he kept himself fit, and he was fitter than many younger drivers, no physical handicap could explain how awful he was in his comeback. Learning? Again, he's 44 and was in a sport were learning happens every year. He does not have to adapt to being adaptative, so to speak. Anything age related might have made him at worst a couple of tenths slower...let's say, turn a Hamilton into a Buemi, not make a 7 times WDC become the sloppy brother of Takuma Sato.

Let's face it. He simply sucked. Why? I don't know. Perhaps we (yes, even Schumi haters like me) overrated him too much. Maybe there was some other factor like the car really not suiting him at all, or a lack of motivation.

But I think if he stayed this year he would have still sucked, only with one more year of experience at sucking.

[andy2286 0]

Schumacher's mistake was not coming back, it was leaving in the first place.

After he left, it was obvious (to me at least) that the sport was missing a star driver, and he would more then likely have won the championship in 2007 and even 2008.

[Emmcee 0]

Yeah I agree, him leaving was the problem, but why were Ferrari pushing him then? You would think while the candle still burns bright to let it burn out, it's a mystery what happened when he came back as it definatly wasn't the same Schumi, except a few rash manoeuvres triggers the memory, bits its not just that,towards the end of last season the errors he made were just unacceptable from a man if his driving stature, it's rattles my mind trying to figure out this mystery, he would have had to have some sort if motivation or the move on barrichello wouldn't have happened he would have just let him go.

[rwgordon 0]

Mercedes were nowhere until Hamilton went there, I doubt Schumacher would have spurred the same results if he had stayed. As good as he was at his best, his presence is not the same as a current WDC contender.

[Grabthaw the Hammerslayer 4]

I think age is relevant, he may still have the ability to go fast but as you get older you become more aware of your mortality and fragility and whereas in your 20s you would take more risks, as you age you get more "safe".

Who was it that said: for every child a racing driver has you can knock a couple of tenths off his lap-time?

[Emmcee 0]

I don't think kids are anything to go by,he had his kids just before he went on a 5 title streak so I don't know, all I seemed to notice late last year was a frustrated man who for some reason even himself couldn't explain why he wasn't the same, rookie incidents causing collisions, was a rare sight back in his hey day but last year they were quite frequent, I was hoping he would do well when he came back as the Mercedes previously a brawn was so dominant. There is only one person I can think of in any type of sport that retired and came back better and that person is Michael Jordan.

[HandyNZL 1]

Ha! Basketball is not a sport. It's just a game.

Like tiddlywinks.

[Emmcee 0]

Come on, now now

[Grabthaw the Hammerslayer 4]

Like tiddlywinks.

or flower arranging

[Emmcee 0]

Haha come guys respect where it's deserved. Anyway back on topic, would Schumi have been quick in the Ferrari if he stepped into massa's seat like he was hoping.

[andy2286 0]

One really can't say, but one thing is for certain... He certainly couldn't have done worse than Badoer!

[Emmcee 0]

Yeah badoer was shocking, though fisi would have done better in the Ferrari. Lol I remember when badoer hit one of the parked cars in parc feme after the race. Lol just triggered a memory, remember taki inoue? The Japanese guy who got hit with the medical car twice in one season lol

[andy2286 0]

Taki Inoue was a little before my time, didn't he vote for himself as the worst f1 driver of all time?