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Michael Schumacher Driving Style
(121 posts, started )
Quote from tristancliffe :Just jealous that Canada or Australia hasn't produced a decent driver for a few decades

They would, but I'm too young to drive an F1 car...

#52 - aoun
If shumi had of died during his rampage we wouldn't be having this argument and you guys know it!
They were both quick drivers, and they were both dirty when they were losing. I think Senna is more popular because he had a more exhuberant personality than Schumacher and his passion was obvious, and of course because he was practically deified following his death.

Unfortunately it seems Schumacher has ushered in the era of the personality-free grand prix driver. I can't get excited about Lewis Hamilton at all. Even though Alonso behaves like a stroppy infant sometimes at least he's expressing something...
Lewis is special but he hasn't had a special come from behind win to be put in the hall of fame, hes consistant and thats how you would put it...
If Shumi was to of stayed for one more year, it would be something special to see him agiasnt lewis..
If LH had gone to a typical "starter" F1 team, i.e. Spyker, Super Aguri, Red Bull, none of us would pay any notice. The Only reason we all claim his greatness is he is in a car rejuvenated this year, by a team illegally possesing Ferrari documents.
never mind wasnt revelent
schumi and senna may have been 'dirty' at times but at the end of the day, they are just professionals trying to achieve the best results they can. soldiers kill each other as a profession, F1 racing drivers screw each others races up!

senna was the fastest ever
Quote from ayrton senna 87 :schumi and senna may have been 'dirty' at times but at the end of the day, they are just professionals trying to achieve the best results they can. soldiers kill each other as a profession, F1 racing drivers screw each others races up!

senna was the fastest ever

soldiers dont kill because a profession... they kill because if they dont kill they die....

agree with the last sentence
Some have said Kimi is faster. Not better, not more focussed, not greater. But faster.
Quote from BlueFlame :
They HAD to say it WASN'T driver error, OH NO, cos Senna NEVER made a mistake. Even when he caused accidents. Im sorry, he was insane if you can't see that, your insane too. Taking others lives into his own hands. Causing crashes, aggrivation...

Actually what caused the crash is fairly irrelevant, I think the most widely accepted theory is the car bottomed out, possibly from pushing too hard, and he couldn't save it, again maybe if he had been pushing less hard he may have had a greater chance of saving it. In the end of the day it was just tragic chance that the wheel struck him on the head in a relatively minor single car accident.

As I constantly say the only way to avoid this kind of thing is just not to have so many crashes in the first place. We've become too accustomed to expecting lucky escapes, some people here would be more surprised to see someone break a wrist in a fairly low speed roll than see Kubica escape effectively unharmed from a 170mph head on smash. In the '93-'97 period there were 382 accidents resulting in 2 fatalities (both on that same weekend), between '63-'67 there were 47 accidents and only 3 fatalities. Now if there had been 8 times as many accidents in the '60s I very much doubt there'd be anybody wanting a drive

Quote from BlueFlame :Gilles Villeneuve gets it for me.

Villeneuve is a funny case IMO because he's been rather immortalized by the fact he tragically lost his life and the best bit of F1 racing ever at Dijon, however, I don't think he's really up there with the greats.

Quote from aoun :mm ye well, i may be wrong with alot of things, but this video sums it up for me =)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=9j6dGOGftY4

Yep Senna knew how to play dirty, although he wasn't as good as Schumi at covering it up. IMO Senna probably was probably the better driver in terms of outright speed and car control, though they were both oozing with raw talent. What Schumi had though was an ability to stage manage everything and get away with so many of his dirty tricks.
I vote for Clark as the fastest ever. Impossible to directly compare drivers of different era, but nobody was so far ahead of their peers as Clark was.

I'd like to see the current crop of young "hot shots" drive a car with no TC, treaded tyres, no downforce, no electronics, no TC, no pit radio etc. These days it is too easy to be fast.
Quote from tristancliffe :Some have said Kimi is faster. Not better, not more focussed, not greater. But faster.

He may well be, he was often faster than Schumi when everything didn't fall to pieces even in McLaren's disastrous spell a couple of years ago. The problem is he just can't hang it all together and produce the victories.

Another driver very highly rated, =who probably shouldn't be forgotten, is Jan Magnussen. JYS himself rated him as the next big thing based on his amazing raw talent, unfortunately he was unfit, completely disorganized and never put enough effort into getting somewhere in F1 and fell to the ranks of just another failed F1 driver having a stab at sports car racing.
Well, back on the discussion of Schumacher's driving style. Tbh, I think the main difference between Schumacher and other drivers is bravery. For example, when braking for T1 at Blackwood in the XRT. If you brake at the 125 marker, you'll go through the corner comfortably and you can get the car to the apex without any real difficulty. Now, I've personally tested it myself, you can actually brake at 110-100 meters which is better but obviously, it'll require a bit of work to get the car into the corner but it is faster. The difference between braking at 125 and 110 is calmness. When you brake at the 125 marker, you can brake hard, then let go of the brakes where you're in a period of not having any brakes or throttle or just "coasting" to the apex then when the time is right, hit the throttle while braking at the 110 mark, you have to brake all the way till the apex and then you instantly switch to putting the throttle in.

Like what Herbert was saying, drivers like Hakkinen and Senna keep dabbing the throttle as they approach the apex and also use it a bit for the exit. I think they do this to keep the car balanced and not having too much weight at the back or front when it comes to weight transfer. As for Schumacher, he probably sets the car up so that he can brake hard and late into the apex with the car still being stable then instantly applying a small amount of throttle after he's finished braking to keep the weight at the back thus giving him rear end grip then he can just gently power it out not to lose traction.

It seems quite simple but like I said, I think its to do with bravery. Actually, something which validates this point is what Watson was saying about how fast Schumacher went through Becketts.
#66 - Gunn
Quote from ajp71 :In the end of the day it was just tragic chance that the wheel struck him on the head in a relatively minor single car accident.

Just to be pedantic, I believe the medical team report states the cause for the head injury was "Senna's helmet was pierced by a broken suspension component".



More on Schumi's driving style:
"What surprised me the most about Michael was that almost as soon as he got in the car he was quick straight off. He did not take long to adapt and lapped quickly right away. As time went on his team mates reduced the gap and after thirty or forty laps the differences were minimal. Each time, however, Michael set very quick times in his early laps. He has a natural ability to find the limits of a car immediately. This, I think, is what sets him apart from all the other drivers" - Peter Sauber

"Michael has a very particular style of driving. he has this thing I've never met with any other driver which gives him an advantage that I was unable to overcome. And I was already too old at the time to try and modify my style and adopt to his. The difference was too great." - Johnny Herbert

Rofl at Coulthard:

"I don't think that Michael is in any way special in relation to the others. Of course he's quick, very quick though I can't really explain why. Maybe it's quite simply because his chassis is better balanced." - David Coulthard

"Michael talks a lot on the radio. He wants to know where his rivals are; what their refueling strategy is. He absorbs everything and decides his own tactics as a result. And all this time he's driving flat out!" - Burnard Dudot

"You have to feel the car, feel it with your whole body which sends this information to the brain and this in turn transmits it into the movements of the steering wheel. That, I think, is what makes part of the difference between drivers. Some manage to get a feel for their chassis but are unable to transmit this to the steering wheel. In my opinion the secret of speed consists of taking corners on the limit while balancing the car with the accelerator to keep it stable. The majority of drivers try to do it but some are too jerky which costs them time. I really do my best to be gentle with the accelerator to the very edge and above all to stay that way all through the corner. Other drivers find their car's limit on the exit but they're not there on the entry or in the middle; it's all very well to be on the limit on the exit of a corner but it's impossible to make up for the time lost on the entry. Over a whole lap that's what maybe makes a difference for pole. And over a race it's perhaps what makes the difference between victory and second or third place." - Michael Schumacher

"For me braking points are made by the brake marks of other drivers. You can see the places where the flat bottoms (of the cars) have touched the tarmac under heavy braking. My aim is always to brake after the last of these marks. In general I also have reference points on the side of the track but at the last moment I look at the track itself and the corner which tunes me in to the final braking point." - Michael Schumacher

"I make the distinction between driving flat out and driving at 100%. 100% means driving as quickly as possible while keeping an eye on fuel consumption and the state of your tyres. This means that it's not possible to go as fast as the car is capable of going. You have to do a kind of mathematical calculation taking everything into account and going as quickly as possible according to the result. In some grands prix I slowed right down towards the end as it was no longer necessary to push myself to the maximum." - Michael Schumacher
#67 - aoun
Quote from Storm_Cloud :I'd like to see the current crop of young "hot shots" drive a car with no TC, treaded tyres, no downforce, no electronics, no TC, no pit radio etc. These days it is too easy to be fast.

Id like to, because they wouldn't manage.
Senna and Schumacher were BOTH idiots. The only reason Schumacher never died behind the wheel, and he came close, was that Senna's death brought irreversable saftey changes to the sport that has changed the face of F1 racing forever. They sanitized the circuits to the point where most of them are boring and will never recover the glory or grandure of their heyday. The cars have also been made safer to the point where Wurtz burried himself in a barrier at 240kph and walked away without a scratch. To say otherwise demonstrates a massive ignorange ofthe history of the sport. I can say this because since 1980 i have not missed a single F1 gp, and i will say this - Senna and Schumacher ruined one of the greatest sports their ever was and it will be many a year until this is rectified, if it ever is. Simon (Johns brother)
#69 - JJ72
I honestly don't see how drivers dying pays respect of the history of F1.
Quote from monsterrocks :Senna and Schumacher were BOTH idiots. The only reason Schumacher never died behind the wheel, and he came close, was that Senna's death brought irreversable saftey changes to the sport that has changed the face of F1 racing forever. They sanitized the circuits to the point where most of them are boring and will never recover the glory or grandure of their heyday. The cars have also been made safer to the point where Wurtz burried himself in a barrier at 240kph and walked away without a scratch. To say otherwise demonstrates a massive ignorange ofthe history of the sport. I can say this because since 1980 i have not missed a single F1 gp, and i will say this - Senna and Schumacher ruined one of the greatest sports their ever was and it will be many a year until this is rectified, if it ever is. Simon (Johns brother)

way too bump a year old thread
Quote from tristancliffe :I believe. Ferrari hadn't won since 1979 when he joined, which is more like 17 years, not 25.

Yes, Ferrari hadn't won a championship since 1979, but it took 4 years for Schumacher to win the title driving for Ferrari, so you're both wrong (FL!P was less wrong though). Schumacher's first championship victory driving for Ferrari was in 2000. In 1996 (79+17) the champion was Damon Hill, i was kinda sure you would know that, and Schumacher came 3rd the same year being his first year for Ferrari. So it took Ferrari 21 years to win the title again, not 25 or 17 (79+25='04=Schumacher's last, 7th, title)

Thought I'd clear that up....but as i now see, this topic has been zombied. But still i could argue with Tristan, so it's worth it, and i KNOW I'm right on this one. :P
Quote from The Very End :Ohhh dirty

Anyway, maybe off topic but anyway - I don`t see why people see on Schumacher as one of the best drivers of all times. Sure, he drives fast, but hes also the most unfair person I have ever seen in any kind of motorsport. :/
Maybe thats just me...but neverming.

thats why i dont like Schumi.
hes quick. no doubt abt it.
but he absolutely no sportsmanship watsoever.
Schumi :bowdown:
Im not here to defend schumi or anything. I just want to mention that some people tend to reduce schumi on a few incidents. Most of them know nothing else about him then a few youtube videos or some comments from questionable websites and such. How he actually evolved and tried to make the best out of himself and the given tools is beeing kept out of the equation for some reason or another.

In germany there is a comedian and he once said: "If you dont know jack shit, just shut up". (roughly translated)
Quote from BlueFlame :You can't say that he was the best. BUT he died whilst racing.
Schumacher was racing at the same time as Senna, did HE crash and die? No. Senna had his days, but they weren't going to go past 1994 and onwards, thats was Schumacher territory, sure enough , he WAS annoying in his 7 titles of HELL but whether we like it or not, Statistically hes the best, and you can't argue with that. No 'could of been' 'should of been' Thats why Senna can't match Schumacher you can't say he is only statistically better because Senna died They were racing at the same time, and its not like Senna died in a Scuba diving accident, he actually made a mistake, and paid.. well. We all know what it cost him.

learn youre fact before speaking senna never made any mistake the steering column broke and thats what caused the accident. And stats dont mean anything just look at gilles villeneuve he never won a championship but he probably is in the top5 of best drivers(im talking about driving skill).

Michael Schumacher Driving Style
(121 posts, started )
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