We arranged for Michael Schumacher to hang out with imperial college engineering students in London.

Morning all. Sunny Tuesday. Off to Brackley with Second Segment of filming with Michael Schumacher in the gym & factory

Schumi was at the Imperial College Engineering in London today.
...

Lucky students. To have lecture from MS. I see Ph.D in the future.

Racing ace in Imperial pit stop

Seven-time Formula 1 World Champion, Michael Schumacher, paid a surprise visit to Imperial yesterday. The racing legend, driving for the Mercedes Petronas team, joined his race engineer Jock Clear to answer questions from students in the Faculty of Engineering.The College has a long history of producing graduates who go on to work in Formula 1. Schumacher’s visit was organised by Petronas, who sponsor the Mercedes team and count a number of Imperial alumni amongst their staff.

Chemical Engineering student Tess Goh Fui Phing said: “I really enjoyed some of the insights Michael shared with us – it made me feel closer to the experience he has while out on the track.” Mechanical Engineering student Christopher Martyr added: “It was a fantastic surprise. I thought it was really great of Michael and Jock to take that time out to speak to us.”

The students quizzed Michael on life inside the pit lane and you can read a selection of these questions below.


Why did you comeback?
It was a combination of it being Ross Brawn [Mercedes Team Principal] who asked me to come back, of it being Mercedes and of feeling that at that moment I should go for it.

F1 teams have team mates, but often it's a case of "team enemies" - how much data do you keep to yourself?
It can be team mates but it doesn’t need to be. And probably your first priority is to beat your colleague though. The data acquisition is open to everybody and is shared. You may have some personal secrets of how you’ve achieved something that you don’t feel you need to share with your colleague. At the end of the day you want to be better than your team mate, but concerning the car development, you are obliged and it’s in your own interest to communicate to the engineers and the team. The quicker you can develop the car the better it is for the both of us. After that you can try to beat the other guy.

Out of your whole career, who was the best driver you came up against?
I’d have to rate Mika Hakkinen. He was extremely fast. There were many weekends when we seemed to have an edge on him in Friday practice, but come qualifying on Saturday he’d be matching our speed. He and McLaren managed as a team to raise their game and put the car together. The secret is to maximise your potential. The car has the potential to reach 100%, and it’s about how often can you hit this. Mika was very good at this and would often surprise us.

As a driver you really want to win, but is it not sometimes more satisfying to compete and not totally dominate a season?
It can be, yes. This year I was fighting for fifth position with Lewis Hamilton in Monza, and it was a really nice battle. You can take more pleasure for yourself from that than from winning easily.

What are your views on where driver saftey is now, and where it needs to be?
Safety has become a much higher priority since we lost Ayrton Senna. The goal is that no driver loses their life. Are we there yet? We have improved massively, and since that day we haven’t lost a life. But the point is that it’s still a possibility, so there’s constant development going on. The crash tests the cars have to withstand these days are enormously high. Then it’s also about improving the circuits as well.

How are you preparing yourself for next season?
The offseason is much shorter these days. We had the last race the other weekend and now I’m taking some off time for 2-3 weeks to rest and relax and let the body and joints recover. Then at Christmas I’ll probably restart my fitness regime.

How long are you going to stay?
It depends on various factors. It’s a lot about how we develop as a team and if things go the right way in the future.

http://www2.imperial.ac.uk/blog/reporter/2...erial-pit-stop/

The one hes using now





You can see, before lacquer and after

I would love to have the program of his training regime. That guy looks like a beast!. Any suggestions?

I FEEL LIKE CRYING! Michael Schumacher made a surprise visit to my Uni yesterday for a Q & A, he was literally a stone's throw away. To kick a man whilst he's down, no good questions came from the floor just the typical "Who is the best you've faced?"

...he was literally a stone's throw away.

So why weren't you asking the better one?!!

So why weren't you asking the better one?!!

I didn't realise he was there and 2. It was most likely limited to engineers only I would have started my questions with "Sooooooooo, Jos..."

I would love to have the program of his training regime. That guy looks like a beast!. Any suggestions?

What made Schumi react this way?

What made Schumi react this way?

What made Schumi react this way?

That montage of best of 2011 is awesome, shows how strong he has been at points. There's a lot missing, a longer one would be even better.

A 2011 Highlights video I found on Youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A2Qbzs0Ihg&feature=g-all

Ah canada 2011... Had all kinds of emotions in that race.

Anger because Mercedes brought him in for option tyres just before the rain and he had to come back in for wet tyres. Wich made him start at around P10 at the restart. He would have started at P2 if they would have waited just one lap.

Extreme joy when he passed Massa and Kobayashi. I was so convinced he would be on podium.

And extreme sadness when DRS was activated and he lost a podium finish. Man, that hurted me more then the time my first girlfriend broke up with me. (just kidding)

And after the race thinking about what could have happened...

Don't think some folks will understand but the past two years following F1 have just been awesome for me as an MSC fan. It's just so much better if there is someone driving who you support fully.
For example the part of my emotions during the Canada grand prix. Before 2010 I followed F1 with a neutral point of view ;
- Oh that guy won /care
- Oh, that guy crashed /care
- Oh, that guy is the world champion /care

Now it's just different. I enjoy it so much more just because of the presence of one man on track.

Now it's just different. I enjoy it so much more just because of the presence of one man on track.

Same with me, mate.
Though a lot of people won't understand it.

What made Schumi react this way?

I'm now trying to find another driver to support as well as Michael so when he does retire again I won't have to abruptly start supporting somebody new, I'll have a gradual crossover.

I'm not sure you can 'find' another driver; they tend to find you.

Same here aswell - if he goes out a GP i tend to forget the rest of it unless it's spectacular.

True, true. Well, to be honest, in Canada I really was shouting and screaming and cheering him on like crazy, I never thought I was able to do that but the way he tossed that car around the circuit over the bumps and kerbs was just unbelievable. THAT was the old Schumacher we all have known so well. Pure eyecandy. Totally heartbroken when *whoever made the call* was just too much of a pussy to jump to extreme wet tyres and that damn DRS was activated. Well, we all saw that coming in the end, didn't we For me, he was third there (big chance Button would have got past anyway, he was really quick that day).

I'll never forget Canada, the inferior Schumacher was battling for 2nd at one point while the superior Rosberg came across the line with a broken front wing.

And this thread has been trollfree for some time now.

And do you know what he did in 1994 and 1997?

Don't forget Austria 2002 and Monaco 2006, sure that's one event every (roughly) four years!

And do you know what he did in 1994 and 1997?

Ate at McDonalds?

Really? And there we have proof people... Schumacher hates animals because he eats meat.

I'll get my shotgun.