France 2004 and the four-stopper comes to mind as well. I still can't figure out how he managed that one.

The sHort pit lane helped alot, and it was great that that happened. Love and miss those bridgestone tyres for the Ferrari. Yea what a great race that was!

Dont forget the 1996 Spanish GP. He had to get off the mark when coming to Ferrari, and as Hill lost his head, Schumi kept his.

Then there is and China 2006. Brazil was also a really good drive, even though he got a puncture.

I miss you in red, schumi

I think there never has been more pressure on him (or any driver) than in the last part of the 2000 season. 21 years of championless Ferrari history, all the tifosi, his own fans around the world, everything was hanging on him. He had to deliver. And he did.

I think in 2010 and 2011 he felt much more pressure than any time before. Or 41-42 year old guy can't handle the pressure like when he was 29-31 year old.

Yup. Monza 2000, Suzuka 2000 and Monza 2003 are for me one of the best examples of how well Schumacher could handle the pressure and deliver stunning performances.

I don't think so. He's been so relaxed all throughout last year, and the beginning of this year. Only in Turkey I saw him being agitated.

Monza, 2003, qualifying especially!

How was that demonstrated? I haven't seen him crying in a lonely corner somewhere behind the building.

I doubt we will see anybody crying, ever. In one moment last year he said that cars were not the same and Haug confirm this, for me this was one moment when he just didn't wanted to keep this inside him anymore. There was also a lot of not happy interviews. When he was very tense. Expectations this year and last year, a not lower than in 2000. In 1997-2004 he was sure in his car, if he didn't perform well nobody will tell him to retire. Last year he hear this almost every race. Now after 4th race it is the same. It is pressure from everywhere. Not getting well with the car only aggravate the situation. So ,I don't think anything he have in Ferrari could be worse. He have good car, good team around him. All depended on him. Last year and this year not everything depend on him. We see a lot of stupid strategies, car problems, car "not the same", own mistakes. No way this will improve his belief in the car or himself or the team. I see the things this way.

I do agree that he was not happy about Turkey; he stated so on his website. I would be rather careful to conclude that he is ready to hang his helmet, or that his resolve is any lower than before. In fact, I do suspect that his resolve went notch north. We will see.

If he gets a podium or two this year, I expect a lot of people to shut the $%^ up. He deserves the criticism he's getting, but I doubt half the haters here would man up and respect a great result, if it were to happen. Fin.

Agreed. Although very unconvinced about his career 2010/11 I think he has been stronger this year than last if you allow for one really poor race weekend at Turkey. I wouldn't be surprised if he gets near to Nico in Spain.

I'm a hater, and I have inmense respect for him, but that respect is quickly going down. His performance last year was pretty much what I expected of him, but this year he's been way sub-par so far

How you can hate and respect someone at the same time? How does that works? I did not find MM very apealing on many fronts, but I respected certain knowledge he had on procedural matters at FIA. I do not like a few people, but hate them? That's pretty strong word, unless you use it losely. In MS case I think some people just grew into that "hate" role over the years, but today would have difficult time to rationally explain it.

LOL why are you so literal!! How can you hate someone you don't even know. I'd consider myself anti-schumacher, but hater seems to be the going term for us right now, so I used it to describe myself LOL sorry to confuse you there!

Ok now that I don't hate him, can I respect? lol

I accept baddog that clear is ientitled to his opnion.

like you though I believe it was silly and based on a clear long term antagonism because clear sdriver was forever struggling to beat schumacher.

I think for every example clear managed I could could come up with an example equally where despite pressure schumacher delivered.

is there a sportsman who has never failed under pressure? I mean isnt that the definition of what pressure really means. it is partly defined by its results.

eg bradman failing in his final test, tendulkar in the recent world cup. clear pressure situations but equally athlete fails to deliver. did they "crack" under the pressure or merely make a mistake. its rather arbitary and schumachers vulnerability was always one of those things that those who had to compete against the guy consoled themselves - that if only they could put him under rpessure he'd crack. it made it more attainable as a goal to beat the guy

very smart points
is there a sportsman that has been under so much pressure-deciding fights to see if he cracks or not?

alonso crashed in japan 07-> lost the title there, hamilton lost the title with 2 races to go and an 18 point lead, vettel crashed into a bunch of people trying to pass.

everybody cracks under pressure, the thing is some get under pressure more often than others...

I hope Clear will stay at factory this time. He is bringing Michael bad luck.

Schumacher can't be perfect, everybody failed under pressure, EVERYBODY. Why you don't talk about the race who Schumacher won under massive pressure ? Imola 2003 ? Monza 98 ? Barcelona 96 ?Monza 96 ?

What is your point ? Why you **** up this thread ?

With that attitude I think you should request this thread is moved to the Nostalgia Forum but there you would have to take flak from admirers of truly great drivers with untarnished records like Nuvolari, Fangio, Moss, Clark and Mario Andretti, alternatively start a new thread entitled "Schumacher Cult Members Only".

thinking like this nearly all time reading in this thread.

Just let it be Sunday already!

mika hakkinen cried

Does it matter for the speed of Miachael?

reflecting, one thing I fear is that Michael Schumacher finally wins a GP and all over sudden his instinct wakes up and wew see the giant again... Amen for this ...

Amen.


And some people failed even without pressure. A lot of them actually.

The writing´s on the wall - Paul di Resta in the #2 seat, which will keep Nico more honest than he expects - next year.

As for Michael, they will find some befitting role for him, ambassador of the sport, greatest racer of all time, and have him drive the Mercedes car for some show cases. Of course, this will not be what Michael considers "fun", but, what shall he do? Driving in F1 isn't fun for him either right now. Maybe best he returns to amateur motorcycle racing....

I wonder if the off-throttle exhaust gases are what hurt Schumacher in qualifying last weekend?

He was going fine in FP3, but when they turned the system to somewhere close to 100%, it completely changed the drivability of the car, and Schumacher couldn't adapt fast enough.

Stop it. Now some guys here will say that he called his old buddy to arrange certain things for him. That all this "off-throttle exhaust gases saga" started from Michael. And FIA ban it because of him.

That would be going down memory lane far, very far....

It's great we have Schumi in the field right now for what he is, a symbol and a connecting link between the times of Prost, Senna, Mansell, Piquet and the times of Alonso, Vettel, Hamilton, Rosberg, which is a most amazing feat in itself. That is IMHO his real achievement right now, to span so many eras and still be there, partially even competitive.

At the same time it is clear that he doesn't cut it anymore and he also doesn't have fun anymore. Of course, that could change were he to drive a Red Bull and had his team mate contractually at bay, like it used to be. In this case, Schumi would not only be winning races, but the WDC as well. Alas, alas, he has more than exhausted his good karma in this respect, probably for the next few incarnations....

I think Di Resta might keep Nico more than honest, I think he'll be kickin the living crap out of Nico, really.

LOL

The last sentence was probably poorly worded, in that it came across as fact when it was supposed to be a hypothetical.

Many others have commented on how this system has changed the dynamics between Vettel and Webber.

actually, what I found funny was the first sentence, but, ok

It does sound a little like a foaming fanboy's excuses, but it wasn't intended to be that way.

It just seemed unusual, for any driver, that there was such a big gap between practice and qualifying performance. And now we have further details of a system which teams experiment with in qualifying, and potentially changes the handling of the car. I was just maybe linking some dots with a long bow (and that's enough cliches for now)

Maybe he just choked...

Well, Ockham's Razor man!

It may just be he failed to harness his speed in Q3, completely understandable given his age and all.

Excuses excuses excuses....... Bring on Barcelona.

I am for 90% sure, there will be more excuses.... wanna bet?

Prediction for MSC at Barcelona? Top 6 qualifying - top 6 race finish.

That's at least what he's "supposed" to do if he does it right......

As a working prediction I have him in the Top 10 for both sessions. Very bold, I know. I'll refine it more when we see the times from Friday Practice.

11 in quali, great start, and 7or 8 in race

Really? I think they will be top 6 quali.

Top 4 in the race.

Thats a bold statement to make. Your assumption is based on, what exactly ?

This FP performance is not working for him - that's the record until now in 2011. I wonder who is really involved in his race set-up, because the Sat/Sund results calls for the Interpol to get involved.

Yes, and it wouldn't be the first time that had happened.

Monaco will be a big test of where his mental side is at, I think.

Well, between the times Schumacher and Rosberg set, I'm planning to get an idea of the pace that the W02's new upgrades will give (if any) before I conclude anything more than a Top 10 qualification and finish--so Friday pace will be important in the basis of any other prediction I may come to make.

What Michael has to do is sort qualifying sufficiently to get himself out of the range of idiots like Petrov, Barrichello, et al, at the start. The race will take care of itself. He must improve qualy.

I think Petrov in particular would be saying the same thing about Michael!

lol