11 June 1998 |
No 17 |
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Michael Schumacher: The Other Flawed Genius
By Roger Horton
We have had some downright boring F1 races this year,indeed this is only the second time this season that I have felt compelled to return to the previous weeks race for some follow up comment.
The reason is mainly Michael Schumacher. Love him or loathe him,it seems that just about everything of interest that happens on the track revolves around this hugely talented German driver.
Now there have been occasions when the performance gap between the Mclarens and the Ferrari has been too much for even Schumacher to bridge. The result has been some pretty tedious processions that can tempt even the most avid fan to nod off or switch channels. Yet give Schumacher a sniff of a victory and the result can be some electrifying motor racing. The Canadian and Argentine Grand Prix's being prime examples.
In this Canadian race we saw both sides of Michael Schumacher,the brilliant, totally committed race winner,and the other darker side, that left unchecked threatens his own personal future and tears yet more fabric from an already torn canvass that is Formula One.
Michael Schumacher goes off the grid to win at any cost. To watch him putting in lap after lap, with the intensity of qualifying pace is what F1 racing is all about. He is the undisputed master of this,the rightful heir to a long line of great drivers who have had this something extra. But his is not on the track alone. He shares it with twenty one other drivers,who although they may not have an equal talent,have an equal right to share the track.
His similarity in attitude to that of the late Ayrton Senna is frightening. Ayrton Senna is still the only driver to have secured the World Championship by deliberately ramming his only rival. The incident passed off without punishment or sanction of any sort. Schumacher attempted to become the second at Jerez last year,and even though he failed, it was not for want of trying,he simply misjudged it.
So when Schumacher exited the pits on lap 20 of the Canadian Grand Prix,perhaps he didn't see Frentzen. Most keen followers of Formula One desperately want to belive that he didn't see Frentzen,because the other two alternatives are just too hard to live with. Either he saw him and moved over anyway,or he consciously chose not to look.
Now bearing in mind the now on the record comments of Ross Brawn,that he did indeed warn him that he "was coming out into a group of cars",then each of us are free to make up our own minds.
The problem here of course is that our opinions count for nothing. We can say and write what we like,and nothing will change.
But wait. The stewards did act. For the first time in F1, a stop/go penalty was assessed for "dangerous driving". Now we are well used to stop/go penalties for speeding in the pit lane and for failing to obey the blue flag whilst being lapped,but this took us into new territory, and dangerous territory at that.
Now we have the situation where the three FIA appointed stewards,will feel free to hand out stop/go penalties at their sole discretion. There can be no appeal,the race cannot be rerun. There is nothing wrong with the principle of stop/go penalties for this type of offence,what is wrong, is allowing this power in the hands of these people. Just remember,the stewards at Jerez in 1997 saw nothing wrong with Schumacher's move on Villeneuve,it was only Max Mosley that insisted that it be brought before the world Council for judgement.
During the Brazilian race we had the stewards(one of whom was widely reported to be a cinema proprietor in his home country)over- ruling the considered judgement of the FIA's own technical expert in the great Mclaren brake fiasco.
I have long considered that the only way to police driver behavior on the track is to have a respected person travel with the races,then perhaps in consultation with the race stewards he could determine the appropriate penalty. This is the only way that some degree of consistency can be maintained.
It would also have the tremendous advantage that he could have a quiet word with a driver that had come close to transgressing in a past race. Not only could justice been done,but it could be seen to been done. If this system had been in operation for a while then some of the worst excesses of Schumacher's on track behavior would have been controlled long ago, and we might have been spared Jerez entirely.
So the action taken by the stewards in Canada was a case of too little too late.
At the post race press conference we were to witness another side of the Schumacher character. His trenchant criticism of Damon Hill's admittedly marginal maneuverings to prevent Schumacher taking away his second place were at face value just plain stupid. If Michael Schumacher didn't invent weaving on the straight, he sure perfected it.
But on reflection I believe now that he was planning ahead with his statement. The drivers had all been warned that cutting across the chicane would bring a penalty. Perhaps this thought had crossed Damon's mind as he initially kept him wide on entry to the corner.So Schumacher was perhaps preparing the ground that it was Hill's action that caused him to do this.
That this cutting of the chicane was indeed one of the points of protest that Williams used to challenge Schumacher's win shows that perhaps he is rather good at smelling trouble ahead.
I always have felt that the pressure that had built up in the last months of Ayrton Senna's life were in part bought about my his utter refusal to ever give an inch. Not for him the safe second place while a victory beckoned. Michael Schumacher takes with him to the start line the same win at all cost,go for every gap,and never yield mentality that was so much the hallmark of Senna.
Both great drivers,both flawed. Let us all hope that the final chapter in the Schumacher story does not have the same tragic ending..
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Roger Horton |
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