M
MoMike
Guest
I give it no more than 3 races before he's in Victory lane, and on the podium before that.
MoMike
MoMike
VaDirt
Dirt Track Fanatic
Wouldn't be surpising, especially with Braun on the team. Just hope he doesn't dominate.
F
foehammer111
Guest
I think he might get a win or two at some point this year, but I don't expect him to be a serious contendor for the title.
I know many people consider him to be the best racer ever, but I think he's highly overrated. Yeah, he's got the numbers to back him up: most wins, most championships, etc. But lets face it: he had the best car on the track every race while everyone else might as well have been driving lawn mowers. Michael Schumacher is the Richard Petty of F1. He competed in a time when competition wasn't strong. Hell, it's still not strong.
Sure, he's signed with the defending championship team, but this is Ferrari's sport. They made a mistake last season by spending too much in the 2008, and thus were not prepared for 2009 and Brawn's double diffuser. Ferrari will not make the same mistake twice. They are the team to beat until proven otherwise.
I know many people consider him to be the best racer ever, but I think he's highly overrated. Yeah, he's got the numbers to back him up: most wins, most championships, etc. But lets face it: he had the best car on the track every race while everyone else might as well have been driving lawn mowers. Michael Schumacher is the Richard Petty of F1. He competed in a time when competition wasn't strong. Hell, it's still not strong.
Sure, he's signed with the defending championship team, but this is Ferrari's sport. They made a mistake last season by spending too much in the 2008, and thus were not prepared for 2009 and Brawn's double diffuser. Ferrari will not make the same mistake twice. They are the team to beat until proven otherwise.
M
MoMike
Guest
I think you need to give him more credit than that. Can't compare him to Petty. Every team in F1 has a multi-million(maybe even billion) dollar budget.
I believe he'll do well because he's the best. And yes, it's tough to find competition for the best.
MoMike
I believe he'll do well because he's the best. And yes, it's tough to find competition for the best.
MoMike
F
foehammer111
Guest
So you think he's going to do just as well now as he did with Ferrari? Run away with the title 5 years in a row? He's the best, right? So he'll win no matter what car he's in?
Also, the comparison to Petty is actually very acurate. Petty's team had much more money than anyone else, and so did Schumacher. Team budgets are not equal in F1. Sure, the average car costs several million dollars to build, but that's not the whole story. The real money gets tossed into R&D. In 2008 Ferrari spent over $50 million in R&D just to make their cars .5 seconds faster.
I'd like to see Force India throw that kind of money around. Some teams are more equal than others. That's part of the reason Ferrari was so strongly opposed to budget caps. It would kill the one major advantage they have: money.
M
MoMike
Guest
Yes he will. He couldn't do it in any car, but he'll do it in his current one.
M
MoMike
Guest
Petty was factory backed in a time when no one else was. Also won on alot of tracks like Fonda in NY against alot of nobodies.
Shumacher doesn't wander the landscape cherrypicking his competition and stealing the show.
The Petty comparison is not accurate.
R
Restrictor Plate King!
Guest
I wish Schuey wasn't driving again, the way he ended his career the first time was perfect. Now i'm worried about how he'll do, don't want anything to happen that might tarnish all he's accomplished...
D
Dionysius
Guest
wut?
Hamilton? Alanso? Button? Massa? Vettel? etc?
Naw...that ain't strong at all...
If you are in F1 it is because you are %*$%)(*&# good. There are no Milka Duno's in this series. The pay driver days are long gone. Too much money is involved nowadays for just anyone to drop into a seat.
My prediction is Schumacher will not win this year. It is Red Bull's and Ferrari's season to loose. He will, however, always be in the hunt and may pull off a podium or two.
M
MoMike
Guest
Strong prediction there, post-race,huh......really going out on a limb there...
F
foehammer111
Guest
So what happened? I thought Schumacher was the greatest driver ever?
But seriously, I'm just giving him a hard time. These days it's nearly impossible to win an F1 race unless you start on pole. Last year nearly 60% of the races were won by the pole sitter. Often times with no lead changes.
If the first race is any indication, this is going to be one of the worst F1 seasons ever. The series is already known for having a lack of passing and lead changes. Now the refueling ban is going to make things worse with pit stops sub 5 seconds.
I was speaking from the team side of things. There are plenty of drivers that have talent, but they're stuck with cars that can't win. In F1 there are only maybe 3-5 cars that are capable of winning any given race. Compared to about 15-20 for a NASCAR event.
There's a lot of elements that factor into this, but none more so than unlimited budget caps. Some teams are more equal than others, and Ferrari can dump billions of dollars into it's F1 program where as others can not. This makes them the team to beat for any race.
F1 hasn't been the best road-racing series for a long time. BTCC, DTM, and V8 Super Cars offer much better racing than F1 can. Budget caps are the only real answer. Until you force everyone onto the same playing field, then boring races like the last one are going to be the norm.
But seriously, I'm just giving him a hard time. These days it's nearly impossible to win an F1 race unless you start on pole. Last year nearly 60% of the races were won by the pole sitter. Often times with no lead changes.
If the first race is any indication, this is going to be one of the worst F1 seasons ever. The series is already known for having a lack of passing and lead changes. Now the refueling ban is going to make things worse with pit stops sub 5 seconds.
I was speaking from the team side of things. There are plenty of drivers that have talent, but they're stuck with cars that can't win. In F1 there are only maybe 3-5 cars that are capable of winning any given race. Compared to about 15-20 for a NASCAR event.
There's a lot of elements that factor into this, but none more so than unlimited budget caps. Some teams are more equal than others, and Ferrari can dump billions of dollars into it's F1 program where as others can not. This makes them the team to beat for any race.
F1 hasn't been the best road-racing series for a long time. BTCC, DTM, and V8 Super Cars offer much better racing than F1 can. Budget caps are the only real answer. Until you force everyone onto the same playing field, then boring races like the last one are going to be the norm.
D
Dionysius
Guest
Hmm...I donno about that. The only way it could be the worst ever is if some driver get's instructions to intentionally crash where it is hardest to remove cars from the track so their team-mate can make it to the end of the race on fuel. Because...that's never happened before, in Singapore.
I agree - somewhat. The amounts teams can and do spend is ridiculous. However, this would be impossible to enforce. You will only know what a team spends on a project based on what they report. What needs to be limited is things like the number of people out of the garage on a pit stop, materials used on a car, etc. How about another material for the car bodies instead of CF? Carbon fiber is uber-expensive.