Michael Schumacher - "everyone is entitled to their own opinion"....

[markb]

http://www.planetf1.com/news/3213/6069019/-Everyone-s-entitled-to-their-own-opinion-

Oh yes Michael, we are entitled to our own opinion, my message to you is :::"You are not now in that "era" when you won 7 world titles, during which time, you got away with loads of wrongdoings....but you are now competing against young and hungry drivers, who will not be intimidated by your reputation.  You should have stayed at Ferrari and given your neck a rest"!!!!! Sorry guys and gals, don't like the man. 

[Jericoke]

http://www.planetf1.com/news/3213/6069019/-Everyone-s-entitled-to-their-own-opinion-

Oh yes Michael, we are entitled to our own opinion, my message to you is :::"You are not now in that "era" when you won 7 world titles, during which time, you got away with loads of wrongdoings....but you are now competing against young and hungry drivers, who will not be intimidated by your reputation.  You should have stayed at Ferrari and given your neck a rest"!!!!! Sorry guys and gals, don't like the man. 

There's 24 drivers, and a plethora of 'personalities' directly involved in F1.  No one is going to like all of them, and having someone you 'love to hate' is almost as good as cheering someone on.

Since Schumacher was Villeneuve's main rival, I'm not a fan of his, but was excited to see him back.  I'm even a little disappointed that Brawn and Schumacher couldn't combine to take Brawn up another notch.  I'm not prepared to dismiss Schumacher or Mercedes yet though.

However, I'll never say he shouldn't have come back.  Even if he came back with Luca Badoer type times, at least he tried.  (Now, if he turned a full season like that, then I'd be a little annoyed... but while he's not the best driver in the world, he's hardly embarassing himself on the track.)  A seven time champion gets the benefit of the doubt every time in my book.

[markb]

I think you missed my point Jericoke - it's a combination of lack of competition he had when he won the world titles, e.g. Ferrari's dominance, not as many young and skillful  racing drivers as we have now, and finally, the manner in which he won some of his races, eg. what he got away with!!!!!!!!!!

[Jericoke]

I think you missed my point Jericoke - it's a combination of lack of competition he had when he won the world titles, e.g. Ferrari's dominance, not as many young and skillful  racing drivers as we have now, and finally, the manner in which he won some of his races, eg. what he got away with!!!!!!!!!!

True, I did miss your point.

However, Schumacher ushered in modern F1 as well.  Before Schumacher was with Ferrari, car reliability was a joke; now an modern F1 car is expected to finish every race (Someone please tell Luscous Liz that...)  Before Schumacher came along, F1 wasn't a serious spectator sport in Germany (there were always fans, but hardly a national craze), and now how many German drivers are there on the grid?

As much as we don't like the idea of one man dominating the sport, it does make marketing easier.  Notice that Honda, Toyota, BMW and Renault ALL (re)joined the sport when MS was driving, and ALL left after he did?  And now the only new manufacturer happens to be his team owner.

The cars and drivers may be better than ever, but Schumacher had a big part in that.  There's no reason why he shouldn't be allowed to take any part in it he wishes.  I don't think anyone would claim he's taking a seat away from a more talented driver, would they? 

(Alright, let me have it on that: I suppose Kubica and Heidfeld could arguably be in that category.)

[markb]

The departure of the teams you mentioned didn't leave 'cause Schumacher left, they left at the onset of the Global financial crisis....shall we carry on or???  sorry but we beg to differ!

[Jericoke]

The departure of the teams you mentioned didn't leave 'cause Schumacher left, they left at the onset of the Global financial crisis....shall we carry on or???  sorry but we beg to differ!

They left because the value of advertising in F1 had gone down.   The global economy certainly didn't help, but Toyota remains comitted to other sports, if they were just trying to save money, why keep racing NASCAR?  Why is Honda still selling IndyCar engines?

That also is the opposite explanation of why Mercedes joined.

It's never one factor, but having a dominant racer in F1 that people like to watch is an important ingredient, and as much as I like Hamilton, Raikkonen and Vettel, the rest of the world doesn't.  Without Schumacher, F1 was worth less, and difficult to justify an investment in a losing team.  (Watch the NBA implode after losing Michael Jordan, or Golf lose all its sponsors as Tiger Woods sits out for 4 months)

[Chris Borg]

Without Schumacher, F1 was worth less.

Is that why we had a brillliant  season in 2008, and in 2009. when both titles were decided by a meagre 1 Point......I wonder Jeri.

[FW14B]

I think F1 was lucky post Schumacher that we had so many new talents come through such as Vettel, Hamilton and Kubica to add to those we already had (Rosberg, Alonso, Massa etc) so I am not so sure the sport suffered. 

The big manufacturers left as they weren't winning and were spending too much to justify their inclusion in the sport.  Honda look good supplying engines to the IRL as they are the only providers so win whatever happens.  Toyota were one team who were supposedly going to drop out of F1 for many years, it just finally had to happen this year because of the global economic climate.  It is no doubt cheaper to run in NASCAR as there is this whole 'Car of Tomorrow' thing so there is a lot less expenditure again.  Toyota also said they wanted to concentrate on other racing series after leacing F1. 

[Jericoke]

Without Schumacher, F1 was worth less.

Is that why we had a brillliant  season in 2008, and in 2009. when both titles were decided by a meagre 1 Point......I wonder Jeri.

The team budgets are all smaller now than when Schumacher was at his prime.

If that's not 'worth less', then I'm not sure what those words mean.

2007 was brilliant:  the rookie and the champ and the man they replaced all with a genuine shot at winning going into the last race?  You can't write anything better than that.

2008 was just as good, maybe better.  Outside of a movie, who actually wins a championship on the last corner of the season?

Don't confuse on track excitement for financial stability.  The best product in the world still needs to be sold, and no one sells F1 like Michael Schumacher.

[cosworth151]

Toyota left because they were a laughing stock. They can go to NASCAR, buy a spec racer car on the cheap and not have to worry. BMW left because F1 was pulling out of most of their biggest markets.

[fredsone]

I am inclined to (mostly) agree with Jericoke, Schumacher was and is a real focus in F1 to the extent there are now a lot of people who don’t follow the sport but know who he is and by default something of F1.
 
Yes there was a very dull period where the Ferrari was working well and when combined with Schumacher we all waited to see how many cars he would lap and who would come second... 

I know there are those who suggest the Schumacher success was a result of a great car (Ferrari) but he was also winning before he had a red car and when he went to Ferrari their car wasnt excatly “competitive” (if my memory is correct, in those days Ferrari wasn’t much better than the team recently described as a “Toyota joke”).  Also, if the car was such an important cause of his success then where was his teammate during those races. 

We also saw some great racing during the period when traction control was banned (that is the time between when it was banned and then reintroduced).  McLaren was very fast and Schumacher often took the race to McLaren even though he was obviously struggling with his cars performance.  Alas the excitement ended when traction control was reintroduced and McLarens performance improved significantly less than the rest of the field and the team rapidly slipped down the grid.
 
Simply, I think the Schumacher, Braun and Ferrari combo did a lot for F1 development and they did produce some interesting races (until the combo was developed to a point they were in a different class, but that did raise the bar for the others) and it was during that period Schumacher and F1 became household names.

As for teams leaving, in the end I think it was down to money.  The economic crash must be hurting and unlike Mercedes, Ferrari and co, the likes of Toyota etc are not as big names in lot of the regions F1 is visiting this year.

However, I always wondered why Toyota didn’t do better; their current and historical racing experience caused me to think they would be quicker than they were (but watch that space, they may soon reappear in the Australian V8s) 

[John S]

Hear Hear! fredsone, and Jeri.  

If I could just add my tuppence worth on Toyota, I feel they chose to develop their car in isolation to the rest with a corporate mentality. Even Ferrari had to get their heads around using the best talent available and allowing them the freedom to do their own thing, to get back to the top.

The only time IMO that Toyota ever showed they might make it to the top step was when Mike 'The Bulldog' Gascoyne was there, we all know how that ended when the Japanese head honchos just couldn't bring themselves to concede control.

[Scott]

The only time IMO that Toyota ever showed they might make it to the top step was when Mike 'The Bulldog' Gascoyne was there, we all know how that ended when the Japanese head honchos just couldn't bring themselves to concede control.

I agree John - although I might fault Mike on his methods of trying to get that control.  Honestly, I think Gascoyne should be made a team boss.  He would flourish with nobody to answer to.

[lkjohnson1950]

I think Jeri is right, F1 is more valuable commercially with MS racing. My 91 year old mother knows very little about racing, but she knows MS and that he wins a lot. Personally I don't like him at all. I wonder if he will be successful now that testing has been banned. Michael and Ferrari tested more than any other team and there is no doubt Fiorano is the most sophisticated test track in the world. The difference between two set ups or the value of a new bit could be determined very precisely. Without all that feedback, I wonder if he can repeat his success.

Lonny

[judy]

It's never one factor, but having a dominant racer in F1 that people like to watch is an important ingredient, and as much as I like Hamilton, Raikkonen and Vettel, the rest of the world doesn't.

However I think having a dominant racer in F1 will make F1 boring. When I start watching F1 in mid 2005, I was immediately addicted and I was cheering for Alonso at that time. After Schumi retired, F1 became more competitive (due to change of rules) and it was rather difficult to predict who would win a race. In most of the subsequent season after Schumi retired, the WDC was decided in Brazil and this made F1 most exciting.

If I had start watching F1 about 2 years earlier in 2003 when the F1 races are so predictable with Schumi dominating, I am certain I would have stop watching F1 after a few races.

I certainly don't think having a dominant driver in F1 is an imprtant ingredient. Most fans would prefer watching races with many competitive drivers.