A Legend was dragged through the mud today. A pedestal was shattered, and a God was reduced to a mere mortal. A lesser one at that.
There was a time when Michael Schumacher struck terror at the heart of every F1 driver who had the fortune (or misfortune) to cross him. Legendary on-track battles and unparalleled mastery were synonymous with the Schumacher name. Love him or loathe him there is no denying that he is, definitively, the best F1 driver in history. But today, that proverbial F1 God fell from grace.
On a puddle-infested track in China, in the midst of chaos and bedlam, the divinity of Michael Schumacher was painfully and publicly laid to rest with each blotched defensive manoeuvre against the very men who grew up idolising him. That it was done in the rain was even more shameful, given Schumacher’s mastery of driving in wet weather conditions. ‘Der Regenmeister’ has lost his crown.
The ‘Young Champions’ and ‘Champions Apparent’ made such easy business of passing him on track that even rabid Schumacher loathers like myself felt an odd twinge of pity. Well maybe just a twitch that didn’t quite get around to becoming a twinge. At one point, Schumacher look like a sitting duck as he was picked off by one driver after another, with a defence that looked feeble and ragged at best. His attacks were even more pitiful, when compared with the robust and decisive stuff we are used to seeing from him. While he finally managed to conquer Adrian Sutil, it was a battle stretched over too many indecisive moves and in all probability was credit to the fact that Sutil was moving backwards, rather than Michael moving forwards. The final nail in the coffin was his running wide at the last corner of the penultimate lap, after being overtaken by Ferrari’s resident monkey, Filipe Massa.
Ever since he retired in 2006, the rumours of a Schumacher come-back refused to die out. When he finally announced his return, all the right noises were made about the folly of high expectations, but given his legacy, no one really bought the cover-your-ass PR statements. The Schumacher we knew would come back fighting and probably upset the gravy boat. Those expectations came with a disclaimer for an acceptable waiting period, but they were palpable nonetheless.
After a decent start in Melbourne, things have gone south for Michael, who has been plagued with reliability issues and unlucky incidents. The argument about inferior machinery, while valid, still sounds hollow, given that Michael has performed miracles with inferior cars. A death knell to the argument is surely the fact that he has been outshined by teammate, Nico Rosberg for four races in a row now. In short, the erstwhile F1 God is being whipped by young upstarts, and has yet to bring a decent response to the challenge.
To say that Schumacher will fade to the back of the grid is foolish. And dangerous indeed to consider him a ‘has-been’ of any sort. The sheer talent and skill he possesses, coupled with his expertise and knowledge makes him a very real threat to any of the championship contenders. Not in the sense of streaking away with the title, but by way of taking points away by still being in the mix of top 10 grid finishes. However, he has lost that aura of supernatural invincibility, in the eyes of his fellow drivers at least. That much is certain from today’s on-track display.
Schumacher has plummeted from F1’s Mount Olympus, sans divinity, into the Post-Schumacher era of the Formula One realm, where he is quickly becoming fair game among mortals.
There was a time when Michael Schumacher struck terror at the heart of every F1 driver who had the fortune (or misfortune) to cross him. Legendary on-track battles and unparalleled mastery were synonymous with the Schumacher name. Love him or loathe him there is no denying that he is, definitively, the best F1 driver in history. But today, that proverbial F1 God fell from grace.
On a puddle-infested track in China, in the midst of chaos and bedlam, the divinity of Michael Schumacher was painfully and publicly laid to rest with each blotched defensive manoeuvre against the very men who grew up idolising him. That it was done in the rain was even more shameful, given Schumacher’s mastery of driving in wet weather conditions. ‘Der Regenmeister’ has lost his crown.
The ‘Young Champions’ and ‘Champions Apparent’ made such easy business of passing him on track that even rabid Schumacher loathers like myself felt an odd twinge of pity. Well maybe just a twitch that didn’t quite get around to becoming a twinge. At one point, Schumacher look like a sitting duck as he was picked off by one driver after another, with a defence that looked feeble and ragged at best. His attacks were even more pitiful, when compared with the robust and decisive stuff we are used to seeing from him. While he finally managed to conquer Adrian Sutil, it was a battle stretched over too many indecisive moves and in all probability was credit to the fact that Sutil was moving backwards, rather than Michael moving forwards. The final nail in the coffin was his running wide at the last corner of the penultimate lap, after being overtaken by Ferrari’s resident monkey, Filipe Massa.
Ever since he retired in 2006, the rumours of a Schumacher come-back refused to die out. When he finally announced his return, all the right noises were made about the folly of high expectations, but given his legacy, no one really bought the cover-your-ass PR statements. The Schumacher we knew would come back fighting and probably upset the gravy boat. Those expectations came with a disclaimer for an acceptable waiting period, but they were palpable nonetheless.
After a decent start in Melbourne, things have gone south for Michael, who has been plagued with reliability issues and unlucky incidents. The argument about inferior machinery, while valid, still sounds hollow, given that Michael has performed miracles with inferior cars. A death knell to the argument is surely the fact that he has been outshined by teammate, Nico Rosberg for four races in a row now. In short, the erstwhile F1 God is being whipped by young upstarts, and has yet to bring a decent response to the challenge.
To say that Schumacher will fade to the back of the grid is foolish. And dangerous indeed to consider him a ‘has-been’ of any sort. The sheer talent and skill he possesses, coupled with his expertise and knowledge makes him a very real threat to any of the championship contenders. Not in the sense of streaking away with the title, but by way of taking points away by still being in the mix of top 10 grid finishes. However, he has lost that aura of supernatural invincibility, in the eyes of his fellow drivers at least. That much is certain from today’s on-track display.
Schumacher has plummeted from F1’s Mount Olympus, sans divinity, into the Post-Schumacher era of the Formula One realm, where he is quickly becoming fair game among mortals.
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