Jul 11, 2001 09:18 AM
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Michael Schumacher,born on the 3 January,1969 in Germany,is undeniably the finest FI racing driver at the present time. He is a deep thinker,a master tactician,can get the best out of his car and has already bagged four World Championships. Two of these were in 1994 and 1995 with the then very competitive Benetton team and two more with Ferrari in 1999 and 2000. All the signs are is that he will win the 2001 Championship as well,although that is not yet a mathematical certainty.
Michael,of course,grew up racing carts and had such success that it was not surprising that he was to make it to the ranks of Formula I. What was surprising,however,was how quickly he made his mark. When he entered FI racing there was a pack of very good drivers. Among them were the charging Brit, Nigel Mansell, the brilliant Brazilian, Ayrton Senna, Damon Hill and the ''professor'' Alain Prost. Despite the presence of so many very good drivers the young German driver was soon showing that he was very competitive. Although his 1994 Championship was not without controversy,particularly his ''shunting'' of Damon Hill at Adelaide,it was clear that a great driver had emerged. This was confirmed with a second World Championship with the British-based,Italian-owned, Benetton team. After switching to Ferrari,Michael, has done incredibly well and by 1999 it was abundantly clear that the Italian team were becoming serious rivals to the McLaren team. This was subsequently confirmed with Michael's Championship wins for the famous ''Prancing Horse''.
How does Michael compare with the all time greats. I would list Juan Fangio, Sir Stirling Moss, Jimmy Clark, Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart, Nikki Lauda, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna as constituting all time greats.Micheal is already on the verge of surpassing Alain Prost all time record of 51 Grand Prix wins,so does that make him the greatest of all the drivers ? No I do not think so. Some of the other great drivers did not have as many races as todays drivers,some such as Stirling Moss,arguably never drove for the most competitive teams,, and some such as Jimmy Clark and Ayrton Senna met tragically early deaths,after having had magnificent starts to their career. What I do believe is that Michael ranks among the very best but it would be premature to award him the title of the greatest FI driver of all time !
