Unites States GP

[Summers]

Minardi produce good drivers. It's what the smaller teams are for. Without them we wouldn't have our big names, yanno?

And yeah, Schumi has "Man Utd heat", hated because of success.

[Malenko]

Only one thing. When schumi moved to the German Formula 3 he ended tied for second with Frentzen and behind Wendlinger. He won it only the year after:P

All the rest is true, in terms of facts. Only i still think it made no sense from FIA to not allow the replacement of tyres when the drivers safety was in jeopardy. That can't be accepted in my opinion.

By the way, i never disagreed Schumi is a talented driver. While i'm not a fan of his, i was actually one of the people to defend the fact that he was a great driver regardless of the car he drove.

[Guest Leeleemu]

By the way, i never disagreed Schumi is a talented driver. While i'm not a fan of his, i was actually one of the people to defend the fact that he was a great driver regardless of the car he drove.

←

[Quasar]

A real test to Michael Schumacher's ability would be his ability to adapt to other types of cars. NASCAR Drivers Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart are great at adapting. Gordon drove an F1 car and nearly broke the track record at Indy, won a Sprint Car Championship and 4 NASCAR Nextel Cup Championships. When Gordon broke the track record at Indy, he swapped cars with Juan Pablo Montoya. Montoya absolutely bombed in a stock car while Gordon excelled in Montoya's F1 car. Now look at Tony Stewart, former Indy car champion, NASCAR champion and sprint car champion. Both Gordon and Stewart have excelled in open wheel and stock cars. Could Michael do the same? I'd like to see him try it.

[Malenko]

Well, he did race in the Sportcars World Championship before joining the F1, and he wasn't experienced at all at the time, and still won a race in Mexico. What's your point?

[Dweezil222]

A real test to Michael Schumacher's ability would be his ability to adapt to other types of cars. NASCAR Drivers Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart are great at adapting. Gordon drove an F1 car and nearly broke the track record at Indy, won a Sprint Car Championship and 4 NASCAR Nextel Cup Championships. When Gordon broke the track record at Indy, he swapped cars with Juan Pablo Montoya. Montoya absolutely bombed in a stock car while Gordon excelled in Montoya's F1 car. Now look at Tony Stewart, former Indy car champion, NASCAR champion and sprint car champion. Both Gordon and Stewart have excelled in open wheel and stock cars. Could Michael do the same? I'd like to see him try it.

←

[Malenko]

A real test to Michael Schumacher's ability would be his ability to adapt to other types of cars. NASCAR Drivers Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart are great at adapting. Gordon drove an F1 car and nearly broke the track record at Indy, won a Sprint Car Championship and 4 NASCAR Nextel Cup Championships. When Gordon broke the track record at Indy, he swapped cars with Juan Pablo Montoya. Montoya absolutely bombed in a stock car while Gordon excelled in Montoya's F1 car. Now look at Tony Stewart, former Indy car champion, NASCAR champion and sprint car champion. Both Gordon and Stewart have excelled in open wheel and stock cars. Could Michael do the same? I'd like to see him try it.

←

I'd like to see what Schumacher could do with a stock car. Most of the true open wheel drivers to make the jump bomb totally. Look what happened with Christian Fittipaldi.

←

[Quasar]

My point was that any truely good race car driver could be able to drive any kind of race car. Jeff Gordon proved himself capable of that and I'd like to see Schumacher do it. Christian Fittipaldi bombed in NASCAR and he didn't really have the best equipment to do well with. Christian Fittipaldi was driving Richard Petty's race car but that hasn't done well since The King retired (Save for a short time in the late 90s). Christian Fittipaldi had trouble not crashing the car though so he really did bomb. AJ Foyt's son Larry had the same problem as well (and seems to have the same problem in IRL).

Many open wheel guys have transitioned to stock car racing. I'd like to see Schumacher take a stock car around Watkins Glen or Infineon (Both road courses).

[Malenko]

But you're talking like Chritian Fittipaldi had ever done anything remarkable on the F1. He was there for 3 years and finished 5 or 6 out of 16 races in the first season (he didn't even manage to qualify to 6 of them), finished 9 out of 16 in the second (while not qualifying to two), and 8 out of 16 in the last while having a better car. His best position ever on the F1 was a 4th Place in a race that only saw 5 cars ending it.

He may have bombed on NASCAR but he bombed aswell on the F1. He was never a great driver to begin with. He got a place through being Emerson's nephew in both championships. To say Schumacher would bomb on Stock Car because Christian Fittipaldi did is just plain dumb.

[Quasar]

I never said that Schumacher would bomb and I didn't mention Fittipaldi until the other guy did. Christian Fittipaldi and John Andretti (Ironically both former drivers of Petty's car) are both proof that having a racing relative doesn't determine talent. I'd love to see Michael Schumacher take the green flag in the Daytona 500 one day but he'd be more likely to start a road course race.

To steer us back on topic a bit, I think that Formula One should look for alternative road courses in America if Indy is a problem. I would recommend the Daytona infield road course but the road course extends onto the ovals and uses turns 3-4 of the oval. Those turns are banked very high so it may be a bit too much for a Formula One car. I'd love to see F1 keep coming to America and I hope that this doesn't stop it.

[Malenko]

To steer us back on topic a bit, I think that Formula One should look for alternative road courses in America if Indy is a problem. I would recommend the Daytona infield road course but the road course extends onto the ovals and uses turns 3-4 of the oval. Those turns are banked very high so it may be a bit too much for a Formula One car. I'd love to see F1 keep coming to America and I hope that this doesn't stop it.

←

[Quasar]

Las Vegas would be a horrible idea. Put it in a race city like Daytona. Of course, the banks on the Daytona Infield Road Course might be a problem. In that case, just run on the flat apron through that part of the track.

[Liam]

By the way, i never disagreed Schumi is a talented driver. While i'm not a fan of his, i was actually one of the people to defend the fact that he was a great driver regardless of the car he drove.

←

Yeah it wasnt you i directed it at, it was KevinNashWannabe and ppl in general that always have a go at schumies ability

←

FYI, I've never questioned the fact that he is a good driver, I don't doubt that. I just say that I don't like him/think he is the best thing on God's green earth because a) some of his dubious tactics in the past (the Hill thing, the Villenueve thing and the Barichello thing....all that have been mentioned in this topic thus far) and that b) a lot of other drivers, given the resources that Schumacher has had at his disposal (fair enough, Schumi was good at Benetton as well, I forgot) would/could have done as good.

And also, as far as I know, Irvine just didn't want to drive anymore. My point bringing him up was that he was someone who showed talent with limited resources, and I believe if he had had money/a better team behind him, who knows what could have happpened? Most people who do have the talent, are just unfortunate to not have the backing Schumi has had.

EDIT: Basically, it's all would haves/could haves....not always the best way to view things, but similar to the NASCAR argument in another topic, I just feel that it isn't a sport, as it is not solely about the driver, but about the machine he drives. A half decent driver could have got in a Ferrari until recently and challenged, whilst Schumacher would be nowhere if stuck in a Minardi. He is just fortunate enough to have the ability, but also to have an excellent team/car behind him.

EDIT2: And one last thing....I find it funny when people are like "zOMG, U HATE SCHUMI KOS HEZ GUD!" or that they get "Man U heat". Most people that I know don't like him based purely on the fact that he has had some very dubious moments, and wasn't the most sportsmanlike of people (thankfully, he seems to have cleared that up). It's one of those things you can't argue as well, as it is obvious that there have been several times when his decisions on the track have been unfair/unsporting/potentially cheating, and there are generally two kinds of people, those who accept that he did that and like him, or those who think he is good, but don't like the fact that he has fucked about in the past. I just belong firmly in the latter. It would be ok if they were small instances, but he potentially cost Hill the Championship, and then attempted to do the same to Villeneuve.

Edited June 21, 2005 by kevinnashwannabe

[Summers]

No one said YOU didn't like him because of he was good, or due to the Man Utd style heat. I simply claimed that, that is a reason a lot of people dislike him. And, it's true.

[Guest Leeleemu]

Right first of all, Ferraris tactics at the start of the season is to both drivers, go out there and race, both drivers have a different team helping them set up the car - both drivers have exactly the same car - it is therefore down to them, the drivers and their team to adapt the car they best they can to a certain track. Anyway, whoever is leading the championship by a certain margin at a certain stage of the season, they then give priority to, due to the fact they have the better chance of winning the championship, the point is every season Schumi and Barrichello have been at Ferrari they have started the same and Schumacher has raced better in the first 5 races.

The Barrichello incident was a team decision due to the fact that barrichello was not challenging for the title. You claim Drivers like Irvine would have done better if he had priority, at the start of the season he did, he just spent too much time being a party animal, Schumi is better then irvine in all departments. Schumi is better then Barrichello as you could see this weekend when he passed him, if for that second Schumi was in barrichellos car and vice versa, schumi still would come out that corner 1st. This is due to the fact he is more aggressive. You all cry about the fact he tried to "kill" Villeneuve and Hill, no he didnt, the Hill incident was a racing incident and the Villeneuve was him being overly ambitious because he wanted to win, not because he wanted to hurt either.

Also talking about drivers in good cars, look at coulthard, woooooooo he did so good in a decent car. Look at the test drivers when they come in to drive the ferrari, they dont do that well. Also talking about the Man United heat, how come no one complained about them winning it year after year but they all did about schumi?