As Michael Schumacher prepares to collect his pension, the debate kicks into overdrive: Is he the best Formula One driver of his era, or even of all time?
I’ve been asked my opinion many times, and always I try to answer with precise words: Schumacher is the best at what he does, I say, but not necessarily the best driver.
Yes, there is a difference.
Being the best driver implies you know how to turn the wheel, floor the throttle and hit the brakes at all the right moments, while keeping the car pointed in the right direction.
Schumacher is good at this, no doubt, maybe the best. But maybe not. Hard to tell, especially when your rivals are driving machines that might be better or worse than yours.
These days, I doubt anyone is doing as fine a job in the cockpit as Fernando Alonso, Renault’s reigning champion from Spain.
It’s also fair to say that Finland’s Kimi Raikkonen, Schumacher’s replacement at Ferrari next season, possesses that extra something special (though not often enough the car to show it.)
Which is why, if you ask any team principal for his choice of top drivers, these are the first three names you’ll hear.
What sets Schumacher apart is what we don’t see live on television every other Sunday - what he does between races during the season and into the winter.
This means not just testing the cars, but playing a key role in their development and in the building of a team that numbers several hundred people who must be kept motivated to perform at the highest level through good times and bad.
Don’t forget - when Schumacher arrived at Ferrari in 1996, the Prancing Horse had long gone to pasture, with no drivers’ title to show in the previous 17 years.
The fabled stable in the northern Italian town of Maranello was in chaos, with a car memorably described to me by driver Eddie Irvine as ”a bucket of bolts.”
And yet, Schumacher left the Benetton team with which he had won two drivers’ championships, to take on the daunting challenge of helping to return the once glittering marque to its former lustre.
In the next 10 years, he led Ferrari to five drivers’ crowns and six constructors’ trophies before announcing this month that he will retire from racing at the end of the season.
And more glory is within reach for the German when F1 resumes in Shanghai for the Grand Prix of China on Oct. 1.
With three races left, Schumacher has cut Alonso’s once-gaping lead atop the drivers’ standings to two points, while Ferrari has moved ahead of Renault in the constructors’ table by three points.
Whatever happens, his hands-on approach and tireless work ethic during his long road to unprecedented success will continue to defy the unfortunate motto of modern F1: ”Give me a winning car, and I’ll win you some races.”
I call it the Schumacher Way, and more than anything, it’s what defines him as the best of his time.
”It will be a big problem to carry on at the same level without him,” Luca Baldisserri, Ferrari’s chief race engineer, told Italy’s Gazzetta dello Sport.
”Schumacher has been with us for 11 years, and I can say he’s brought everything we have now; he’s given us precious suggestions on work methods and he’s been a role model not only at the wheel, but also in his professional approach.
”I don’t know Raikkonen well. When he gets inside the car, he gets his job done very well; he’s very quick. But Schumacher knew how to do other things, too, and created an incredible relationship with the team.
”He contributed to produce winning cars, while now it will be up to us to give the driver a car capable of winning.”
Little surprise, then, that Baldisserri said he already has canvassed the higher-ups at Ferrari to try to persuade Schumacher to continue testing their race cars, even in retirement.
For the record, the team has said Schumacher will have a role to play, though what exactly that will be won’t be announced till the end of the year.
Niki Lauda, who won two championships with Ferrari in the 1970s, has echoed Baldisserri’s concerns about what might happen after Raikkonen arrives from McLaren-Mercedes.
”Kimi must be careful that, after Michael, everything won’t fall to pieces,” Lauda told the Gazzetta. ”It may happen, even more so because one thing is for sure: Raikkonen can drive fast, but he can’t do anything else, so Ferrari must give him a complete car.
”It worked at McLaren, but they’re not an emotional team like Ferrari. The Italians, by contrast, need the human component, and Michael was ideal for this. He could get the whole thing working. ”I can’t see Kimi doing the same.” Only time will tell, but one thing is for sure: It’ll be fun to watch.