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"Michael Schumacher..."

...really really annoys me. He's just to smug, to arrogant, too good.

But I was thinking the other day, would my opinion of him be different if he was British? And the answer is...

Yes.

Of course it would. He'd be a national hero, there would probably be a public holiday named after him or something.


So what about you lot?

I like him.

Of course he's gonna be smug, have you seen his driving skills?
If you earned his amount of money, had his driving skills, had his life basically, would you be smug?

Of course you would.
I certainly know I would.

But I just read Der Nazi's post, and how can you call him a?
Do you know the man?
Do any of you?
No.

So you cannot possibly comment on his personality.

I respect him, I've been a Ferrari fan forever and despite a tough season in 1996 where he was out of title contention, he has put them back at the top of Formula 1.

And he's definitely one of the greatest drivers in the world, I think even if you don't like his personality he should be respected for that.

Schumacher got where he is today by proving himself to be outrageously quick and talented, and also by drawing whatever team he's in around himself. That may not be an on-track ability, and will appall the purists, but it's definetly one of his greatest strengths. Even if he was in a team like McLaren, which actively refuses to have a 'first' driver, I believe he would be more than a match for anyone in the pitlane.

He didn't cope well before he got 'tailor-made' cars- He qualified 7th at Spa with Jordan-Cosworth in 1991, and retired on lap 1 with a broken clutch. He then picked up a few points at Benetton-Ford. Next cuple of seasons 4th and 3rd, people thought he was good. Benetton think he's a god and he gets a tailor-made car and gets the championship- with his team-mates well behind. Same happened in 1996 with Ferrari- the 391 was hopeless, but Irvine had little help because Schumacher was 'more important'- Schu 2nd, Irv 10th. Then when Schumacher was injured in '99 Irvine was then pampered- he was 2nd, and Salo was 11th. With the large teams the top driver is far more important.

Grandprix wrote:
> A lot of people tend to forget his achievements before he got his
> Ferrari move.

I agree. He won the Championship in a Benetton a couple of times didn't he? And that car was made specifically for him as his Ferrari is. In my opinion, he is a brilliant driver, and his so-called smugness, which i think is more confidence than smugness, is because he knows he is good.

He's also go to take a pay cut if he wants to stay at Ferrari.

A lot of people tend to forget his achievements before he got his Ferrari move.

"Schumey" is a complete . He's far too arrogant, overpaid and a complete . He's got loads of groupie fans who think he's great- But this is only because he's given a car made just for him (no disrespect to the Ferrari crew- great road cars chaps!) and he's more cocky than a condom factory. If he went back to Jordan he couldn't cope- their cars are made for racing, not him.

I'd still think he's an arrogant and smug prat either way, who in my opinion is considerably over-rated.

If Schumacher was British, I wouldn't have a different opinion. I'm not a fan of his personality but his driving is fairly good.