Michael Schumacher booted Benetton where he won his first two championships to shift bases to a struggling team; Ferrari. While it took humongous patience and loyalty, the tide of time turned and history stood created. Schumacher was of the opinion that “If you don’t go all in, then you’re not going to come out on top,” Perhaps this is what set him apart despite a few other drivers being quicker than him.
In his formative years, in the Mercedes driver development program called the Mercedes Sportscar Program, Michael had compatriot Heinz-Harald Frentzen with him. The shocking bit is that the latter was touted as the faster of the two by the man who was mentoring the drivers. But then how did Michael end up becoming a 7x champ, and the other remained only a 3x GP winner?
A discussion in the F1 Beyond the Grid podcast answered that for us. Tom Clarkson highlights the time when he had Jochen Mass on and what he said. Clarkson said, “I had Jochen Mass on the podcast a few years ago—he said actually Heinz was actually probably quicker than Michael. But Michael was the full package, whereas Heinz for whatever reason, wasn’t.”
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While Michael was the full package, is there one better than him? F1 expert, Peter Windsor, gave his opinion on the debate which has loomed the corridors of F1.
Peter Windsor settles the GOAT debate between Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher
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While James Allison recently stated that in one lap speed Michael Schumacher may be better than Lewis Hamilton, the British F1 expert Windsor vehemently disagreed during his YouTube live. A fan told Windsor that Allison had made such remarks, to which the pundit replied, stating that engineers, though entitled to their opinion, have a limited information bank.
He said, “And I’m not saying that James Allison doesn’t know exactly what he’s talking about, I’m sure he’s basing all that on all his own information, but to me, there is absolutely no way in the world Michael Schumacher, at his peak, was quicker over one lap than Lewis Hamilton at his peak over one lap, no way. Sorry, I just totally don’t get that. I disagree with it.”
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Who do you think among the two is the greatest of all time?