yudansha
TheGreatOne
There should be no "oops" in 'oops he did it again' - and it shouldn't be a surprise!
Well, like it's not good enough being considered a legend of his time, Michael Schumacher has again broken another record. Michael now has more points per race than any other driver in the history of Formula1, with 5.44 points per Grand Prix race (equivalent of placing 3rd or 4th on average in every race of his career). That also means that the latest San Marino Grand Prix (held last Sunday) held at Imola, Italy was yet another victory for the man himself, the legend who is a dynasty of his own kind. But wait, there's more! Michael Schumacher has set another record for being the only man in the history of Formula1 to have won 4 consecutive races at the start of the season TWICE in his career. It is also a statistical observation, that so far, every man who has won the first 3 GPs of the season has gone off to win the championship. It is again looking good for Michael as he can already smell an unthinkable, but very believable 7th F1 World Championship.
The gifted German however is never bored and is always excited before each and every race to be conducted. His talent is not just a gift either, as he works out starting at 4 O'clock in the morning every time before the race for at least 2 hours on a stationary bike w/o releasing much sweat. He is always ready and up for the challenge as this time, the popular Englishman Jenson Button was sitting on pole (1st grid position) for the first time at the start of the race by surprisingly outqualifying the 6-time World Champion. Button pulled away from the pack such that it looked effortless, but it was only time until Michael caught up, having Button finish 2nd. This was a track that was designed for hard over-taking, so Michael's strategy from the beginning was not to overtake Button but to gain his needed time while Button sits in the pit lane for refueling and tire change - it worked, and Button was shocked, but still proved to be a great competitor and not a soar loser like Juan Pablo Montoya who placed third but bitter as he couldn't believe that a Honda beat BMW and as his attempt to overtake Michael resulted in Montoya going off the track and into the grass and gravel and in turn sent his BMW William's teammate Ralf Schumacher onto the slippery grass (it rained the night before and grass didn't dry as the air cooled dramatically) as well (talk about teamwork :=) who finished 7th (behind Michael's Brazillian teammate, Rubens Barrichello). Renault proved to be reliable and competitive yet again having placed 4th (Alonso) and 5th (Trulli) while West McLaren-MB still can't get the hang of this season finishing 8th (Reikkonen) and 12th (another Englishman, David Coulthard).
The end result of the race put BAR Honda tied alongside with BMW Williams in points for constructor's championship, as Renault sits in second behind the dominating Ferarri (33 point LEAD over Renault who has just 31 points followed by 27 points tied teams, and the 5th place Mercedes with only 5 seasonal points). At a driver's stand point, Ferrari is one-two with Michael having clean 40 points and his teammate Rubens with 24 followed by Button 23, Montoya 18, and Alonso 16 making the top 5.
Although Michael Schumacher was quoted saying: "It was a dream result for me, perfect," and did not show any sign of sadness to the fans, it certainly was not a happy day for the German. Last Sunday (the day of the Imola race) marked a year after his mother's fatal fall (she tripped and fell down a flight of stairs) last year that caused her death due to brain swelling and internal bleeding out of a fall a night before Micahel's and Ralf's race ... yet they still raced, Michael still won, but the press conference was cancelled out of respect to the Schumachers. It just shows that the Schumacher name will always be considered as legendary. As a kid, I always considered Michael Schumacher to be my hero.
Last Sunday also marked the 10th anniversay of Ayrton Senna's (a former F1 World Champion) death at this race track, and was heart felt by everyone there. When asked if it meant something special on the 10th anniversary of the death of Ayrton Senna, Michael said: "We come here every year and we think every year of what happened to Roland (Ratzenberger) and Ayrton so, no, 10 years doesn't make it any more special."
With this years introduction of new Grand Prix circuits, the Imola circuit is a classic, but is also outdated. The main concern is the lack of room for the increasing size of teams' equipment (the motor homes ... garages), and the San Marino Grand Prix is in discussions of being cancelled and gone from F1 racing. Michael Schumacher is the ambassador for this GP and says that it would be a shame to let go of something so beautiful, well designed, and challenging.
Well, like it's not good enough being considered a legend of his time, Michael Schumacher has again broken another record. Michael now has more points per race than any other driver in the history of Formula1, with 5.44 points per Grand Prix race (equivalent of placing 3rd or 4th on average in every race of his career). That also means that the latest San Marino Grand Prix (held last Sunday) held at Imola, Italy was yet another victory for the man himself, the legend who is a dynasty of his own kind. But wait, there's more! Michael Schumacher has set another record for being the only man in the history of Formula1 to have won 4 consecutive races at the start of the season TWICE in his career. It is also a statistical observation, that so far, every man who has won the first 3 GPs of the season has gone off to win the championship. It is again looking good for Michael as he can already smell an unthinkable, but very believable 7th F1 World Championship.
The gifted German however is never bored and is always excited before each and every race to be conducted. His talent is not just a gift either, as he works out starting at 4 O'clock in the morning every time before the race for at least 2 hours on a stationary bike w/o releasing much sweat. He is always ready and up for the challenge as this time, the popular Englishman Jenson Button was sitting on pole (1st grid position) for the first time at the start of the race by surprisingly outqualifying the 6-time World Champion. Button pulled away from the pack such that it looked effortless, but it was only time until Michael caught up, having Button finish 2nd. This was a track that was designed for hard over-taking, so Michael's strategy from the beginning was not to overtake Button but to gain his needed time while Button sits in the pit lane for refueling and tire change - it worked, and Button was shocked, but still proved to be a great competitor and not a soar loser like Juan Pablo Montoya who placed third but bitter as he couldn't believe that a Honda beat BMW and as his attempt to overtake Michael resulted in Montoya going off the track and into the grass and gravel and in turn sent his BMW William's teammate Ralf Schumacher onto the slippery grass (it rained the night before and grass didn't dry as the air cooled dramatically) as well (talk about teamwork :=) who finished 7th (behind Michael's Brazillian teammate, Rubens Barrichello). Renault proved to be reliable and competitive yet again having placed 4th (Alonso) and 5th (Trulli) while West McLaren-MB still can't get the hang of this season finishing 8th (Reikkonen) and 12th (another Englishman, David Coulthard).
The end result of the race put BAR Honda tied alongside with BMW Williams in points for constructor's championship, as Renault sits in second behind the dominating Ferarri (33 point LEAD over Renault who has just 31 points followed by 27 points tied teams, and the 5th place Mercedes with only 5 seasonal points). At a driver's stand point, Ferrari is one-two with Michael having clean 40 points and his teammate Rubens with 24 followed by Button 23, Montoya 18, and Alonso 16 making the top 5.
Although Michael Schumacher was quoted saying: "It was a dream result for me, perfect," and did not show any sign of sadness to the fans, it certainly was not a happy day for the German. Last Sunday (the day of the Imola race) marked a year after his mother's fatal fall (she tripped and fell down a flight of stairs) last year that caused her death due to brain swelling and internal bleeding out of a fall a night before Micahel's and Ralf's race ... yet they still raced, Michael still won, but the press conference was cancelled out of respect to the Schumachers. It just shows that the Schumacher name will always be considered as legendary. As a kid, I always considered Michael Schumacher to be my hero.
Last Sunday also marked the 10th anniversay of Ayrton Senna's (a former F1 World Champion) death at this race track, and was heart felt by everyone there. When asked if it meant something special on the 10th anniversary of the death of Ayrton Senna, Michael said: "We come here every year and we think every year of what happened to Roland (Ratzenberger) and Ayrton so, no, 10 years doesn't make it any more special."
With this years introduction of new Grand Prix circuits, the Imola circuit is a classic, but is also outdated. The main concern is the lack of room for the increasing size of teams' equipment (the motor homes ... garages), and the San Marino Grand Prix is in discussions of being cancelled and gone from F1 racing. Michael Schumacher is the ambassador for this GP and says that it would be a shame to let go of something so beautiful, well designed, and challenging.
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Thanks a lot, Yudansha!
