Schumacher’s return glosses over F1 cracks
December 31, 2009
PARIS (AP)—That Michael Schumacher’s comeback is generating such excitementshows how desperate Formula One is for a bit of good news.
In all the breathless headlines about the unexpected return of the sport’smost successful driver, it is being conveniently forgotten that much of the erawhen Schumacher greedily gobbled up his record seven world championships was asboring as watching paint dry. Race, win, race, win, yawn.
That was especially true of 2002 and 2004, when Schumacher and his Ferrarisidekick Rubens Barrichello won 30 of the total of 35 races. It perhaps wouldhave been simpler—and undoubtedly better for global warming—to have handedthe trophies to Schumacher at the outset and not bother with those absurdlylopsided seasons.
Schumacher’s crushing dominance, his minute attention to detail and hissober dedication were as tedious in their regularity as they were admirable.Astounding but not edge-of-your-seat entertainment.
When Schumacher finally called it a day in 2006, having rewritten just aboutevery major F1 record there is, Fernando Alonso’s reaction spoke for many.
“Things will be more equal now,” the Spanish driver said.
Alonso also had the courage to say out loud what others wouldn’t—thatSchumacher’s occasionally underhand tactics, such as ramming into rival JacquesVilleneuve and disrupting qualifying at Monaco by parking his car on the track,would not be missed.
Said Alonso: “Michael is the man with the most sanctions and the mostunsporting driver in the history of Formula One.”
Three years and, more importantly, one global financial meltdown later andSchumacher is suddenly the new messiah.
Were it not for Schumacher’s return, F1 fans wouldn’t have much to getrevved up about in 2010. Auto manufacturing powerhouses Toyota, BMW and Hondahave gone, squeezed out both by the economic downturn and F1’s refusal toseriously curb its exorbitant costs. Illustrious Renault is continuing in nameonly. In off-loading a large stake in its underperforming team to a Luxembourginvestment firm, the French manufacturer already has one foot out of F1’s door.
Filling the gaps on the grid with an array of new teams, as F1’sadministrators have done, will make up numbers but is hardly likely to make fora thrilling championship.
At best, Lotus, Campos, Virgin and USF1—all powered by the same Cosworthengine—may be competitive enough to make the racing between themselves mildlyinteresting. At worse, they could be complete jokes, hopelessly off the pace ofbigger teams with richer resources and better drivers—like Ferrari, McLarenand Schumacher’s new employer, Mercedes. With the gap between F1 haves andhave-nots seemingly so large, next season’s grid could be horribly unbalanced—making, perhaps, for a two- or even three-tier championship.
“Maybe,” Jean-Francois Caubet, Renault F1’s managing director, told TheAssociated Press. “The problem of the small teams is that we don’t know howcompetitive the Cosworth engine will be.”
Little wonder then that Mercedes says it got calls from rival teamswelcoming Schumacher’s return. Having him back in an F1 cockpit at theseason-opening Bahrain Grand Prix in March will help gloss over the sport’sproblems. F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone now says that “all indications point to ajaw-dropping season”—a claim that would have sounded over-inflated beforeSchumacher’s comeback was confirmed last week. It was just the Christmas presentthat F1 needed.
“All of Formula One wants Michael back,” says Mercedes chief executiveNick Fry. “It’s good for all the Formula One teams.”
It should be good for Schumacher, too. At his peak, he had talent to spareand his levels of fitness are such that his age—he turns 41 this weekend—shouldn’t be an obstacle to renewed success. He also says he’s fully recoveredfrom a neck injury that prevented him from making an F1 return in 2009.
Although the Mercedes is new to him and he won’t have much time tofamiliarize himself with it, racing is all that Schumacher knows. He won hisfirst trophy—a piston screwed onto a piece of wood—in karting at age five.His years of experience should enable him to get quickly up to speed again.
If his Mercedes is fast enough, there’s no reason to think that Schumacherwon’t be competing at the front with the McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and currentworld champion Jenson Button, the Ferraris of Alonso and Brazilian Felipe Massaand the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel. The young German will now get to find outwhether he truly deserves his nickname “Baby Schumi” by measuring himselfagainst the real thing.
Those drivers all stand to lose more from Schumacher’s return than he does.Schumacher winning next season would suggest that his supposed successors aren’tworthy. Him losing, on the other hand, wouldn’t take away from everything heachieved in the past.
It should be fun to watch. For Formula One, the world’s fastest form ofentertainment, that is what counts most.
John Leicester is an international sports columnist for The AssociatedPress. Write to him at jleicester(at)ap.org.
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