Michael Schumacher stands as the most successful Formula One driver of all time. A whole new generation of hard chargers has arrived in the last couple of years, several of whom are tipped to step into Schumacher’s shoes. Drivers such as Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Raikkonen have lost no time in putting Schumacher on the receiving end of the tough treatment he’s been used to dishing out. Each era of F1 has its stars and challengers and it’s one of the more fascinating aspects of the sport to see which of the pretenders is going to step forward and take the champion’s crown. Schumacher did it in the past to Ayrton Senna who in turn had done it to Alain Prost in the 1980s.
Prost had emerged as the number one after proving quicker than team-mate and triple champion Niki Lauda at McLaren in 1984–5. A decade earlier, Lauda had proved the natural heir after the retirement of triple champion Jackie Stewart at the end of 1973. It has been this way ever since the sport began. Every leading driver – champion or challenger – has a huge fan base, sometimes linked to their nationalities but not always. Colombian Montoya has won over millions of fans throughout the world with his brand of audacious racing, for example. Spaniard Fernando Alonso has brought F1 to life in his home country but is gaining ever-more admirers from all nations and many see him as Schumacher’s biggest long-term threat.
Schumacher’s younger brother, Ralf, has not had the same meteoric F1 career as Michael but can be devastatingly quick and in 2003 emerged as a genuine world championship contender. The personalities of the drivers, their perceived strengths and weaknesses and their past histories in battle colour the fans’ view of the races unfolding in front of them, drawing them into a “storyline” that has no end, just ever-more chapters. Michael Schumacher is ruthless, a spellbinding winning machine. Montoya is the inspired Latin who can sometimes get under Schuey’s skin.
Raikkonen is the “Ice Man” who seems never to feel pressure or emotion. Alonso is the brave, impassioned but hard-as-nails new boy. On the other hand, it’s been said that Michael Schumacher cracks when anyone is able to put him under real pressure, that Ralf is not aggressive enough, that Rubens Barrichello is too subservient to team-mate Schumacher, that for every great Montoya move there’s a corresponding mistake. All these things, whether true or not, add to the drama for those who follow the sport closely.
The drivers who make it to the top of the ladder and graduate to Formula One are invariably champions in the feeder categories (see the section “The feeder formulas” earlier in this chapter for information about the feeder series). Their winning credentials have usually been established all the way from kart racing. But the turnover of driver talent in Formula One is high because those with any question marks alongside their Formula One performances tend to be quickly replaced.
Prost had emerged as the number one after proving quicker than team-mate and triple champion Niki Lauda at McLaren in 1984–5. A decade earlier, Lauda had proved the natural heir after the retirement of triple champion Jackie Stewart at the end of 1973. It has been this way ever since the sport began. Every leading driver – champion or challenger – has a huge fan base, sometimes linked to their nationalities but not always. Colombian Montoya has won over millions of fans throughout the world with his brand of audacious racing, for example. Spaniard Fernando Alonso has brought F1 to life in his home country but is gaining ever-more admirers from all nations and many see him as Schumacher’s biggest long-term threat.
Schumacher’s younger brother, Ralf, has not had the same meteoric F1 career as Michael but can be devastatingly quick and in 2003 emerged as a genuine world championship contender. The personalities of the drivers, their perceived strengths and weaknesses and their past histories in battle colour the fans’ view of the races unfolding in front of them, drawing them into a “storyline” that has no end, just ever-more chapters. Michael Schumacher is ruthless, a spellbinding winning machine. Montoya is the inspired Latin who can sometimes get under Schuey’s skin.
Raikkonen is the “Ice Man” who seems never to feel pressure or emotion. Alonso is the brave, impassioned but hard-as-nails new boy. On the other hand, it’s been said that Michael Schumacher cracks when anyone is able to put him under real pressure, that Ralf is not aggressive enough, that Rubens Barrichello is too subservient to team-mate Schumacher, that for every great Montoya move there’s a corresponding mistake. All these things, whether true or not, add to the drama for those who follow the sport closely.
The drivers who make it to the top of the ladder and graduate to Formula One are invariably champions in the feeder categories (see the section “The feeder formulas” earlier in this chapter for information about the feeder series). Their winning credentials have usually been established all the way from kart racing. But the turnover of driver talent in Formula One is high because those with any question marks alongside their Formula One performances tend to be quickly replaced.
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