Flawed Champion

[TBWG]

Why is it one of the best drivers in F1 feels it is necessary to cheat when things are not going his way. Now I admire him as a driver but dislike him as a sportsman following his previous episodes with Hill Adelaide 94 & Villenueve Jerez 97.

While I feel he pulled a fast one here the best people to judge are fellow drivers who universally condemned him, but you might say the current ones would anyway, but when the likes of retired drivers such as Jackie Stewart and Keke Rosberg rubbish him then I'm inclined to think they know what they are talking about.

I feel the stewards had no option but to apply a penalty, to let him start from pole would have been a reward for mediocrity after his novice type "mistake" after all Gran Prix racing is supposedly the pinnacle of motorsport.

Having been so roundly condemned for being a cheat I feel his postion now is untenable, perhaps now is the time for him to retire.

Finally, I suspect that Damon Hill/Jaque Villeneuve are now suffering a large bout of Schadenfreude! (with apologies to fellow TV poster for pinching his favourite word).

TBWG

[LaoPo]

Schumacher is a disgrace to his sports, the F1 Championship...

A man with his abilities and gifts shouldn't act like that; the whole F1 circus spits on him now and he deserves it.

It's not the first time though....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport...one/5024532.stm

LaoPo

[davethailand]

He's german

[LaoPo]

He's german

True, but living in Switzerland.

The point is that a guy who's making so much money should be ashamed of himself to 'cheat' on his fellow-drivers

He's making US$ 80 million/year (2004)... and #2 on the list of highest paid athLetes in the WORLD

http://www.forbes.com/2004/06/23/04athletesland.html old list 2004

LaoPo

[monsieurhappy]

Come on guys, you're being a bit hard on the one chap who's keeping this sport alive. Without Schumi, yesterdays race would have been nothing but a procession. Not much better anyway, around a track that does not allow overtaking. What other racing sport is run on a track that doesn't allow someone to come from behind and get past the guy in front ( only sensible answers please! ) He only wanted to make sure that at least there would be 2 cars racing at the front. And as for cheating! Professional fouls are 2 a penny in football but you don't get complaints about those! OK, you can argue that Kimi was on track to take Alonso until his engine blew. Maybe! But the outcome was that Alonso finished the race one lap ahead of nearly the rest of the field. Good race innit! IMHO Schumi should have been 10th. on the grid, afterall he had qualified in the last 10. That would have livened the race up a bit!

One last thing, I do think Alonso is a good driver and take nothing away from him. Kimi too is well qualified to win races as are one or two more drivers. But lets put them on tracks that allow them to use others mistakes to get by not where a stopped car blocks the road. At least when we get to Silverstone the track and run-offs are wide enough not to let this happen.

[Thaipwriter]

He did dish up 10 Million U$D of his own money for the Tsunami though.

Cheating in "sport" these days is normal and the upcoming World Cup will demonstrate that with diving etc etc.

[lomatopo]

I agree that there is a bit of a history there with the Hill and Villeneuve incidents, but those did occur a long time ago (and neither of those drivers seems to have done much more than have one decent season?).

If Shumacher had not had this incident at Monaco, and been penalized, he would have started no further back than third. He was having a pretty good lap, slightly better than his P1 lap, and it appeared to me that he overshot the corner while trying to improve on his P1 position. The car was lighter and the tires more worn, so the dynamics were changing. I find it hard to believe that he was aware that one or two drivers, just seconds behind him, were possibly on a quicker lap, and that he thought that he would not be able to better his time, and that he could find a place to stall (without damaging the car) and block drivers behind him. So he makes all these calculations and decides on a course of action that will potentially put him at the back of the grid? I don't think so.

I did watch the qualifying session from start to finish, and was unaware of the penalty until the next day.

The fact that other drivers, current and former, seem willing to publicly chastise him shows both a lack of respect and a certain amount of jealousy and pettiness.

Edited June 1, 2006 by lomatopo

[jackr]

Watch the video

[TBWG]

Watch the video

Hi,

After watching video several times, personally still think it was deliberate, do not see how you can come to any other conclusion.

I do not believe that it is impossible to recover an F1 car from that position at such a slow speed. I admit that when he started lap he had no intention of doing it, but endeavoured to capitalise on situation once he knew lap was far from perfect.

TBWG

[OneeyedJohn]

Presuming the 'live' qualifying was live then wot is interesting is that the commetators immediately mentioned what Schumi did was dodgy ??

Monaco is all about Pole..Schumi had it but was about to lose it..............................

[TBWG]

Presuming the 'live' qualifying was live then wot is interesting is that the commetators immediately mentioned what Schumi did was dodgy ??

Monaco is all about Pole..Schumi had it but was about to lose it..............................

Hi

Exclusive extract from Schumi's diary

Schumi's Sekret Diary: Monaco

Tuesday May 30 2006

Michael Schumacher has been revealing his private thoughts and following his little 'incident' in Monaco he has decided to come clean.

Hello tifosis. I had a bit of a strange weekend, I can tell you. So far I have not revealed the true reason of what is happening to me in Rascasse on Saturday, but quite honestly and obviously I would like to get it all over my chest.

First of all I would like to thank the Ferrari pitcrew for going on the Planet-F1 poll and voting "No it was a complete accident" for the last two days.

Because this is truly what it was. I know many people have said many nasty things about what I did, but it is true. Keke Rosberg said it was the cheapest dirtiest trick, but what does he know about F1. When he was World Champion in 1982 he won it with only seven points, and three of those he got by converting Air Miles.

Jarno Trulli said if he was parking the car he could do it better, well maybe that's what he'll be doing for a living after this season.

Jacques Villebeuve said it was the most embarrassing thing he's ever seen. Well, he clearly hasn't seen Ron Dennis dance or Norbert Haug in his Bavarian weekend leisure lederhosen.

I challenged all the critics and said they should come up and tell me I'm a cheat to my face. All they have to do is get through the tight security around the outside of the Ferrari motorhome, fill in a "Schumi-you're-a-cheat" accreditation form and wait to hear back from Luca Colliani. Then we shall see, eh, eh. Yes. Come and have a go if you think you're firm enough!

Anyway, what was happening on my second hot lap, you are wanting to know...

It all started on the Friday, our day off. As you know in Monaco we practise on Thursdays and take Friday off, because it is traditional in Monaco that nobody works on Friday because nobody has to do very much except scratch their <deleted> and buy stuff.

As you know tifosis I despise tax exiles, I only live in Switzerland because of my great love of cuckoo clocks and the healthy environment.

Anyway, we had a hard promotional day and at the end of it, Luca, Chris, Ross and I decided to do what the old F1 drivers used to do - you know Jim Clark, Graham Hill, and Sterling Moss in the swinging 1960s - pay a visit to the Tip Top club. So, we got there and I had a couple of ginger beers while Ross helped Sterling Moss, who was still there chasing dolly birds on his Motability scooter.

I am not used to the fizzy bubbles and all of a sudden I am going dizzy and waking up in this hotel room in my underpants and there is this blonde model with enormous gazongas absolutely stark naked.

You know how Cora Schumacher looks a little bit like a porn star? Well, like that but classier. The kind of girl Kimi Raikkonen can't pull at a pole dancing club. And she is walking toward me saying: "Schumi, you have been very bad, I will have to tie you up now."

I can remember blurting out, "No, no, I tipped the waiter 20 euros, that is enough."

I tried to get up but I am so unused to intoxicating beverages that my legs are crumpling downwards and my nose is getting parked in between these massive mountainous norks.

At which point Chris Dyer my engineer comes in and rescues me before she can take the video for News of the World or F1 Racing Magazine, whichever it is.

Now, you know your Schumi. On the Saturday I am totally focused on the job in my hands and I have already secured the pole position. For the second run I am travelling at speed towards the Rascasse when suddenly I get to the hairpin and look up. There, on the balcony, is the blonde with the enormous norks waving her mobile phone at me and dressed in nothing but earrings and a big smile.

The shock is so great that I stamp on the brake pedal and lock the brakes, (as you have seen on TV) then my mind goes blank and all of a sudden I have wandered towards the wall like Yuji Ide on one of his better laps.

I stagger out of the car and everybody is shouting, "You parked the car, you cheat," while I am secretly thinking 'I hope the blonde with the enormous norks hasn't got any photos'.

So when people ask me what happened, I can hardly tell them about my hotel romp, so this is a very big problem. Because Lieblings Pudgie Wudgie Donut Face will be raising the drawbridge at Schloss Schumi if she finds out. So I have to stay tight lipped. I cannot tell Max what really happened, because then he would tell Matt Bishop.

Ross has told the pitcrew but everyone is sworn to secrecy. Even Jean doesn't know.

Thankfully I am lucky to have the support of some understanding tifosis like you, who know I am not just fabricating an elaborate cover story because secretly I was actually cheating, which quite honestly and obviously I wasn't.

You are the very best tifosis a Schum could ask for

Keep on voting on those polls, to clear your Schum's name.

The Schum

So now we know

TBWG

[kayo]

very weel written TBWG.

Bloody good laugh.