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Originally Posted by ioan
It would have been a bit difficult to beat WDCs in your first 6 races in an inferior car don't you think? I said they were there in 91, sorry if it was ambiguous and it looked like I said he beat them in 91.
Exactly. That why I was baffled by your statement that Schumacher apprently 'beat' the greats like Senna, Prost, Mansell and Prost.
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So, he beat WDCs in his first full F1 season, sweet isn't it?
He beat Senna. But as I pointed out, Senna completed 50% of the races :)
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Well Patrese was also on great driver and MS beat him in the same car in his only 2nd F1 season. Not too shabby for a start is it?
If you definition of a 'great' driver = Patrese, many drivers are 'great' drivers. I tend to try and use the word 'great' for describing a driver for the truly special drivers such as Senna, Prost, Schumacher, not Patrese, Berger etc :)
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Well it's hardly MS's fault that those guys chose to retire or had misfortunes.
That's EXACTLY my point. I simply stated Schumacher never raced alongside the greats of the previous era, as they retired. You replied by disagreeing saying that was 'BS - he beat them in 91,92,93'. I've pointed out to you he achieved 95% of his success after 93! I'm not blaming Schumacher for that. Just pointing out the facts.
I'm glad you accepted them :)
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We might never know but maybe Hakkinen was as good as Prost or Senna, after all he showed much promise when a rookie against Senna (I think).
Maybe. I think Mika's accident delayed the initial promise he showed. He was quite a late starter, I think having a competitive car, and coming up against a great like Schumacher definately helped him lift his game.
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Also KR and JPM and other drivers MS raced against might well be of the same caliber as AS, AP, NM and other WDCs. We tend to believe that retired or gone drivers were better without having the slightest possibility to compare them.
We should always compare drivers only against those they raced against and only for the few years they did it in the same time.
I don't think ANYONE in their right mind would say JPM is as good as Prost, or Senna etc. And I say that as a JPM fan myself! Kimi is a different story, though he is taking his time to settle in it seems. However apart from Kimi, who Schumacher raced for a couple of years, and JPM too really (who maybe was as good as Mansell), from 94-2005, Schumacher had no one apart from Mika Hakkinen for 3 seasons. The other seasons his competitors were Hill, Villeneuve, Coulthard, and Rubens. Hardly 'greats', unless you still believe Patrese was a 'great', which then maybe you could make a case.