Originally Posted by Osella
Well I can't believe this thread is even started. Prost was better than Senna, and I believe should be the one Schumacher should be compared to..
I have been watching F1 since the late 80's and well remember the times when Senna 'should have been' banned after Suzuka '90.. (particularly Stewart, Moss and Murray Walker). Prost had the good sense to realise Senna was not a god, and was probably just insane to a degree.
The other major factor about this era that people forget is that it was very much a case of the haves and the have not's.. 1988 Was a McLaren year only because of the car/engine package. So that Senna beat Prost (on dropped scores, he actually scored less overall points) is good for him, but his second title was gained in downright shameful circumstances.
Those of you who rant about Jerez/Adelaide with regard to Schumacher may or may not realise that Senna announced to anyone who would listen that he would not allow Prost to get through turn 1 of Suzuka 1990 ahead of him, and would drive flat out into the Ferrari if he was behind it; which he then proceded to do... What recriminations were there? None..
Prost however took many poles, and was capable of looking after his tyres and car for a full race, he beat (as team-mates) Lauda, Rosberg and Senna! How's that for comparison..? He also raced ground effect cars, turbo cars, raced with fuels stops, without fuel stops, in manual cars and active cars, all with success, race wins, titles and very near title misses... How the hell anyone thinks Senna was better than Prost is way beyond me. And Schumacher is better than Prost, even Prost says so!
Remember in 1991 the Benetton had an H-pattern manual gearbox, Pirelli tyres, no Active ride, no traction control and a customer engine. How's that for a bulletproof, aero-developed, high-technology, safe car?
The B192 of the following year (from race 4 onwards) still had only a semi automatic gearbox, that still required a hand of the wheel to operate initially, it still lacked active ride, had no traction control, and had a customer Cosworth engine. That year, Schumacher finished third in the championship, ahead of Senna and only a couple of points behind Riccardo Patrese. Both Ayrton and Riccardo were in active-ride,paddle-shift, traction controlled cars with full works engines and much larger development budgets. How's that for Schumacher's bulletproof, reliable, high-technology, aero-designed dominant racecar...? Especially for a driver in his First full season! He also gained his first win..
1993, The Benetton B193 (from the 3rd race on) had paddle-shift semi-Auto gearbox. From Monaco it also had traction control, and from Suzuka 4-wheel-steer. The Williams had all this, active ride, Renault works engines AND from Germany were running Anti-Lock braking! Likewise the McLaren did too excepting the ABS, but were running the same engines as Benetton from Spain (round 5) onward, having previously been a step behind. That year Michael was 4th, behind both Williamses and Senna, winning another race and dominating Monaco until the new traction control system caused a hydraulics failure.
By the way, up to this point is was not compulsory to make pitstops in F1...yet Michael still won races and podium finishes, along with consistently high championship results in a car emphatically off the pace of the leading constructors. Oh yeah, he also drove hard and hit other cars too...
In 1992 he told Ayrton Senna he was unimpressed with is driving in Magny Cours, and again in 1993 after South Africa (for the uninitiated, Senna used to weave all over the track to stop another driver overtaking. What was now know at the Schumacher Swerve came about because of this and South Africa 1993). He also stated that if that was the way Senna wanted to play it, he could drive equally as hard. This he demonstrated with another confrontation in Canada (after a Senna weave). This is not in any way intended to exonorate Schumacher to those of you who do not believe his driving to be 'spotrsmanlike' but is just a gentle reminder to go and watch Ayrton's driving throughout the 80's and 90's and see just how much he weaves to stop others passing. It is also an initiation to the naive who believe that Schumacher is bad because he won things and Senna is great because they never actually saw him race and have just heard stories of how good he was.. Watch Mansell vs Senna, Spain 1991. Senna said Mansell was dangerous for racing him so hard that day... Then watch Suzuka 1990.... Then watch Jerez 1997 and ask yoursevles who exactly is dangerous and who is 'unsportsmanlike'...
Prost did wonders with Ferrari to bring them to the brink of the 1990 title, Schumacher did more later on, some of his driving was mesmeric in 1997 and 1998, and I would just say one thing with regard to qualifying records of Senna vs Schumacher... How many times did Senna pull out a stunningly fast lap which destroyed everyone else in qualifying? And how many times did Schumacher reel off sequances of stunningly fast laps in a race situation which destroyes everyone else in a race!?!! Which is harder, one chance to do it, or keeping a consistently higher level lap after lap after lap. I will leave that up to you to decide, however I think that the fact we have numerous drivers who are 'qualifying specialists' says a lot, and very few who are known as being devastatingly fast devastatingly consistently...especially in wet or dry conditions...
Even aside from the seven titles, the race win records and the pole position records, it is this sheer ability advantage which I think makes Schumacher the best of all time. He didn't just do it in one race, not one lap, not in one car, not even in one season he did it all his career. I don't think it is possible to put together a top 10 of his best races where those sheer unbelievable performances were put to the fore, as I know there are more than 10 of virtually equal brilliance. Are there really any other drivers who you could say that about, ever?
I think Michael Schumacher and Valentino Rossi are two, you could include Jacky Ickx perhaps, and many other drivers who drove 3/4 of those races where every lap was more amazing than anyone else could achieve, but very few, and none I think in F1 with the exception of Michael Schumacher where you could say there are more than 10 such races.
This is Schumacher's legend, it has led to race wins and titles, but even discounting all those records, he is still the best based on driving talent alone. Add the records and achievements to that, add the Ferrari legend to that, and the man's sheer character and generosity to that, and you simply have no argument against Schumacher being the greatest F1 driver we have ever seen.
