Tag Archives: michael_schumacher

21 October 2006

BMW pays tribute to Michael Schumacher

BMW and BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen paid tribute to the most successfull Formula 1 driver ever, Michael Schumacher on his final race of his career with Thanx messages.

The most successful driver of all time is retiring, he did a lot for the sport and because of him, especially in Germany, F1 is very popular. As a thank you to Michael Schumacher we have Thanks Michael and Danke Michael on the rear wings of our cars.

In friday’s morning practice, the rear wings of the BMW cars read retirement messages in big blue lettering “Thanks Michael” and “Danke Michael”, in reference to 37 year old Michael Schumacher’s 250th and last Grand prix in an illustrious sixteen year career. (more…)

02 October 2006

Brilliant Schumacher wins the classic Chineese GP

Brilliant Michael Schumacher won the classic Chineese Grand Prix, which can be one of his most important victories in his career. Started 6th on the grid and after 9 laps he was 22 seconds behind the race leader and yet he won the Race that eluded him in the last 2 years. It was Renault’s race to loose and they lost it.

The track was wet with water all over the track at the start but it was not raining. Most of the drivers started with intermediate’s and it was evident from the Saturday’s qualifying that Ferrari and Bridgestone runners struggled in wet conditions. Both the Renaults got to a good start as race begins but both the Hondas lost out to Raikkonen who started at 5th. Schumacher held on to his 6th position as Alonso just vanishes at the front. By lap 4 Schumacher was almost 14 sec’s behind race leader which shows how fast the Michelin runners are. (more…)

11 September 2006

Michael Schumacher retires from Race driving

Michael Schumacher will retire from race driving at the end of the 2006 World Championship. Thats the official news from the Maranello’s Motor Sport Press Office. Check the pdf version of the official release.

I guessed this will be the announcement after viewing some emotional moments just before the podium. For the first time or may be the first time I have seen, Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo jumped the barrier to congratulate his hero Schumacher after the lap of honor. But Schumacher went straight to his co-workers and the president has to wait to get hold of Schumi to give a hug. He then went straight to Jean Todt and his wife for a hug. Wat a moment it was.

Whatever the final result of this year’s championship, Michael leaves Formula 1 holding almost all the records. To date, he has taken seven Drivers’ world titles and has contributed to the same number of team wins in the Constructors’ Championship. He has taken part in 247 Formula 1 Grands Prix (178 of them at the wheel of a Ferrari,) won 90 (71,) been on pole 68 (58) times, setting 75 (52) fastest race laps. He has amassed a total of 1354 points, 1051 of them in a Maranello car. No one in the world of motor racing has done better.

Following his decision, the only record that will elude him is the one for the number of race starts. He will be able to reach the 250 mark, just six short of the record held by Riccardo Patrese.

Schumacher has been with Scuderia Ferrari for eleven seasons, a demonstration of loyalty without equal in Formula 1, to date securing five of his Drivers’ titles here and contributing to six of the team’s Constructors’ titles. No other driver has ever won as much with the Scuderia.

F1 will miss the legend.

11 September 2006

Schumi single-handedly delivers for Ferrari at Monza

Michael schumacher wins the Italian Grandprix at Monza, the Temple of Speed. With Alonso retiring from the race, Schumacher is now just 2 points behind in Drivers Championship, while Ferrari move ahead of Renault in the Constructor’s championship. Ferrari’s future driver Kimi Raikkonen came home second after starting from Pole.

Schumacher almost lost his 2nd place in to the first corner but regained it immediately. Kubica moves to 4th but soon Massa passes him and Alonso in 7th tries to cut the chicane to pass Heidfeld for P6, but was lucky to escape with it. Till lap 16 the order at the top remained same as Raikkonen pits from the lead and the Schumachers stop on lap 17 has got him just ahead of Raikkonen. This was the defining moment and Schumi held on to the lead to win from there. But the main question is where is Alonso and how many points can Schumi take away from him.

On lap 20 Alonso and massa pits from 4th and 6th place with couple of drivers on single stop before them on the track. Nothing dramatic happened yet and it continued untill the second round of pitstop as usual. On lap 39 Raikkonen pits from P2 and joins infront of Kubica and Massa comfortably. A lap later Schumacher pits from the leap for a 7 second quick stop and rejoins comfortably ahead of Raikkonen in 1st place. On lap 40 Massa pits from 5th place and Alonso gets clean air to have a look at Kubica. On lap 42 Kubica and Alonso pits together and they emerge side by side down the pit lane with Alonso holding the lead. Most importantly they both came out infront of Massa which means Alonso has brilliantly managed to get himself into a podium position after his P10 grid slot.

At this point it looked like Schumi gonna cut the lead by just 4 points. But the most defining moment of the race and Word Championship happened on lap 45 when Alonso is out of the race with a mechanical failure. This made Massa who is behind him ran over the chicane amid the smoke from Alonso’s car. If the order stays at it is, Michael Schumacher will close to within 2 points of Alonso in the fight for the Driver’s Championship. Massa pits for tyres as a result and dropped back to 9th place and out of points.

It means Michael schumacher is alone to deliver for ferrari and he starts his final lap with Tifosi erupting all over in celebration already. And the man at the center of attraction all weekend crosses the line to take his 90th Grandprix win. With World Champion and Championship leader Alonso’s car in air held to the crane, Schumacher completes the lap of Honor.

Check the Ferrari’s official website frontpage from before the race, which shows how confident they are about today and the master of speed, Schumacher delivers it perfectly at the temple of Speed, Monza.

Note: The moment Schumacher won the race Ferrari’s official website went down, may be due to heavy traffic with people checking for Ferrari’s and Schumacher’s future decisions.

31 July 2006

Hat-trick for Schumi as Ferrari dominates again

Michael Schumacher won the 67 lap action packed German Grand prix infront of his home crowd and enliven the 2006 Drivers’ Championship. Team mate Massa is right behind him in well deserved second place. Kimi Raikkonen comes home third for McLaren with Jenson Button fourth in the much improved Honda. Most importantly Alonso is down in fifth which makes the Championship very interesting. Now Alonso got 100 points to Schumi’s 89 in Drivers Championship. With testing ban for everyone for another 2 races and the way Ferrari dominated the weekend, it looks like Renault is in deep trouble. I hope Schumi cuts down the remaining 11 points deficit in the comming two races in Hungary and Turkey. (more…)

17 July 2006

Eighth win for Schumacher in French GP

Michael schumacher won the French Grandprix for the 8th time with a dominating and record breaking performance at Magny cours. With massa taking the third place on the podium, this should silence everyone who thought that Ferrari’s Indy’s pace was because of Michelin’s cautious approach. Schumacher set another new standard as he became the first driver in the history of the sport to win eight grands prix at a single venue. Schumi even managed to have an extra pitstop compared to Alonso withought loosing the lead. Schumacher was never really challenged as he controlled the pace in his Bridgestone shod Ferrari and took the chequered flag with a comfortable gap over Fernando Alonso with Felipe Massa coming home third. (more…)

29 May 2006

Monaco GP: 2006

monaco

Fernando Alonso won an eventful Monaco Grand Prix yesterday, extending his lead in the world championship to 21 points. It was his first triumph in the Principality. (more…)

28 May 2006

Schumacher is stripped of pole position

I havent watched the qualifying live but read the news and waited for the official announcement from the stewards. According to their report, Michael Schumacher will start from the back of the grid for the Monaco Grandprix after stewards decided that he blocked the track in the final minutes of qualifying, preventing others from beating his time. Schumacher appeared to lock his brakes and then run wide as he entered the final Rascasse corner in the dying moments of the session. The former champion regained control without hitting the barriers, but came to a halt with his stalled car partially blocking the circuit, forcing other drivers to slow down. Schumacher was on provisional pole at that time. (more…)

14 May 2006

Alonso, first spaniard to win his home race

Alonso won the Spanish Grandprix infront of his home crowd at catalunya and also helped Renault extend their advantage in both driver’s and constructor’s championship along with his teammate Fisichella, who took the final podium position. Schumacher came second after clearly blocked by Fisichella untill the first round of pit stops and his teammate Massa came home in the fourth place.

At the start Alonso holds his lead from Fisi and Schumacher as the pack rush down to the first corner. Alonso takes 1.6 secs out of Fisi and 3.1 secs out of Schumi on the first lap alone. It looks like Alonso is on a light fuel load compared to the rest of the pack and he keeps going away from from Fisi and Schumi. Schumi responds with some quick sector times but Alonso slams fastest laps one after another and he is 4.3 secs ahead of Schumi by lap 3. It looks like Alonso gonna make an early pitstop with Fisi effectively holding up the pursuing Ferrari’s. Lap 12 and Alonso is still flying with 10.2 secs ahead of Schumi. The 4th placed Massa is 11.2 secs ahead of 5th placed Raikkonen by lap 14 which shows how strong the Renault and Ferrari are. Schumi makes another fastest first sector on lap 14 but Fisichella is clearly holding him off. (more…)

14 May 2006

Schumacher and Ferrari on 2nd row at Catalunya

Schumacher and Ferrari, dominant all weekend to date swept the second row while Renault secures the front row at Circuit de Catalunya. Alonso celebrated his second successive Pole position and first at his home race with his team mate Fisi grabbing the second spot on the front row. Schumacher now has a real fight in his hands, but his 248 F1 does seem to have a straight line speed advantage here in 2006 Spanish Grand Prix. So, the scene is set for another epic duel between Ferrari and Renault.

In other news Schumacher announced on Thursday that he could delay his decision to continue with Ferrari or quit the sport until the end of the year and Ferrari is quite happy to wait until the end of the season. Technical director Ross Brawn thinks someone of the magnitude of Michael gets as much time as he wants and we have to work around it. This news could mean that Schumacher is still considering retiring, and after two-straight wins he has the form to win this year’s championship. What will be better than for the Ferrari legend to go out than by securing an eighth title?.