Coulthard said that he was once in a McLaren team meeting when Ron came in and asked what was 'their' race strategy (Coulthard's) and what's 'ours' (Hakkinen's), so I'm not sure Ron Dennis is the most objective of judges where his proteges are concerned.
Ron always played favorites, he had Senna over Prost, Hakkinnen over anyone else, Kimi over Montoya, and of course, Elton over even Alonso. That was Ron’s choice as team manager, he played his favourites sometimes even against all common sense, and it made him few friends at times.
You are entitled to spin the events to fit a particular agenda, but it would be more accurate to say that Benetton was found cheating a couple of times that year , resulting in Schumacher having to miss a few races.
Well, well, not so fast: Fact is that Benetton has NOT been found cheating that year. Everybody knew they were cheating with traction control and the fuel flow during refueling but the FIA couldn't prove it. So they banned MS on a mere technicality when his wooden barge board got too serrated over the kerbs. Something they would have never penalized any other team/driver for with such harsh a penalty but it was their only way of punishing the team for stuff they couldn't prove. Kinda like Al Capone who was booked for tax fraud and never for his real crimes. Hatchett wrote a brilliant book about that entire year: Life in the pit lane. Awesome read, whether you're a Benetton/MS/Senna/Williams fan, doesn't matter. IMHO one of the best books ever written about what F1 was like in the nineties.
And then there was the drugs transported without the knowledge of Johnny, it has to be said, but with johnnys race team prior to f1 I believe, ecstasy and other drugs were smuggled using the race cars and equipment - Essex boys and their games!
The facts rest that Benetton was banned from a couple of races for technical infringements. . Everybody in the paddock knew they had kept the traction control on their software, and their only defense was that "they didn't use it" The FIA couldn't prove the use, but the mere fact of keeping it was evidence, even if Benetton hadn't been caught in the act. Other teams were penalised over the years for not observing the minimum ground clearance, when their wooden plank was found below the limit. There was a nauseating cheating atmosphere at Benetton at the time, not helped by Schumacher's tactics on the track! It's all well and good to make Schumacher and Benetton the martyrs of a FIA witch hunt, but rules are rules, and someone has to enforce them. My opinion is that the FIA acted in the best interest of the sport, to stop F1 degenerating into a cesspit.
I love it, the same people who won’t have a bad word said about the various cheats that are entirely public knowledge by Mercedes, yet they try to pin UNPROVEN rubbish to diminish the achievements of one of the most important personalities ever aligned to Ferrari. Yeah, and you guys are so picked on and unfairly despised aren’t you..... wonder why?
Somewhat interesting article in Blick about MS's health: https://www.blick.ch/sport/formel1/familien-drama-fuer-die-ewigkeit-wollen-wir-wirklich-wissen-wie-es-schumi-geht-id15087794.html A couple remarks stand out: First the title is telling by itself: "Do we really want to know how he is doing?" Second they mention that occasionally the family plays engine sounds in his house to make him feel better but there is barely a reaction. Occasionally there is some undecipherable grunting to hear. And finally the remark, that by now any hope of an improvement has reached zero. Not what we want to hear, but sadly realistic. 5 years ago...
A couple of the true medical professionals with indepth knowledge of the injuries, as reported and what procedures were done stated this was not going to go well. I certainly hoped or hope for the best but his was not favorable for complete recovery it seems. As I was out yesterday near Hockenheim, I noticed the Bild as I was fueling at Aral, on the cover was MS but I did not look further.
This is a thread dedicated to Michael's injury and recovery. There are plenty of other places if you must vent your spleen. And surely you have something better to do ?
It's been pointed out several times in this thread that this is NOT the place for idiotic ramblings like yours.
Of all posters in this forum you might be the one with the most double standards... - On one side you complain about people dismissing the achievements of a certain British driver while not missing any opportunity to bash on the most successfull driver of all times. - You call others haters but it is completely ok for you bash Schumacher and Senna because "you do not like them" including putting Michaels current condition as a question of karma - You deny that Mercedes ever cheated because they were not penalized due to the lack of proof by the FIA but you are completely OK that the FIA used pretences against Benetton when they could not proof what you insist "everybody knew"... - Just recently you indicated others favor drivers by nationalism ("dutch sour grapes") when talking about Max while you are the one saying "Lewis is the best driver WE in Britain" ever had.... - You brag about having civilized conversations while getting bans for calling others "losers"... You are some sort of limbo king of this forum... no matter how low the expectation are in this forum, you manage to get below them I can only imagine what you would say if someone used a thread about a severly injured driver to spout his dislike and prejudices about him if it was one you like... As said above: there are other threads you can do this but I think it is highly inappropriate to do it in this one.
Happy New Year to you as well.. let us hope that your. Fellow countryman will have a shot at the WDC next year, a fight Mercedes-Ferrari-RB would be epic Gesendet von meinem SM-G930F mit Tapatalk
Thank you. Would be great to see a real fight and proper on-track battles and see the Merc dethroned.
New year, same old ****. Personal attacks left and right. You guys need to crawl out of each other's grills and stick to talking about racing. If you can't do that, well, it's gonna be a loooooooong year. I am going to issue one warning here, and thread ban all of the parties, instigators and respondents. If you can't play nice, you'll lose access to the playpen. D
REALLY cool stuff here: Statement by Michael's family: " we are looking forward to it and would like to thank all of you for celebrating your Michael's 50. th birthday tomorrow with him and with us. To give him and you a gift, the keep fighting foundation has created a virtual museum. The Official Michael Schumacher app will be published tomorrow so that we can all be able to pass together Michael's successes. The app is another milestone in our efforts to meet him and you by celebrating his achievements. We wish you a lot of fun. Michael can be proud of what he has achieved, and we are too. That is why we remember his successes by the exhibition Michael Schumacher private collection in cologne, by publishing memories in social media or by continuing his charitable work through the keep fighting foundation. We would like to look at his victories, his records and his cheering. You can be sure he's in best hands and we do everything possible to help him. Please understand if we are looking for Michael's wishes and leave a sensitive issue like health, as in the past, in privacy. At the same time we say thank you for your friendship and wish you a healthy and happy year 2019." Keep Fighting Michael Schumacher Private Collection #Michael50 #TeamMichael Statement of Michael's family: "We are very happy to celebrate Michael's 50th birthday tomorrow together with you and thank you from the bottom of our hearts that we can do this together. As a gift to him, you and us, Keep Fighting Foundation has created a virtual museum. The Official Michael Schumacher App will be released tomorrow, so that we can review all together Michael's successes. The app is another milestone in our effort to do justice to him and you, his fans, by celebrating his accomplishments. We wish you a lot of fun with it. Michael can be proud of what he has achieved, and so are we! That's why we remember his successes with the Michael Schumacher Private Collection exhibition in Cologne, by publishing memories in social media and by continuing his charitable work through the Keep Fighting Foundation. We want to remember and celebrate his victories, his records and his jubilation. You can be sure that he is in the very best of hands and that we are doing everything humanly possible to help him. Please understand if we are following Michael's wishes and keeping such a sensitive subject as health, as it has always been, in privacy. At the same time we say thank you very much for your friendship and wish you a healthy and happy year 2019." Keep Fighting Michael Schumacher Private Collection #Michael50 #TeamMichael