Editorial - Schumacher Schadenfreude*

So what was your reaction to Michael Schumacher's aborted return to the tracks, be honest now, did it contain an element of schadenfreude?

I had no difficulty seeing the value of Schumacher's return to Bernie and Ferrari. Working on the principle that Michael is still probably the biggest star in the F1 firmament, and thus generates massive publicity, his proposed return to F1 was a bonus that a publicity hungry sport was unlikely pass up. Given that there is no such thing as bad publicity, the fact that Schumacher withdrew his entry before the meeting was immaterial. The job had already been done, Joe Public was on the hook.

Ferrari's need for drivers was/is great, in contrast to some other teams their driver line up would appear to lack strength in depth. Several years have passed and they don't seem to have regrouped following the Schumacher era. In practice, given his continued involvement with the team, Ferrari may still be in the Schumacher era. A talent like his, and the success that came with it, resulted in the team being configured round their multi-talented star driver, a number 2 driver was just that, the main requirement being to slipstream in the star's wake. It would not have happened in Enzo's day, but then it is quite possible that Ferrari's recent success would not have happened under Enzo's always forceful, but frequently wayward management.

Ferrari's list of replacement drivers proved to be surprisingly short and unfortunately did not include Startline's suggestion, our own Russ Giles. Once Schumacher withdrew, citing an unhealed neck injury as the cause, they had little choice but to put their long term test driver Luca Badoer into the cockpit, to everybody’s embarrassment. The only good point about putting Luca into a front line Ferrari is that he showed just how skilful all the other drivers are, and that F1 cars can be quite a handful. Luca is undoubtedly race rusty, but he also proved to be well off the pace and prone to making unforced errors. If it did nothing else, Luca's performance emphasised the quality of the young inexperienced drivers recently recruited into Renault and Red Bull's F1 line up. These youngsters may have raced at the back of the field, but they were part of the field, the same could not be said about Luca.

One is constantly amazed that the decisions made by high powered bodies have consequences not envisaged by those who make them. The current restrictions on testing have been introduced in an attempt to reduce the cost of F1, but we now see that inexperienced drivers are forced to learn to drive a F1 car at a meeting, possibly at a track that they have never seen before. It is an example of Darwinian natural selection working in its truest form. One is tempted to compare the tyro F1 drivers with the albatross fledglings learning to fly from oceanic islands, a couple of mistakes and the cruising tiger sharks of the press, or killer whales of team management will have their F1 career for breakfast! In Monoposto we wish to retain our recruits, and attempt to have a more nurturing approach towards those with less experience.

One question I have difficulty understanding is 'Why did Michael Schumacher's wish to return to the F1 grid'? He had little to gain and much to lose. In his last race before retirement, a couple of years ago, he demonstrated that he was still at the top of the game. His final race was a convincing performance even though events conspired to stop him winning. In the final laps he swept past his replacement at Ferrari in a move that demonstrated his superiority. I know that we are in the middle of the ‘credit crunch', but as probably the best paid driver in the history of the sport, it is unlikely to be financial necessity that caused his attempted return to the driving seat. If he had raced and won, all would have nodded their heads and said 'Michael's not lost it'. It he had raced and performed badly, the pundits would have taken greater pleasure in declaring him 'Over the hill'. I would have thought that the second scenario much more damaging than the first, and a potential deterrent to any return.

Of course it could be that the man just enjoys driving and racing the most sophisticated cars on the planet. Within constraints, I can identify with that sentiment. A Monoposto car is probably the most responsive car that the majority of our membership will ever handle, the experience is addictive, and thus we may understand and applaud Michael’s wish to reprise his F1 experience.

Patrick Huston
1/09/09

*schadenfreude: a mischievous delight in the misfortunes of others.

Luca Badoer in a Forti at Imola in 1996 (F1Rejects.com)

Ferrari had limited alternatives to Luke Badger (picture from bestbouncersever.com, honest.)

Michael Schumacher comes off his Fireblade at Sachsenring

Gratuitous Gilles Villeneuve pic (Nigel Bland)