Never one to pass up the opportunity to keep his mouth shut, Lewis Hamilton told Germany's Focus he has has won his championships strictly because of his "natural ability", unlike Michael Schumacher who had done "other things" to win.
What those "other things" might be, the Briton did not elaborate on.
Presumably, Hamilton whose first championship was owed to other people's errors and who has won two more after stepping into a car so superior to the rest of the field it has been accused of killing F1, feels Schumacher had it easy.
Schumacher also spent five years raising Ferrari from chumps to champs at the turn of the century, and later two seasons with the thankless task of developing the very car the British working class hero driver got to step into.
Hamilton also had kind words for his teammate Nico Rosberg: "Nico did really well this year, but people can see I'm driving better"
Switzerland's Blich, itself a tabloid, is reporting how the Schumacher house in Gland, Switzerland is under constant attack by paparazzi, hiding in the bushes with their long lenses hoping to get a shot of Michael.
The Schumachers have had to tint the windows in their home, staff are hounded an harassed for information and security guards once busted a photographer disguised as a priest.
Long time media person, Sabine Kehm did not mince words recently:
"It's mainly the French paparazzi who are not respecting Michael's privacy, it's a constant battle"
The latest tactic involves using drones flown over the home. Hopefully security guards are getting some target practice.
Of course, the reason why people would be spending their time harassing the family of a gravely injured man is because there are editors, somewhere, willing to pay and people willing to look.
Google "GoPro and Schumacher" today and you'll be submerged by articles blaming the camera for Schumacher's injuries. This uproar caused a 10% drop in GoPro share prices.
Basically it sucks to be GoPro today. But it really should not.
Questions about the role a helmet cam may have played in the skiing accident, came up this past February but this latest furor started last week with an article in Italy's Gazzetta Dello Sport. It reported on what French F1 journalist Jean Louis Moncet claimed in a radio interview.
Here is the actual interview, a quick google search away. The relevant bit is at 6:22
So what did Moncet say? Asked if he had any news of Schumcher, Montcet says
"I have news of Schumacher, I saw his son very recently and he's (Schumacher) waking up slowly. But you know, Schumacher, for him it was not the shock, it was the pillar of the GoPro he had on his helmet which pierced his brain. So he's waking slowly, he's at his home and there he has his whole life ahead of him to get better."
Those four lines have been elevated online to a "new report". It is interesting to note that the actual accident investigation ruled out the camera as being a factor in Schumacher injury. He hit the rock with the side of his head, skiers mostly mount cameras in the middle of the helmet.
More to the point Moncet, in a tweet, basically said he was just talking out his butt on that radio interview.
STOP ALL SPECULATION. I say I saw Mic Schumacher, I dont say where, I dont say I talk with him or I did an interview with him. Clear ? #F1
— Jean Louis Moncet (@moncet) October 13, 2014
OK, so everyone from Gawker to Business Insider to the NYPost to Autoblog all just repeated what they read somewhere, without even the minimum of checking on this new "report" and GoPro's stock tanked.
Michael Schumacher at Mirabeau 2001. Photo Andrea Cairone/Axis of Oversteer
"...He was formidable because his contributions did not end with his exceptional talent behind the wheel. He had the capacity to never broadcast his dissatisfaction when things did not work on track. In private, within the team, he knew how to be very stern, even ruthless. But outside, to the public he was always first to defend the team."
It was reported on Germany's Bild that Corinna Schumacher, Michael's wife, has put his Falcon 2000EX up for sale.
Schumacher had used the plane to fly himself and his family, well... wherever he wanted. Sadly though things will never be the same for the champion and Mrs.Schumacher's fiscally sensible move is a measure of that.
The plane, tail number M-IKEL, is said to worth about $27 million.
Forget sensationalistic, click grabbing headlines from the tabloids, reading what Gary Hartstein had to say today, even with all the appropriate caveats, was beyond chilling.
...First off let me say that it is EXTREMELY unlikely (I’d honestly say virtually impossible) that the Michael we knew prior to this fall will ever be back.
I think that it will have to be considered to be a triumph of human physical resiliency, and of modern neurointensive care, if Michael is able to walk, feed himself, dress himself, and if he retains significant elements of his previous personality. If recovery proceeds to this point (which is totally POSSIBLE, if perhaps rather improbable), it is an open question as to how well the “higher functions” (memory, concentration, reading, planning, etc) will recover. Please note, I would love to be proven wrong about this!
We are probably not the only ones disgusted at the shameful behavior of many newspapers, click hungry web sites, social media pages and even companies in the wake of Michael Schumacher unfortunate accident.
It's been sickening hearing people opine on the dynamic and cause of the accident, on how he had been reckless, skiing "off piste" where he might "cause avalanches" (Jackie Stewart on BBC) at 60 mph (Times of London). A special shout out to those who felt compelled to create cartoon drawings of the crash sequence, as they imagined it (Corriere della Sera) and to those companies who thought it proper to include their logo and social media info on "get well" messages.
Stay classy TIM
It's not surprising, given the feeding frenzy, that someone would have tried to gain access to steal a shot of Schumacher, unconscious and intubated, to sell to the highest bidder.
Sabine Kehm, Schumacher's assistant since his Ferrari days, told Autosprint a "journalist" dressed as a priest was ejected after he tried to get past security on the fifth floor intensive care unit of the hospital where the seven times world champion is recovering.
No shame.
She also explained how the theory of a high speed fall makes no sense as Schumacher had just stopped to help a friend who had fallen, just above the rocky "off piste" section where the accident occurred. If you have seen pictures of the location, I think you'd agree it's hardly the epic, avalanche prone, out of bounds, extreme slope you'd imagine from many accounts.
Despite earlier reports Michael Schumacher arrived at the hospital in Grenoble already in a coma and was operated on immediately. His condition is critical and he is fighting for his life.
You'll be able to read all about all the details elsewhere, out of respect, we'll stop until the situation is clear.
We send all our best thoughts to Michael and his family.
A skiing vacation in Meribel (France) turned scary for Michael Schumacher who was hospitalized after a he reportedly hit his head on a rock after a fall.
His condition is not said to be serious and he was skiing with a helmet but, of course, the seven time world champion had previously injured his head in a motorcycle accident during his first "retirement" period.
"He was transported to Grenoble. Police is investigating the dynamics of the incident" The director of Meribel ski station told Radio Monte Carlo. "He was wearing a helmet an hit against a rock. He fell at 11:07 and rescue arrived quickly at 11:15. He was dazed and shocked but conscious. There could be head trauma but it's not very serious"
Watching Michael Schumacher tootle around the Nürburgring Nordschleife in a Mercedes Formula 1 car has got to be one of the most underwhelming moments of our day.
Granted, the track may have been damp, greasy and covered with more or less obscene graffiti but, c'mon!.
Sun is low on the sub arctic forest as a Citroen C2 WRC car tears through tree lined snowbanks. Snow rally testing is certainly nothing special in this part of the world, certainly nothing new for the driver of the Citroen, Kalle Rovanperä.
Now, if you are wondering why your country does not have any credible young rally drivers, it's probably because your country might arrest Kalle's father for child endangerment. You see, Kalle is 11 years old.
He also happens to be the son of WRC driver Harri Rovanperä who's more than happy to set him off alone, not to do some donuts in a parking lot, but dodging pine trees in a rear wheel drive Toyota Starlet. How amazing is that?
Father of the Year award for Harri!
You know that awesome video Chris Harris did, driving on a frozen lake track? Kalle has been doing that since he was nine years old!
I'm guessing we might hear more from Kalle in the next few years, what do you think?
Mick Batsch, number 421 with the green helmet
On a related note, Michael Schumacher's son, 12 year old Mick raced in his first big international kart race in Lonato del Garda, Italy. Mick, who races with his mother's maiden name Batsch, was competing in the KF3 class along with Giuliano Alesi in a meet rich with Formula 1 last names like Max Verstappen and Bas Lammers.
Haters and , shall we say, German humor translation fails aside, you have to admit Vettel's story is a great one so far, much like the other fellow in the picture.
He does not come from a wealthy family, he does not have a whole government behind him. He does have his incredible car feel and, as his own manager, the savvy to make deals with the likes of Red Bull.
It's easy to forget now but Schumacher changed Formula 1 more than any driver since in terms of driving style, fitness and economics.
We'll never really know what was behind his return to racing, was it just boredom or was there more to it as some say. In his prime he was the ultimate racer but maybe in the end he's just a guy who loved to rip and we'll miss him.
In the previous piece we wondered if Hamilton glancing the wall on the final flying lap in qualifying might come into play in the race. So far there is no word from Mclaren but one has got to think there is a good chance it might have had an effect on the Mclaren gearbox.
Hard to say without knowing the precise timing of events but you'd the team would have told Hamilton to abort his lap as he had pole in the bag (by a mile). On Sunday, someone decided to gamble and not incur a 5 spot penalty for swapping the gearbox, Mclaren easily had the speed but reliability will win this championship.
Another notable failure was Schumacher's. Mental or mechanical? Schumacher said the latter * but the "What the hell was that?" radio transmission from Ross said "senior moment"....
"I would never have made that corner without his push" Jacques Villeneuve opens up about the infamous incident at the Dry Sack turn at Jerez in 1997.
That year coming into the final race, the European Grand Prix, Villeneuve had to beat championship leader Schumacher at all costs in order to win the title.
Turns out Villeneuve, driving for Williams Renault, played the future multi-champ like a fiddle.
"There was no way for me to pass him there but I tried anyway" Villeneuve tells AutoBild Motorsport "I thought he might bump me because I had remembered what he did to Hakkinen in the Formula 3 finals in Macau" referring to Schumacher's straight line "brake test" of the Finn.
"In fact I had even discussed it with the team before the race and he actually did it!"
Schumacher bumped into the Williams but ended up stuck in the gravel trap, Villeneuve ironically ended up making that corner and the rest, as they say, is history.
"You can be a nice guy off the track but if you're a nice guy in Formula 1, you will never win anything" Ayrton Senna.
After Schumacher pulled that tough, desperate move on poor old Barrichello, I wondered: was this a return to what, week in and week out we hear Formula 1 is not anymore? There was some real hate going on there, some actual bad blood.
Of course, one view is that Schumacher has lost the plot, that a real champion would have know he had no chance in that situation, with the Brazilian on fresh soft tires behind him and moved over gracefully. It's a valid point, but not if you are going to complain that Formula 1 has become too sterile or if you know how a real racer's mind works.
Schumacher was certainly thinking about the final points position but, I'm guessing, he also remembered how Barrichello has spent the past couple of years trying to convince anyone who would listen how he was really faster than the German, if only he had been allowed to win. Barrichello even went as far as calling Schumacher, gay. I'm sure that was all misting inside the Mercedes driver's red helmet and he wasn't going to give up easily.
Barrichello for his part was probably thinking about how in his native Brazil, he's seen as a nice guy but a bit of a whiner, how there have been articles down there saying Brazilian autosport used to be Senna, Fittipaldi, Piquet, but now it's Barrichello, Massa and...Piquet jr Yet Rubens had balls, he didn't lift and went through, he might want to thank Schumacher for giving him the chance to show he's got what it takes..
But he can't win, the final insult was that both Schumacher and Ross Brawn after the race said "This is Formula 1, what's the problem? There was enough room, otherwise he would not have gotten through..." Score on for the grouchy old man making Rubens once again look like a complainer.
Of course the FIA didn't see it that way, probably the safe way to go. Videos after the jump
Pretty rare to see two almost identical situations play out. You can read this a number of ways: Button was too nice, Hamilton was too hard, Schumacher shows his teeth, Vettel let himself be pushed off the track, Hamilton pushed him off the track. Or you can just chalk it up to just the way things happen during races. For sure Schumacher showed he still "has it". For sure Hamilton cements his reputation as a "hard" racer. Not surprisingly both passed drivers complained some after the race, borderline sad, Button's comment that Schumacher should not have passed him there.
Dull dull race, except perhaps for the final laps, it was like watching an endurance race. Alonso gained the most from the week end, he's now only three points down from Button and a full eighteen points up on his biggest threat in Monaco next week, Hamilton. Lewis finds himself tied with Massa who was leading the championship not long ago and who, like the Mclaren driver, needs to figure something out quickly.
Anyway, for comic relief, there is always Rob Smedley's "Felipe, baby...." moment...
