Schumacher under fire after embarrassing Singapore weekend
25 September, 2012
Michael Schumacher crashed heavily in Singapore
Sep.25 (GMM) Just as the Mercedes board is set to meet on Tuesday, Michael Schumacher is the unhappy subject of an intense round of bad press in his native Germany, in the aftermath of a spectacular crash involving the seven times world champion during the Singapore GP.
Some publications have nicknamed the seven time world champion ‘Schussel-(clumsy) Schumi’ after his latest mistake during the race at Marina Bay Street Circuit. The crash with Jean-Eric Vergne has cost the veteran German ten places on the Suzuka grid.
And that’s not all. The German media is making a meal of the 43-year-old’s entire Singapore weekend, deriding him for incorrectly calling Frenchman Vergne “Jean-Marc” in an interview.
And Schumacher also reportedly told German journalists ahead of the race weekend that there are 20 points for finishing a grand prix second (there are actually 18), and he also got the timezone difference between Singapore and Europe fundamentally wrong.
“What on earth is going on with Michael Schumacher?” wondered the Hamburger Abendblatt, noting that the great German’s Singapore crash was his third under the floodlights in as many years.
Der Spiegel magazine pointed out that, with Schumacher’s contract expiring, the Mercedes board is scheduled to meet on Tuesday.
“The timing is certainly not beneficial,” admitted Swiss commentator Marc Surer.
Another Schumacher gaffe in Singapore was his admission to being “in the toilet” while the rest of the F1 world was paying silent tribute to the late Professor Sid Watkins on the grid.
“The whole [of] Formula One is there with great respect,” said commentator Christian Danner on RTL television. “Drivers, team managers, even the prime minister of Singapore.”
Danner said Schumacher’s absence was “embarrassing”.
Subbed by AJN.
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- Singapore GP Qualifying: Hamilton takes pole in fine style
- Schumacher taking momentum to Singapore
- Schumacher under fire for “anonymous” race
What happened in Singapore was a pure inevitable accident.
Schumacher is still one of the greatest.
Seems like a lot of people are forgetting those 7 titles. Schumacher is helping Mercedes get what they had in the past: A good german competitive car like decades ago. As @Joe Kinnear said, he helped Ferrari become champion after years and years of losing. If anyone can help Mercedes develop a good car, thats Michael. Who would you all haters pick to develop a car? who has more experience than him? Just pick one so the rest of us can laugh at you. About Alonso… well, hes fast, indeed, a real fighter? yes, of course. But meanwhile until Alonso wins 5 more championships, until there’s no “Alonso, Petrov is way faster than you” or “Piquet Jr, please crash so Alonso can win” and so on… Schumacher will be better.
Schumacher is going under a bad spell. He does make mistakes and honest about it. All drivers do the same. Since he has a high profile he becomes a target. And yes, some do enjoy and take advantage of the situation. But its not only about Benjamin he has made history which none can reach in his era. Respect the man respect how much he has contributed to the sport and F1 fans still love him only because he is a good human being. Every one goes through bad and good phase in life. But true fans will always remain loyal on matter what. Digging old graves only shows your character. And sitting in the toilet when everyone is out there for a tribute is just low on your part to make a statement when this is the man who gave maximum contributions to disaster zones and charities. This shows a man like Schumacher cannot even ease himself..that is great pride to know everyone is watching the great figure. Even in private places he has no “PEACE”
i think it would be better if michael would just be a consultant to amg mercedes petronas team.
age just caught up with the 7-time F1 world champion folks.
Schumi haters can say what they want. I’m not a fan of him either, but I must admit he’s the best of the new millenium. Winning 7 titles, 5 of them in a row isn’t luck. It’s grit. He joined Ferrari when they were basically trash, and helped them build the car into a conquering one. So to all you Schumi haters, you can keep on yapping all day long. At the end of the day you gain nothing – maybe just some bragging rights.
And please stop comparing him to Alonso (whether he can emulate Schumi) He’s not worth the comparison. Yes Alonso’s fast, very determined, can bring the best out of a crap car, but so is Vettel, so is Kimi…
Schumi haters gonna hate. Just admit he’s the best and move on.
This say’s it all.
He He
F1 God,
Schumi is a LOSER
HAPPY NOW. Were it not for him, i doubt that you would be watching F1 nowadays. He added special taste to this sport. Never underestimate him and his talent.
Cmon Schumi ,youre a seven time world champion, there are many nicer things to do than F1 as Raikkonen said ‘lol’, management role in the team for instance, its time to leave F1 and make way for others, you have already achieved more than you wanted !!
Funny how schumi fans call everyone else ignorant when they know so little about their own hero.
Schumi DID have superior bridgestones for all his championship winning years in ferrari. He is currently driving incredibly sub-par.
There is no doubt schumi was incredibly talented during his first career. He pulled ferrari from a nothing team to world titles and he consistently beat him team mates to do it. He took the fight to Alonso admirably in 2006 but unfortunately the tides had turned.
However, that doesn’t defend his constant criticism of pirelli and his even more constant driver errors.
Fact of the matter is, he’s past it. They should fire him and get Hamilton. If not Hamilton, Hulkenburg.
Mercedes are a bunch of fools. A racing team that looks for sponsor money and the bottom line over winning grand prix. Rosberg has proven he can win in the merc. Schumi has not.
Unfortunately, these facts are exactly that – facts. Yet i’m sure schumi fans will try hard to show them as fictious.
Have fun worshipping your fallen idol
First i didn’t spent my all time reading all cmnts,but i have some notes on F1 god: you have to go back to schumi’s first run with jordan,when he was runing much faster than his “more than 10 years experienceed” team mate,i think it is enough!
And you calling urself f1 fan,i think u did’nt noticed that schumi has won the 2002 title before mika left f1…
In the end,Schumacher will always be the sport’s most successful driver,and leading the records books,and that’s something u can never deny,god:D
@Forza Ferrari
This is from Gary Anderson:
It was also interesting to hear Mercedes’ Michael Schumacher complain about the Pirelli tyres.
He is a professional racing driver, and it’s all about looking after your tyres. You do that by getting the right balance on the car.
When I was involved with Bridgestone tyres with Jordan in the early 2000s, in the middle of the tyre war with Michelin, Schumacher and Ferrari had tyres we were not even allowed to look at.
They cost so much money that Bridgestone could not afford to supply them to everyone. And whenever we did have an opportunity to run a derivative of those tyres, our lap times were much, much better.
It’s a bit sad that Michael now sees things the other way around, because a lot of his competitiveness in those days was down to the working relationship he and Ferrari had with Bridgestone, one to which nobody else had access.
Now there’s a standard tyre, it’s down to him and Mercedes to get it working properly, not point the finger at the supplier.
@F1 God
Your knowledge surely doesn’t reflect your nickname! Michael schumacher has made ferrari what it is today! And tyres built for him, is such a stupid and childish excuse to cover failures of other teams to match ferrari and schumacher talent and speed! So please read more before talking, just for your reputation as an F1 God
the Bridgestone didnt won the WDC by itself. its Schumi + Ross + Todt
for many years, a lot of people are still butt hurt.
Whole Mercedes think that and that is pathetic, majority of the board only concerned with their dividend yield.
I hope a strong person will take lead for Mercedes, there is no need for half attempt. And half attempt is the best we will ever get with their current structure.
Schumacher should buy in a big share in Daimler, so he can put his foot down and tell the board how this team going to win Championships!!!!
Now it’s just old man yapping about their financial interests.
@F1 God
Wow, what an ignorant fool you are! Simply amazing! What “special” Bridgestone tires??! The reason why those Bridgestone tires worked so well on the Ferraris is that Ferrari tested endlessly to get the maximum performance out of the tires and they built their cars to suit perfectly with the Bridgestones. Do you have any idea how much effort and testing hours went into developing a new car each year when Schumi was there?! Of course you don’t! Otherwise you wouldn’t be talking such ridiculous crap here. The testing and effort made by Ferrari in those days was massive and so were the rewards they got. Your gibberish about some “special” tires is complete bullsh*t! Ferrari and Schumi simply took the maximum performance out of their package and that’s why they were so successful.
@F1 God, what you’re saying is nonsense!
1. Schumacher was a one of the best drivers in the history. Remember the late 90′s when he kept Ferrari, a inferiror car to Wiliams or McLaren, in the title hunt only by his own talent? Remember races like: Spain 96, Monaco 97, Spain 94 etc… Even though I must admit that the Schumy from the ’00s was not as good as the one in 90′s even though he won 5 world championships. In the 00′s, having the best car by far hurt him and his talent. It is unfair to judge him only by his 00′s years just because it was then when he won his most titles.
2. Bridgestone tyres cost Schumacher the title in 2005! It is the Bridgestone tyres that cost Schumacher titles not the other way around!
3. Nico Rosberg is not an average team mate. Just look at his past. He always beaten his team mate, and he usually make the most of it when he has a good material in his hands. I reckon he will be a World Champion sooner rather than later.
Schumacher should take over Hamiltons place and Mclaren should build him a car that he can win. I am sure Schumis tyres were not within optimal temperature and as he has always been a stunner( remember what he did to Alonso in Monaco ) that’s why he crashed into Jean Vergne . He was simply carrying too much speed as opposed to the guys on front .
I wish if Mika Hakkinen would have stayed for a few more years in F1, Shumacher wont be a 7 time champion !
British + Schumacher = bad combination.
Are you seriously still mad he owned all of your British drivers? Payback time?
I just hope Schumacher doesn’t have Alzheimer’s disease. He keeps forgetting a lot of simple things lately…
@ F1 God.
100% accurate. Well said.
Everyone saying Schumacher did not have time to brake need to understand that is Schumachers own fault. Clearly Schumacher missed his braking point. How anyone can blame the car for the drivers mistake is beyond me.
The brakes worked, once again it is Schumacher who has suffered brain fade. Mercedes would be wise to not renew his driving contract. For three running now the great Schumacher has been soundly beaten by his teammate.
What is really happening is Schumacher is missing those special Bridgestone tires that only he and his Ferrari used to get that were two full seconds a lap faster then the tires Bridgestone made for the other teams.
Take that away and Schumacher would never have won all those titles at Ferrari.
I know the facts are hard for Schumacher and his fans to accept, but Schumacher/Ferrari had a unfair tire advantage for many years. When Schumacher is put in equal equipment he is just an average driver as has been proven by his average teammate beating him for the third straight year.
Jeez..People need to stop with the Schumi bashing already.
Cold brake lock up. It was inevitable someone would on a circuit like that after several SC laps.
As for the potty break.. MS knew sid watkins better than probably the entire field. He doesn’t need to pay respects publicly. The toilet was a better call considering he’d be in the car for 2 hours. Noone would want to do a drive like that without a pitstop first.
With all the respect, Schuey might look great and has been a good driver, but he is starting to be a little bit senile.
@Matthias
You can’t be serious
He didn’t have enough time to break because he was a fool and didn’t break in time. That’s no-ones fault but his own… It was totally driver error. If it wasn’t, why would he apologise?
Schumi fans make me lol.
@Zomer
I completely agree with you.. They need to stop complaining about him.. Besides, it wasn’t Michael’s fault that he crashed into Jean.. He didn’t have enough time to break, and he was already locking his wheels..
And people seem to forgot that he hasn’t been flawless in his previous career, especially if he was driving in the mid-field, I even remember when he spun behind the safetycar in Turkey.
People need to stop complaining about Schumacher, his speeds has been pretty good this year, beating Rosberg 9 times in qualifying this year. He has made a couple of mistake and the car let him down on a few occasions, but the speed is there and crashes happen more often if you are in the mid-field.