Schumi – Alonso

October 9, 2006 1:46 pm Dave Neary General

The cynic in me agrees with Damon Hill’s analysis that Schumacher will go into the Brazilian grand prix trying to figure out how he can manage to score 10 points without having Alonso score any. Here are two scenarios which have come to mind.

  • Massa the missile. Massa qualifies ahead of the Renaults, and (either into the first turn, or after trying to slow down Alonso for a few dozen laps, and finally having him try to overtake) Massa takes him out à la Schumacher 1994. Bye bye constructor’s championship, but hello driver’s title
  • FIA to the rescue. Alonso has previously had trouble with penalties (in Monza and Hungary) and Renault have had some equipment banned in the middle of the season this year (which coincided with Ferrari’s recovery). what are the odds of an Alonso disqualification either in qualifying or during the race?

Oh – and Calum, I’ll thank you not to mention the weekend’s international football.

7 Responses

  1. Niall Walsh Says:
    October 9th, 2006 at 11:30 pm

    What chance of Alonso doing a Schumi and just taking Shumi out himself? Of course he risks doing another type of Schumi and taking himself out! He could just try and let Fisichella do the dirty work for him (as you propose Massa could above) leaving Alonso to take out Massa if Massa is in any danger of winning with Alonso coming 8th or worse. If you want to be ultra-cynical look for another team/driver (with Ferrari connections) to get involved, give Hill or Villeneuve a drive and they might do it for Renault either. Given Schumi’s record of playing fair in the last race of a season, I wouldn’t put it past quite a few drivers to think “F* it, he deserves it” as they take him out. Live by the sword …

  2. Ronald S. Bultje Says:
    October 9th, 2006 at 11:50 pm

    You really sound like a pathetically bad loser here, Dave, sorry for having to be so honest. Probably just a cynic because Schumacher won the championship for the past many years and is currently considered the best driver ever?

    Be a sport, let them drive, and don’t take this preventive “I-told-you-so” approach as far as this.

  3. Dave Neary Says:
    October 10th, 2006 at 12:06 am

    Ronald: I’m not invested one way or the other, but you have to admit that Schumacher has in the past been pretty ruthless. I don’t think he’ll want to finish his career like that, and certainly nothing I can say could stop them from racing in a fortnight. I agree he’s the best driver of the last 15 years, no question, but this has been a pretty weird season, and another surprise in the last race is also on the cards.

    At least I didn’t suggest sabotage…

  4. Ronald S. Bultje Says:
    October 10th, 2006 at 3:56 am

    I agree with you that what he did at Suzuka 6-7 years ago was awful at best. I still think both Alonso and Schumacher deserve to drive for the best of it. Last week, Schumacher was lucky, this week Alonso was. Good for them. Let’s enjoy see who’s the best over the last races, and may the best of those masters become world champion!

  5. Zaheer Abbas Merali Says:
    October 10th, 2006 at 4:54 am

    I am looking forward to the race. In my opinion, Schumacher is definitely the best F1 driver in my life time and I have watched many of Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher’s races. This is probably the best finish to a Grand Prix season for a long time.

  6. Christian von Kietzell Says:
    October 11th, 2006 at 3:58 am

    I’d be happy if the surprise were that Kimi Räikkönen won the last race. To hell with both Schumacher and Alonso 😉

  7. Vincenzo Vaccarino Says:
    October 11th, 2006 at 4:16 am

    Well, it has to be said that Schumacher was also penalized in Hungary, not just Alonso… Also, if FIA was really behind Schumacher’s fortunes, they would have not penalized him in Monaco after the qualifications.

    On the other side, after talking a lot about first and second drivers, Renault gave team orders in China. Nothing bad about that, it is comprehensible, but team orders are existing since 1950, they were not a Todt/Schumacher innovation, and quite all the teams involved in the struggle for the championships used them in different ways, when needed…

    IMHO Schumacher had been the best of his era, like Senna was in the previous one. At that time, Senna was considered capable of doing everything to win, and the same is today for Schumacher. I think that in a few years, the same could become true also for Alonso: until the next race, he is having the same “master” as Schumacher (Briatore)… :-))