Are Ferrari & Schumi killing F1? - 7th July 19:52pm GMT

An article which the Times wrote today (Monday) about trying to give two views on what people think of Michael Schumacher and if Michael is damaging the sport by being so dominant.

HE’S KILLING THE SPORT SINGLE-HANDEDLY, ISN’T HE?

YES: Michael Schumacher has won 60 races and four World Championships since he moved to Ferrari at the beginning of 1996, which has made him more of a dead cert than Red Rum. The height of his dominance came in 2002, when he had the title wrapped up by mid-season, prompting Ross Brawn, the Ferrari technical director, to say that “we win races before we get to the track”. Hardly a great sell, is it?

NO: Success in Formula One is cyclical. McLaren dominated the Eighties, Williams the Nineties and Ferrari, it seems, this decade. No one complained when Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna dominated for McLaren, or Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill for Williams, so why the protestations now? Ferrari won virtually nothing for 20 years, so we shouldn’t begrudge them their share of the limelight.

IS HE A GENIUS, OR IS IT JUST THE CAR?

YES: Each driver is only as good as his car, and Schumacher is no different. But there’s little doubt that what he does in his Ferrari F2004 — and has done in his previous 13 Formula One cars — is a class apart. He’s quick in every given set of circumstances: qualifying, the race, wet, dry, and he has unrivalled tenacity. Remember his drive to second place at Barcelona in 1994 when his Benetton was stuck in fifth gear?

NO: Such are Schumacher’s manipulative skills that it’s impossible to judge his ultimate pace. None of his team-mates has had a fair crack of the whip, coming off second-best in seemingly trivial matters such as who gets the best hotel room to more serious matters like who gets new development parts first and who gets the spare car. Hardly the behaviour of a genius.

SURELY EVEN PERFECTION CAN GET BORING?

YES: Maria Sharapova or Serena Williams? The world of women’s tennis got the result it wanted — needed — on Saturday, and Formula One craves a similar upset. It needs a young pretender — not Coulthard or Barrichello, but a true unabashed young gun such as Jenson Button — to take the fight to Schumacher. The worst thing for Formula One would be if Schumacher retired without being beaten because gone, too, would be a rightful heir.

NO: No true golf fan begrudged Tiger Woods his successes of a few years ago, nor the true tennis fan the dominance of Pete Sampras. And the same goes for Formula One. We should rejoice in the clinical efficiency of the most professional team in Formula One history, and a driver who leads by example both on and off the track.

COULD HE DO WITH A CHARISMA INJECTION?

YES: The stereotypical racing driver owns a fleet of fast cars and has a woman in every port (George Best should have been a racing driver). So Schumacher is something of a let-down when he says that his biggest release away from the racetrack is to go horse riding.

NO: “One of the most impressive things about Michael,” Damon Hill said, “is his longevity.” And what enables Schumacher to remain at the top is the way he manages his life and the people around him. For him, that means doing as little press work as possible during a grand-prix weekend and keeping focused on the job in hand. To some, that’s boring, to others that’s the mark of a complete professional.

CAN THE OTHER TEAMS DO MORE?

YES: All the Formula One teams play by the same set of rules, so it’s up to Ferrari’s rivals to close the gap. Formula One is a thoroughbred sport and any handicapping system would kill its purity, so Ferrari cannot be punished for their performance advantage.

NO: How can the others compete against a team that has so many unfair advantages? Ferrari get more television money than any other team and they raise more sponsorship on the back of their legendary name, resulting in a total spend of $500 million per year. Minardi’s budget of $45 million wouldn’t keep the Scuderia in pasta.

IT CAN’T BE A SPORT IF THERE’S NO OVERTAKING . . .

YES: In a world where there are nil-all draws in football and draws after five days of Test cricket, no Formula One race — where cars are dicing at 200mph — cannot be considered sport. With or without overtaking.

NO: Some races are undoubtedly for the connoisseur, but what kills Formula One’s credibility is knowing the outcome of a race before it starts. Such has been the reliability of the Ferrari F2004 that, when Schumacher starts on pole, as he has five times this year, the outcome of the grand prix is a foregone conclusion and the race a high-speed procession.

WILL THE LOW-TECH RULE CHANGES AFFECT HIM?

YES: The change to smaller engines and a ban on all driver aids — for either 2006 or 2008 — will give rival teams a chance to close the gap because it will throw in an element of the unknown. A look through the history books shows that Ferrari are traditionally slow to maximise any given set of rules.

NO: Ferrari are maximising their potential under the present, more complex regulations, so why not under any low-tech rules? With fewer areas in which to spend their zillions of dollars, it will be even easier for them to maximise the potential from each.

SHOULD TEAM ORDERS BE BANNED?

YES: Ferrari’s dominance is so clear-cut that they owe it to the sport to let their drivers race. McLaren let Senna and Prost rip each other apart in 1988 and 1989, Williams the same with Mansell and Piquet. So why not Ferrari? You know you’re good enough, Michael.

NO: As the great Enzo Ferrari once said, “my cars win races, my drivers lose them”. His point is that the interests of the team — not the drivers — are foremost in every decision, so it is understandable that the Scuderia is defending its collective interests now.

SHOULD HE MOVE TO ANOTHER TEAM?

YES: Look at Valentino Rossi in MotoGP: he switched from Honda to Yamaha this season with the result that there are now two manufacturers winning races. Schumacher has dragged Ferrari to the front, now it’s time for him to do the same with another team.

NO: Schumacher is 35 years old and has a maximum of two years left in Formula One. Force him to move now and he’ll quit. He made the “Schumeria” what it is, poaching the technical staff from other teams, adding Vodafone to the team’s sponsorship portfolio, and he is the leader to whom the mechanics look up. Let it be.