Tribute to Michael Schumacher
There have been sporting heroes
and plenty of them.....Some supremely successful, some not to the same
extent......from Shane Warne to Alessandro del Piero, from Roger Federer to
Ernie Els, from Kobe Bryant to Lance Armstrong (well, at least in those
glorious days of innocence)....but there has never been one who has captivated
my imagination as much as Michael Schumacher.
In those early days of the
nineties, where cable TV introduced me to the joys of unfettered sports viewing (up until then restricted to
Indian cricket, the world cup football and the latter rounds of Wimbledon) , I
still remember the first TV ads of Formula 1 on Star Sports –
“Watch Schumacher and Hill....go
Wheel to Wheel....in a nail biting mayhem”
....and then on a fateful Sunday
afternoon, I found myself staring at the starting grid of the Hungarian GP.
Michael retired from the race after an engine blow-up, while Damon Hill led
from start to finish but a connection had been made. I still do not know what
it was in that first race that made me a lifelong Schumi faithful....perhaps
the fact that he was reigning world champion, or perhaps that the sky blue Benetton
car looked so much cooler than the old Williams.....or maybe even to an
untrained eye, there was something about the Schumi style. The deal was sealed
in 2 exceedingly memorable races later in the season - at Spa (Belgium) , where he won after
starting from 16th position on the grid and at Nurburgring (in
probably the best individual drive I’ve witnessed in nearly 2 decades of F1
viewing) in a crazy wet-dry race, Schumi came out of nowhere to pass leader
Jean Alesi, then fell behind after his routine pit stop, covered the entire
time gap in 15 odd laps and passed the Frenchman again in the final few laps to
seal his victory.
Michael Schumacher’s place my
personal hall of fame was sealed......all that remained was for him to cement
his name as the greatest in the sport. That for a few years looked exceedingly
unlikely in those initial years after the famous move to Ferrari....the
multitudes of technical glitches in the first year (still that huge victory in
the downpour in Barcelona reaffirmed his genius), the infamous clash with
Villenueve , the near miss to Hakkinen and finally the accident at Silverstone
which prematurely cut his season short. Leading into the next season, it was
almost like now or never for Schumi and boy did he deliver....and thereafter
swept all and sundry in a performance of such exhalted dominance by himself and
his team, which I am certain will never be matched – so much so , that the
rules of the sport had to be drastically altered to bring Michael and Ferrari
back into the pack.
Those Sunday evenings in the
college TV room were unforgettable....seats were booked in advance almost as if
this was India in a major one day international cricket final....there were 2
distinct groups...the ardent Schumi lovers and the Schumi haters....the latter
did not seem to mind who won as long as it wasn’t Michael. From Montoya to
Coulthard to Kimi to little brother Ralph , they would root for anyone who
could be perceived as denying him that inimitable leap on the top of the
podium. That single fact alone bears testimony to his greatness.
From what I see and hear
today....there are ardent Alonso, Vettel and Hamilton fans...probably some Kimi
and Button ones as well.....but back in those heady days of the first part of
the noughties.....there were only 2 outcomes to a race...either Schumi won or
he didn’t (people, by the beginning of the next race, would forget who’d won
the previous one). For us, his faithful
followers, the tone for the coming fortnight was set by his performance on
raceday. The standard line on those rare bleak Sunday evenings, over the 9-30
cup of coffee at midway would be “Haar gaye.....ab agle do hafte kharaab
niklenge.” It was never “Schumi haar gaya”...always “hum haar gaye”
7 titles (5 in a row with Ferrari),
91 race wins , 60 odd poles and the almost certainly never to be eclipsed
record of 13 wins in a year (out of 18 races) – aye Schumi , had done me
justice for the faithful support during those shaky initial Ferrari years. Yet,
for all those years of unbridled joy, Schumi has done, at least me, and surely
a host of other supporters a grave injustice. He spoilt the sport for me to the
extent that after his inital retirement – there was almost unease at trying to
sit through a race that didn’t have the German on the grid. There were great
moments in the sport, but the adrenaline never shot up the way it did in the
Schumi years – and almost certainly will never do so again. Vettel is young and
may yet get to 7 or more, but he will never consistently blow the field away
season after season like the senior German. What’s more , there will scarcely
be another singular personality who monopolized the frenzy of all and sundry in
a single sport. Roger Federer has a Nadal , Michael Jordan has a Magic, Messi
has a Ronaldo....but Schumi at his scintillating best , had only himself for
comparison, the rest very too busy trying to unlap themselves.
I winced when Michael announced a
return to the sport....perhaps a premonition to what lay ahead – yet faith in
his genius and the joy of the caged fan appeased all other anxiety....maybe not
a championship but surely race wins would come, maybe even that magic 100
number might be achieved. With great
anticipation I tuned in yet again for his return season. Alas! My hopes were
misplaced. In a relatively underperforming machine, Michael struggled to keep
up with the pack. The biggest disappointment was his being consistently 2nd
best to teammate Nico Rosberg. Here was the greatest of them all, fighting for
mid-table positions against drivers he would have lapped twice in one race in
his heyday. Perhaps age had caught up and the reflexes did not allow him to
execute what his mind thought was possible- a fair explanation for the myriad
of pile ups in his last 2 seasons.
Yet now that he has fittingly
called it a day, these final seasons will soon seem like a minor blimp compared
to the days of his glory. Michael Jordan’s return with the Washington Wizards does
not lower his standing in baseball. In a similar vein, Michael Schumacher’s
legacy is set in adamant, at the very top of the sport. He will be remembered
for that bicycle ride in Spa before his Jordan debut, for the maverick early seasons with Benetton
and of course for the all consuming domination of his Ferrari- a domination
that which brooks little comparison , in this sport or another.
Farewell Michael....thanks for the
years of unfettered joy.
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