I could not be happier!

Michael not only wins the Driver's Championship for this year and not only is it his 5th, but it ties him for the five championship win record set 45 years ago my W-M Fangio.

Two more things:

1- I can't believe Rubens' luck. Him and his car have just been hot and cold this year. Rubens B. is a great driver as we have seen several times this year, but sitting there on false grip this morning up on the jacks, I just felt so bad for him.

2- For those who jeered Ferrari when Rubens pulled over and let Michael win several races ago, well look who has the championship! Team rules are team rules and there is NOTHING in the rulebook that says a team does not have the right to implement this type of strategy. So for all the naysayers. Let me just say I'm sitting back enjoying a cold beer, laughing. Michael won, the sport is strong and the season is not over yet and there will be a lot of great racing for the rest of the season!

 

Forza Ferrari!!! Forza Michael!!! Forza Rubens!!!
I'm a happy man too!!!

 

Like it or loath it - having a distinct #1 driver approach to racing gets the job done!

Congratluations Michael & Ferrari!

I think Kimi learnt an important lesson too - give Michael an inch and he'll take a mile

Tif (pretty pleased!)

 

As I have said several times Schumacher fan or not you have to recognize this man and this team as perhaps the single most effective race-winning unit perhaps in history. To succeed so convincingly at this level of motorsport given the restrictive nature of the rules and the intense level of competition is truly remarkable.

Even though it equals the mark set by Juan Manual Fangio it is hard to really compare the two as the sport has changed in so very many ways. I think perhaps the greatest achievement for Fangio was that he won 5 championships from 1950-1958 (he only drove in 4 races in '58) in about 4 different makes of cars, and he did it when the average life expectancy of any racing driver was depressingly short. Surviving long enough to win his 24 GP's was an accomplishment in itself. And remember there were only about 8 races a year then and they all drove sports cars or touring cars as well just to make a decent living.

This is not so say either man is better or worse, just different. But the achievement has been equalled after 45 years and I am confident Schumacher will not leave the sport until he has at least one maore.

 

One other consideration which makes comparison difficult is the average competition each faced. In raw numbers neither Prost nor Senna has achieved Schumacher's level, but each had the other as competition. This is in no way intended to take anything away from Michael's accomplishment (Why would I do that? I'm a Schumi and Ferrari fan.), merely to reinforce the idea that comparisons across eras are fraught with complications.

And to get an opportunity to use the word "fraught" legitimately!

 

Very good point. In the early years of his career at Ferrari Michael had competition from Williams, namely Damon Hill and Villeneuve. Then a couple of years of Hakkinen and McLaren ensued. Once he was able to mold the team around himself, by 1999-2000 it did not matter any more. And true there was nobody of his stature like during the Prost v. Senna days. Schumacher's greatest achievement I feel has been his ability to assemble, motivate and achieve with the group around him who come and stay at The Scuderia for a long time. The core group of Todt, Brawn, Byrne, Martinelli and so on are around for the duration, unlike the aerodynamicists and engineers of other teams who chase the bucks and have to start over every so often.