Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher: Similar F1 Styles but Different Perceptions

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: May 6, 2014

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Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher both raced with a single-minded determination—even ruthlessness—that allowed them to become two of the greatest drivers in Formula One history...yet their legacies are very different.

Senna is nearly worshipped in many quarters. Schumacher, meanwhile, does not seem to be loved outside Germany—not even in Italy, where he returned the revered national-icon Ferrari to dominance in the early 2000s.

But why?

There are several reasons. First, Senna was killed in the middle of his career—his undiminished memory was frozen in time.



In contrast, everyone witnessed Schumacher's decline and his desperate attempts to slow it: parking his car in the middle of the track during qualifying at Monaco in 2006 and nearly planting Rubens Barrichello in the Hungaroring's pit wall in 2010. These incidents only exacerbated the reputation Schumacher had already built for himself earlier in his career.

Second, Senna was romanticised during his career, and that, along with his incredible talent, allowed him to get away with incidents that would not have been accepted from lesser drivers.

At the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix, Senna and Alain Prost collided, and the Brazilian was disqualified from the race, handing the title to Prost. The next year, at the same race, Senna drove into his French rival, taking both drivers out of the race and securing the world championship for the Brazilian.

Four years later in Australia, Schumacher took out Damon Hill, winning his first world championship when he escaped sanction for the manoeuvre. In 1997, at the European Grand Prix, Schumacher tried the same trick on Jacques Villeneuve. This time, though, the German ended up out of the race and disqualified from that year's championship.

Senna felt vindicated by his decision to eliminate Prost from the race in 1990, saying,  “In &r...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Formula 1

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