I'm not agreeing nor disagreeing with anyone on here about the team orders situation, but did Coulthard not slow down and let Hakkenen past in Australia when team orders were banned, or was it that move that banned team orders in the first place?
MINI F56 Cooper in Deep Blue with black roof and caps.
I google'd it as I vaguely remembered the incident and it went against what I've always believed (heard) about Mclaren not having team orders
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHd8n1D4wkM
Mika was an awesome driver, in a more (consistently) competitive car he would have been held in the same regard as Schumacher IMO.
Last edited by The Dogfather; 17th July 2011 at 07:33 PM.
In the same way, I think had David Coulthard not had Hakkinen as a team mate, we'd of had another British world champion?
MINI F56 Cooper in Deep Blue with black roof and caps.
Comparing Mika to Schumacher - in Michael's first career, he could really transcend a weaker car; this is to me what marked him out as one of the greats - the gap to his team-mate was always higher in an inferior car. When the car was better (i.e. 2001-2004 Ferrari's), he didn't have as much of a gap, and didn't look as impressive.
This is the one area he was much better than any of his contemporaries IMO - he could really out-drive a weaker car
Feet were made to fit car pedals. If we were meant to walk, we'd have pogo sticks for legs
The key to it was to be able to out-drive the car, but to do it without making errors. Hamilton has the same ability but makes more mistakes in the process. Now, you could argue that with unlimited testing Schmacher knew the car better so knew exactly where the limits were and what was going to happen, either way it's impressive.
Mika stuck with McLaren through the lean times and was rewarded with a championship as he took a punt that at some point they'd come good. He was good enough to be a multiple world champion. Had the car been there then arguably Coultard could have won it as well, he was always there or thereabouts but always seemed to get car trouble.