Maranello Magic

"He would be remembered more as a great champion had he apologised. People accept humanity. Humans are very forgiving and when someone shows genuine apology and regret we have that ability to forgive and forget. But we also have the ability to hold a grudge against someone we think is not being fair."

Those are the words of David Coulthard, speaking about what stands out for him concerning the career of Michael Schumacher.

For drivers who have come up against Schumacher's tactics on track, it is little wonder that they take such umbrage at some of his questionable tactics. They will roll off the references to Adelaide 1994, Jerez 1997 and Monaco 2006 time and time again.

Schumacher is, after all, the man who has done more to define exactly what is and isn't allowed on track than any other - Ayrton Senna included. Only in his era have we needed the governing body to lay down a 'one-move' rule.

But on the flip side of Schumacher's hard line tactics on track, which will always tarnish his reputation for many, is that off track he was actually one of the more generous and personable of men out there. And it has nothing to do with the millions he has given to charity over the years.

Sure, it may be impossible for a man in the spotlight, to the extent that he is, to ever show his real character, or to ever truly interact with those not within his inner circle over a Grand Prix weekend.

We all saw a glimpse of the human inside him at Monza in 2000 when he equalled Senna's tally of 41 wins and broke down in tears in the post-race press conference, but there are other times away from the public spotlight when he has come across as far from the arrogant superstar many make him out to be.

In fact, the few times I have met Schumacher alone he has been a world away from the cold-blooded driver who tried to put Mika Hakkinen off the track at close to 200mph at Spa-Francorchamps in 2000.

One of the highlights of my own career was my first one-on-one interview with Schumacher at Fiorano back in early 2001. For many years now, Schumacher has opted not to do personal interviews at Grands Prix. Life at an F1 race is busy enough without the extra hassle of trying to arrange and sit through lengthy meetings with individual journalists.

Instead, to speak alone with him, you have to put your name down on a waiting list (which can sometimes stretch to 18 months) and wait for that call from Schumacher's ultra-efficient personal assistant Sabine Kehm. You will then be told to come quickly to a test - maybe Mugello, Barcelona or Jerez - to have your audience. In my case, Autosport were told to report to Fiorano.

For someone like me, who has no hesitation in walking up to team principals or drivers in the paddock to ask about the latest goings on, the chance to interview Schumacher was a completely different story.

Speaking privately to the new generation of stars who have come (and some gone), including Juan Pablo Montoya, Kimi Raikkonen, Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso, was never a problem. They only came into F1 after I was already reporting on it and I'd even known a few of them from the junior categories.

It is easy to share jokes with them, discuss music, films, comedy and, as we've grown older together, family too.

Yet Schumacher is from the generation of drivers that were at the peak while I was still only an F1 fan. His debut Grand Prix at Spa in 1991 took place while I was busying myself for my first year at University. His maiden victory came before I had attended my first Grand Prix in the working capacity as a journalist.

So his career was already in full swing before mine had truly got going, and by the time I had got the call to head down to Fiorano, Schumacher was a megastar.

I remember the week before the interview, constantly thinking that I had every chance of blowing this one. There would be the nightmares of sitting down to speak to him, opening my mouth and asking what he thinks are dumb-ass questions. All I would get is one word responses, wasting this opportunity and seeing Schumacher disappear back to his testing duties with a quiet word in Sabine's ear: "Don't ask this one back again please."

How wrong I was. Despite a lengthy wait for his testing programme to feature a long-enough break for the interview to take place, and an amusing exchange between Schumacher and our photographer (where the snapper was offered some words of advice about the type of lighting he should have brought with him), we eventually sat down in Enzo Ferrari's old office and began talking.

And for the next 30 minutes Schumacher was the perfect host. He was honest, polite, charming, interested and, above all, human. He did not shy away from answering any questions, and tried to explain himself in full at every opportunity. My nightmare was not realised.

And when we had finished the formal interview, there was also no rush by him to move on from me and get back in his car. He wanted to know about me, my job, what I had done before.

It was only a few minutes out of his time, but it was the world away from the reaction you get from many of the other 'stars' in the paddock - who will be gone before the tape recorder is off (sometimes even before that, in the case of one of Schumacher's recent teammates).

And for someone who has had countless tape recorders thrust under his nose, been interviewed thousands of times, those few minutes where he acted like a normal human offered more insight into what Michael Schumacher, the man, was really like away from the television cameras than countless descriptions of him from the people he has worked most closely with. It is no wonder that even today one of the photographs of him and I chatting is proudly framed above my desk at home.

I have only been lucky enough to interview Schumacher once more since then, at Monza a few years ago, and our interaction is now mainly restricted to the media briefings that take place in Ferrari's motorhome. But it works for me.

For while Schumacher may come over as bland in the official FIA press conferences, especially those post-qualifying and post-race television unilaterals, in the confines of the red motorhome he is always polite, always open and always makes an effort to answer a question to the best of his ability.

You also always have to listen to exactly what he says because there is sometimes hidden meaning. At the Turkish Grand Prix, for example, Schumacher openly offered his opinion that he could get 'more time' to announce his future after Monza - as he contemplated delaying his retirement speech until after the season.

For the media as a whole, Schumacher's departure will be a loss. There is no way his replacement at Ferrari will provide anywhere near the intrigue or interest that Schumacher has managed, and if Fernando Alonso gets wrapped up in the protective arms of McLaren and is kept away from journalists then there could be a dearth of personality stories in a sport crying out for them.

And however much Schumacher's actions on track have caused outrage amongst fans and reporters, they have at least given us something to talk about - and kept the public very interested in what has been going on.

Do we really want every driver to be the perfect sportsman? Do we want a sport where there are no questionable actions? We need our villains just as much as our heroes. As Alfred Hitchcock once said: "The more successful the villain, the more successful the picture."

Even his rivals, who complain about Schumacher's hard line driving tactics, will also accept that he has probably done more to help keep safety in the spotlight than any other driver.

Without Schumacher's presence on the Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA), the body would have lost much of its impact in recent years - and requests to FIA race director Charlie Whiting carry more weight if a certain 'M. Schumacher' personally puts them forward.

With Alonso, and Schumacher's replacement Kimi Raikkonen, showing no interest in the GPDA, there could yet be a real impact on driver/governing body relations in the months to come.

As Coulthard admits: "Irrespective of the run-ins we have had, he is a hard worker and he does a lot for the GPDA. There are a lot of takers in the sport but he gives and takes."

The sport will move on from Schumacher, though. We will find our new heroes, we will find our new villains and there will be some genuine humans among them. Maybe we will get them next year, maybe in the next 10 years, but at some point we will have our replacement.

Ecclestone himself is under no illusions about that. "Formula One is bigger than any of us," he says. "When we lost Ayrton Senna everyone wondered what would happen to F1 but it got bigger, it moved on and the same will happen again.

"People like Ayrton and Michael have helped make this sport what it is. But, just as in golf or tennis, there are new guys coming with big ambitions who want to try to do what they did."

Things will be different without Schumacher. And the reality of what his departure means will probably not sink in for a while yet. We are, after all, still wrapped up in a fantastic title fight.

It hit home partly for me late on Sunday night at Monza though. After a Gale Force Seven whirlwind of a weekend that culminated in his retirement speech after the race, there had not been time to sit back and think about all that had happened.

Only once most of the work was done, as I went out for a walk behind the media centre and looked through the tinted glass down at the Ferrari crew packing away the motorhomes and truck for Schumacher's last race on European soil, did the enormity of what was happening finally hit home a little.

The paddock newspaper the Red Bulletin summed up the mood perfectly in its Sunday night edition after the Monza race. The front page was devoted entirely to a television screen grab of Schumacher's emotional retirement speech in the post-race press conference. And below it, his simple words: "It's been exceptional."

Yes it has, Michael. And thank you.

We want to hear from you!

Let us know what you would like to see from us in the future.

Take our survey

- The Autosport.com Team

Read and post comments