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Ferrari’s most legendary Formula 1 driver, Michael Schumacher, previously showed his class as a world champion by explaining why those who don the famous red overalls of the Scuderia should never blame the team for their shortcomings.
Michael Schumacher completely revitalised Ferrari following his arrival in Maranello ahead of the 1996 F1 season, turning their misfortunes around into a team that dominated the sport at the turn of the new millennium.
What ensued was one of the most formidable driver/team pairings that the sport has ever seen, with Schumacher going on to claim one of F1’s most impressive records of securing five back-to-back drivers’ titles.
Ferrari have sparingly tasted success since, with Kimi Raikkonen’s title feat in 2007 serving as the only drivers’ championship that the Tifosi have celebrated in between the present day and Schumacher’s tenure.
Do you think another driver will ever be able to match Schumacher’s feat?
Michael Schumacher explained why Ferrari drivers shouldn’t ‘complain’ about the team in a 2013 interview
During a sit-down interview with the BBC in the year following his final retirement from Formula 1, the Ferrari legend was asked about his thoughts on Fernando Alonso’s vocal criticism of the Scuderia as Sebastian Vettel began to run away with the lead of the championship.
The words came ahead of the 2013 Italian Grand Prix, at a point in time when Alonso trailed his German rival by 46 points in the F1 standings.
Vettel would go on to win the title with a 155-point advantage over the Spaniard.
Leading up to the Ferrari’s home race, Alonso publicly blasted his engineers for not providing him with the tools that could help him win his third F1 title.
Asked whether he agreed with the comments that were coming from Alonso, Schumacher replied, “If you’re part of the team, then you’re partly responsible for what you have.
“I don’t think in my last three years I ever complained against the team because those guys work their nuts off to make the best possible car.
“It does take time, and sometimes it takes a bit longer, and sometimes it doesn’t happen at all, but still, you belong to that family. You’ve got to do it together, so you win, and you lose together.”
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Michael Schumacher also said that he felt ‘guilty’ when he broke Juan Manuel Fangio’s F1 title record
When Schumacher secured his penultimate Formula 1 world championship with Ferrari in 2003, he moved into uncharted territory by becoming the first driver to hold six drivers’ titles to his name.
He usurped Juan Manuel Fangio’s nearly 50-year-old record of five championships, and the F1 legend revealed that he felt ‘guilty’ during his interview with Lee McKenzie.
Asked how it felt to see Vettel smashing some of the records that he had set during his illustrious active driving career, Schumacher replied, “Honestly, I didn’t have statistics in my mind when I was racing.
“It was always a consequence. It was a nice consequence, and I enjoyed that afterwards, but it wasn’t the reason I was racing. I would be pretty happy for Sebastian to achieve them.”
It was a sentiment that Schumacher had previously echoed about Vettel, stating after the former Red Bull driver’s third title feat that he could very well go on and achieve seven of them.
Schumacher then added, “It was different, obviously, with Fangio and myself because you cannot compare his five titles to the seven that I have achieved.
“I feel a bit guilty to have broken those kinds of records because I don’t think that I broke them, I just set my own benchmark, and they did their benchmarks.”
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