Formula for carnage
Michael Schumacher is on the war-path, apparently issuing threats again. With his past history, who can regard his statement that 'Ferrari are "charged up" and intent on helping him regain the Formula One title' as reported by the BBC as much more than a veiled threat of a "no holds barred" assault?
I loathe the man. The guy makes my skin crawl. He's utterly ruthless. On track he has little or no regard for anything but his own success (an assertion borne out by the simple fact that even his own younger brother, Ralf, is not immune to bare-knuckle tactics if he happens cross his senior's path). Call me a cynic if you like (you'd be right, after all), but I find his position on race safety to be utterly hollow. The man has extraordinary driving precision, and always has had, and on that basis alone there is no-one in the field to touch him. But on that basis it is also hard to see any of his major controversies as accidents, either. He's just too good a driver to make the sort of mistakes he claims at such miraculously convenient times over the years.
In my view Schumacher is no sportsman. He's a menace. He's an arrogant shit, and there isn't an ounce of honour or grace within him. He's a multi-millionaire arrogant shit, certainly, but success does not excuse behaviour. All I can hope is that he gets his come-uppance, and soon. Whilst I would never wish a person permanent harm, I would dearly love to see him spin off-track, and take his career permanently with him. It would be no more than he deserves. I saw promise in Juan Pablo Montoya in his early days, when he showed determination and focus sufficent to challenge Shumacher even in his very first race, and hints of untapped ability, but sadly his potential was never consistently realised. And of course, if Montoya had had the ruthlessness to deal in the same shennanigans as Schumacher, it would have just been reducing the sport as a whole to that level, so perhaps it's just as well he never did.
