Marko Hanželic
Racer vs. racer, bike by bike - formula 1 lives off this kind of excitement. This season is a close duel between Lewis Hamilton in Max Verstappn electrified lately all too pragmatic competition. They were more than two decades ago Michael Schumacher in Mika Hakkinen those who have marked Formula 1 forever with their exciting matches.
In the 1998 and 1999 seasons, he was at the front end Caged and thus became a two - time world champion with McLaren-Mercedes. Then Schumacher’s winning streak began with Ferrari, which ended only in 2004 with the fifth consecutive title. His then team boss Jean Todt he experienced the rivalry between a German and a Finn up close.
"I think they had a pretty friendly relationship," said the 75-year-old in an interview with a French television station Canal +. "Mika Häkkinen is someone I meet regularly and appreciate because he is an extremely honest and loyal man."
"He stayed with both feet on the ground, which is also very important, because success often drives you crazy." says the former team boss Ferrari and the current President of the FIE. “Mike’s success didn’t drive him crazy, nor did Michael. These are qualities that I find particularly important. That's why they're both great champions. "
Asked if he thinks he is Schumacher the best driver in the history of Formula 1, has Dead clear answer: "No. I've never considered him the best driver in history, because I think that's very difficult to say. "
“Formula 1 recently celebrated its 70th anniversary. I think that in different periods one driver is better than the other. Remember Fangia, he was the best driver of his time. Michael was the best driver of his time. Today we can say that Hamilton is the best driver of its time, ” he said Dead.
“Jim Clark was also the best driver of his time. You can often say that for a period of ten years it serves at least one exceptional driver. You can then try to quantify this with titles, but things are very different here as well. In Fangi's time, there were only eight big awards a year, and this year there are twenty-two, ” he adds President of the FIE.
“Then you could change the car during the race, you could take the car of your teammate. The scoring system was different. Things are different, so I don't think you can compare them, but if we look at it more broadly, the situation is similar in every sport. ”
