h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've not read all the other conversations, because there are hundreds of them, so I don't know if someone has already mentioned this, but if so, it's worth mentioning again!

Michael Schumacher is most definitely one of the greatest sportsmen of our time. He has completely dominated his sport for the past few years, so much so that people have stopped watching Formula One because they knew before the event who would win. Not only is he the best driver in the sport at the moment, he has also managed to completely mould the team (Ferrari) around him so he can dictate who he is working with, to give him the best chance of winning. We can't say who was the greatest F1 driver ever, because you can't compare drivers of different eras due to all the changes in the sport, but he has to be the best all-round man in Formula One at the moment, and probably across all sports.

Hmm, not really sure if you can even call him the greatest driver today...
Ok, he is definitely very good at his job, but how good would he be if put in an identical car to any of half a dozen other formula one drivers?
All last season actually proved was that he was better than Reubens Barricello (but not head and shoulders better). This year he's already made a few almost elementary mistakes... he hasn't exactly proven himself invincible in the championship.

Maybe one should say the Ferrari team as a whole is one of the world's best sporting teams?

The reason Schumacher is in the best team in the world is that he is the best driver in the world. The reason Rubens is there is that he is very close to being.

However great Schumacher is, remember that he has had limited competition. One of his championships was won by knocking Hill off in the last race. Since Villneuve has got a lousy car, Hill and Hakkinan have retired, nobody has yet proved much of a challenge.

Remember that Prost and Senna both won huge amounts of races & championships in the 80s/90s and they has to deal with each other and Piquet and Mansell.

Fangio had Moss to contend with, surly the true messure of the champion is not how much better than the oppostition he is, it is how good the opposition is.

Let's not forget though, his first championship was won with Benetton - and where are they now without him? I don't buy the argument that he would be beaten in a championship if his car was on the same level as everyone else's - he might not win by as much as last year, but he'd still win. He is the best current driver, of that there's no doubt.

Where are Benetton without him?...

Last Sunday they were about 4 seconds behind him in the last race (Different name - same team)... and he himself admitted that had it not been for their new car he wouldn't have won.

Okay, sorry... what I meant to say was "Where have they been between now and then without him?"

I sort of realised that... just being pedantic

I'd still like to see what would happen if they gave someone like Montoya (or even Alonso) a brand new Ferrari to play with...

Schummacher senior is a great driver... but I'm still not convinced he's 'The Best'.

Like I said, it's not just that (I think) he's the best driver in F1 at the moment, it's also that he can 'play the game' - making sure he has the best possible people around him and making the whole team, including the other driver, work to make Michael world champion. I don't think any other driver (or anyone in any other sport) in history has been as good at that as Michael!

Giacomo Agostini (forgive spelling) who is the most successful motobike rider ever had many years unbroken dominance when he made sure he was the best rider on the best bike (MV Agusta). The match of Italian on Italian bike meant that Count Agusta had Italian fan loyalty in the bag.