Monza and Schumi: call them, if you want, emotions

We had already had the opportunity to praise him after the splendid day in Montreal, with a podium perhaps lost due, probably, to the DRS. This time, we bother the great Lucio Battisti.

The elixir of eternal youth, although many self-styled businessmen try to market it, does not exist. The inexorable passage of time is probably one of the few certainties of our existence.

The Italian GP in Monza gave us another great race of the year signed by Michael Schumacher. Which, as time passes, just doesn't want to give in and has demonstrated, once again, that it can still be part of the new generation's Formula 1 with merit, despite those who 'pretend' to have only noticed it now, from the day of return.

Michael still feels Monza is his home track. On the other hand, with ten races between 96 and 2006 in Red (in 1999 he didn't race due to injury) of which 5 won, he couldn't be otherwise. The first in 1996 will remain memorable, the second in 1998 after an incredible duel with Mika Hakkinen but, above all, the third, that of 2000, with the crying in the press conference which revealed some 'human' traits of a Schumacher seen by all as cold and calculating.

In 2011, in 'his' Monza and after the super comeback in Spa, Michael repeated himself with a race (especially in the part on soft tyres) which brought him back to fighting for the positions that count with Lewis Hamilton. After a superb start (from eighth to third in a few corners, with a few dozen meters in second position over Alonso not in the frame), the cameras remained glued to Schumi's Mercedes and Lewis' Mclaren for twenty laps, between overtaking attempts, feints, counterfeints, closures, detachments to the limit.

The determined resistance put up against Lewis, one of the most, if not THE most aggressive driver currently in circulation, warmed hearts and gave nostalgic emotions in the stands of Monza. Michael, with Felipe Massa struggling after contact with Webber, was cheered and pushed as if he were still wearing Red. And, if we consider the Englishman's comeback and the final gap on Alonso, Ferrari can thank Schumi for having avoided a difficult situation for Fernando in the final stages of the race with the 'block' on Lewis.

The start, the initial 20 laps, the trajectories, the closures, the tenacity in regaining the position after the first overtaking suffered, highlighted what we rarely see on the track lately. That is to say the difference that a driver can still make compared to a mechanical vehicle. Schumi sweated seven, ten, twenty shirts to contain Hamilton. With decision, aggression, intelligence, without flaws. Those between him and Lewis, some simply call improprieties. Because historical memory prevents them from remembering that no pilot, or champion, is a saint, and it would be enough to surf the Internet and read up to review glimpses of the past and realize this.

But it is the feeling that Schumi gave to those on the track that warmed the public the most. And that is to make a big 'patch' for the flaws in his car. We all know that the current Mercedes is not worth Red Bull, it is not worth Ferrari and much less Mclaren. And in fact, on every lap, the arrival at the first chicane was a constant suspense while waiting for the braking point. Where Michael, despite having a very low rear wing, managed to brake even after Lewis, thus maintaining his position.

It goes without saying that this race, combined with Montreal and Spa, reinforces the collapse of Schumi's 'retirement' theses. The German is intact, we believe there are no longer any doubts about this. Obviously, the age is there, the freshness cannot biologically be that of (his) 25 years of him, otherwise we would be here discussing an alien. What is currently missing is always the 'good' car. This Mercedes lacks a good half a second per lap to reach the levels of Mclaren and Ferrari on some occasions.

But what we want to underline, this time, is something else. Namely Schumi's 'competitive hunger'. We often hear about drivers who save money, who don't make an impact, who seem to stroll around the track. Satisfied riders after a World Championship, or simply a good season. Michael, with the numbers he brings, in races like Sunday's races as if he were still chasing his first victory in F1. Event dating back now 19 springs ago (Spa 1992). Schumacher doesn't feel the sense of 'satiety' even after 20 years. This is the thing that is most shocking. The desire to compete with terrible kids, from a generation older than his, and the desire to try to beat them after having won 7 World Cups, when he could easily follow his 'congenerational' Hakkinen, Coulthard, Villeneuve and Irvine and have fun without thoughts (criticizing others, perhaps..)

Can the lure of money alone do this, as some say? Very difficult for us.

Alessandro Secchi
F1Grandprix.it