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View Full Version : Honor in Defeat - Good Read



vcs316
11th November 2008, 07:52
Not only in victory is greatness forged. Champions must also know how to lose. Michael Schumacher undid a thousand wrongs in Japan yesterday by accepting the cruellest of fates in a manner that would have done a Corinthian proud.

The smoke that billowed from his Ferrari on the 37th lap, his first engine failure in a race for six years, certainly cost him victory in the Japanese Grand Prix and, more significantly, all but stole from him the possibility of a valedictory eighth world championship. After inheriting the lead and ultimately his seventh win of the season, Fernando Alonso effectively sent Schumacher's title hopes back to Maranello in a hearse. The Spaniard requires only a point at the season's final race in Brazil next week to retain his crown.

Schumacher's detractors, so vehement in their abhorrence at Monaco just a few months ago when he unaccountably blocked the circuit to protect his advantage during qualifying, would have had immense difficulty squaring the Schumacher-as-baddie image with the valiant figure showering goodwill around the Suzuka paddock.

While others at Ferrari stood crestfallen, barely able to believe the hand fate had dealt them, Schumacher put an arm around every shoulder needing support. One admirer, who greeted him in tears as he returned received Schumacher's cap in consolation.

"For me, the drivers' championship is over," Schumacher said. "There is no way I want to go to my last race hoping that the same thing will happen to my rival. I want to fight for the championship, not hope for somebody's retirement. Maybe you could argue there is a very small last piece of hope but I don't want to hope that. That is not the way I want to finish. It is no one's fault, just circumstances. How boring life would be if it were always nice. To lose is part of life. I can live with it very well."

Schumacher's face betrayed his hopeless position as he made the long walk back to the Ferrari garage from turn 10. But his consideration was for his colleagues as much as for himself. He thrust that monumental chin before him, declining the offer of a lift in a pick-up truck to quietly gather his thoughts. Most of those to whom he was returning have stood at his side for 11 epic seasons. This was not the end envisaged.

How different the mood in 2000 and 2003 when, at this track, the Ferrari garage convulsed in celebration of championships won. Schumacher went first to the pit wall to commiserate with the Ferrari high command. He shook the hands of the men who had guided him to an unprecedented seven titles. Jean Todt, the key architect who brought this team together in 1996, and his first lieutenant, technical director Ross Brawn, understood the gesture. "That's the measure of the man. We were supposed to be comforting him. Instead he was comforting us," Todt said.

Schumacher moved on to the garage, receiving every embrace with grace and a smile. The mechanics were offering sympathy. He was simply giving thanks for a decade of unstinting service that produced bounty on a scale never seen in Formula One, six consecutive championships and five drivers' crowns. "We have won so much together," Schumacher said. "There is no reason to be disappointed. I just love everybody in the garage because I know they have tried their maximum. After Canada, nobody believed we could fight for the championship but we kept it open until more or less the last moment. I think we can be proud."

A win in Brazil would be fitting. It might not deliver the ultimate prize but it would allow the sport's greatest champion to take his leave in style. And, incidentally, to take into retirement 92 victories, the combined number achieved by Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna, numbers two and three in the list of all-time winners.

For 37 laps there looked to be only one victor. It was not Alonso. From the third lap, when Felipe Massa dutifully gave way to allow Schumacher into the lead, the best for which Alonso could hope was second and that was by no means a certainty. Alonso, who started fifth, took a huge risk diving to the inside of Jarno Trulli at the second corner.

The gamble paid off to leave him locked on Ralf Schumacher's tail for 13 compelling laps, the last of which proved crucial. Massa pitted and Alonso reined in Ralf. The way to Michael Schumacher was clear. At least second would ease the pain of a Schumacher win. Alonso immediately blazed the fastest lap, allowing him to come out of his own pit stop ahead of Massa.

The gap to Schumacher was a shade under six seconds, where it remained until providence served up the Agatha Christie conclusion. As the Ferrari slowed, Alonso bolted clear. Only misfortune of Hellenic proportions could deny him now. For the record the winning margin was 16.1 seconds to Massa.

neermsc
11th November 2008, 15:41
brilliant read!!!!!

Suzie
11th November 2008, 16:47
Good read - still makes me sad to think of that race though.