Just_a_fan wrote: ↑15 Jul 2019, 09:14
GPR -A wrote: ↑15 Jul 2019, 07:08
Just_a_fan wrote: ↑15 Jul 2019, 00:57
One had contractually compliant team mates too...
Is "Wingman" the right word? This is james here....
Nicely out of context.
Schumacher had contractual number one status. His team mates were contractually required to get out of the way.
Compare Austria 2002 with Hungary 2017.
Why not compare Austria 2002 to Germany and Russia 2018? Can you compare US GP 2002 to anything between Lewis and his team mate?
Bottas was openly used as a road block in Spain and Malaysia 2017 and in Hungary and Italy 2018. How many incidents you can count of Schumacher's team mates having been used as a road block to let Michael win?
Till date, no one has seen either Michael's or Barrichello's contracts. People have made this "Contractually Obligated" thing because of the way a weaker team mate was handled by Ferrari to focus on their stronger driver. A stronger driver will emerge out of the shadow of the No. 1 driver, like Leclerc has been doing, despite Binnotto having clearly said, Vettel is their priority. People like Irvines and Barrichellos were just poor drivers who couldn't make use of the equipment they had, just like Bottas.
I never thought there was anything wrong in having a No. 1 and No. 2 drivers as there is only one title of WDC. Whether Ferrari favoring Michael all those years or Mercedes having done that with Bottas, is actually in the best interest of the team. Team doesn't get extra prize money for letting their two drivers race and it's NOT on a team to put up a show between team mates. Only some people have this fascination to use the "Contractual" thingy to pull down Michael's achievement, like you do time and again. None of that crap of No.2 OR "Wingman" thing would lower the stature of either Schumacher or Lewis.