³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

The good thing here is that Schumacher has been involved in a few classics himself.
And at least here he picked 2/5 where the focus is really on the other drivers.
All in all far more agreeable than the last episode.

Thanks Schumi, some epic choices, although again none from outside of his own era but definitely a couple of classics there and bravo, not all won by the driver.

Excellent. I am reall glad you decided to take on this feature and I am super impressed you have got the drivers to take part too. I am looking forward to watching the highlights shows on the red button.

Great to see Spain 91 being shown in full, thats a real classic. I dont understand why there arent small hl for the other races though?

@Dennis

Click the link for the full highlights of Spain 91 and the short highlights for the other races are linked there. Don't know if this means they are on Red Button also...

Just goes to show what an anoying ike Vettle is, my choice are ME ...ermm Me .... some more Me... and one of Me ... and to top it all off ... ME!!!

sorry what vas the question?

Shuey has made good choices.

My personal Favourite was Jerez 1986
Mansell / Senna closest F1 finish in history i think it still stands? Man that was racing!

On the upside: Well done Michael for picking races that you didnt win.
On the downside: I'll always remember the first Schumacher world title (won with the infamous incident with Damon Hill) with disappointment that such a gifted racing driver could not lose with good grace.

Perhaps Vettel thought he was being asked to choose his five best ever grands prix? Surely different drivers will understand the question differently. i.e. What are YOUR top five grands prix could be understood as either
1. For YOU, what do YOU think are the five best ever grands prix?
2. The top five grands prix that you have participated in - your as possessive.

Both drivers have filled all of their top 5s with races from their respective eras, so perhaps they have merely focused on their careers - with people more disposed to Schumacher's choices as he participated for a lot longer and caught the tail end of the Prost-Senna-Mansell-Piquet era.

I understand that a lot of people feel Vettel is an ignorant, arrogant young German (ala Schumacher once was?) - but could it be the case that he simply answered a different question to what we here feel is being asked?

On the other hand ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Sport might have made plain that each driver was able to choose races from past eras.. I feel 'all-time' is ambiguous - you could it interpret it as 'in your whole career' or 'every F1 race'

Clearly, when Lewis and Jenson's choices are presented (who have the benefit of English as mother tongue [and DiResta!]) they might interpret the question differently and pick races won by Moss, Fangio, Peterson, who knows!

I don't care too much for either Schumacher or Vettel but it's fair to give them benefit of the doubt, right?

winners dont lose with good grace, thats why they are winners!

9. At 09:37am on 5th Apr 2011, VAMOS wrote:
winners dont lose with good grace, thats why they are winners!

__________________________________________________________________

A lazy and grossly overused platitude.
Great Champions from many different sports have both won and lost with good grace. Behaving like a spoilt child does not make a "Great" champion.

In all fairness, Schumacher missed 3 races in 1994 due to disqualifications. The SPA one highly debatable, in my view. Every time he was on track, there was little doubt as to who was head and shoulders above everyone, Hill included. Just to say that in normal circumstances the 1994 Championship would have been well and truly sealed before race 16, in Australia. On the other hand, we would have not witnessed the dark side of a champion.

Regarding Schumacher only choosing races from the era in which he drove. I think the reason behind this is simply, he was not a formula one fan before he started racing. Correct me if I am wrong but from everything I have ever read about the young Schumacher; he did not follow the sport so it is therefore very hard to pick races that you did not see originally. Waching tapes of old grand prix cannot beat the feeling of seeing it live when it happens. Some good choices from Michael. It's telling he did not pick anything from 2010.... :). Please God let 2011 & 2012 be better seasons for the champion.

Yes he didn't mention any from 2010... He also didn't mention any after 2000!!

I really like his selection.

@OS You're right, I would like to find out whether someone botched the question phrasing for Vettel - I guess it's very important in Formula 1 to be aware of the fact for a lot of them English isn't their first language and they are more likely to interpret a question a several different ways. Vettel's was so crazily 'ME' biased...

It's refreshing to see such a balanced view that Schumi's taken for the selection of races. Maybe some mind games showing up again too? - the fact that he's really is acknowledging Mika as his most challenging adversary? (Where are the Alonso races...) And gotta love the Brawn/Schumi team :)

I can see why he didn't mention his amazing 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix drive - incredible driving, but who would want to remember such a sudden explosion of bad luck?

I think there's a definite nod to Hakkinen being a great, great driver in Michael's choices. If Mika hadn't retired 'early' I would suspect Michael would not have won as many titles as he did and McLaren would not have had such a lean period in the early 2000s!
Great choices of races though, think I might try and find extended highlights of the lot of them!

Thank you Andrew for getting Classic Grand Prix on Freeview. This has made me an I am sure other Formula One fan who use Freeview very happy.

Please Andrew can you make sure that all future episodes of Classic Grand Prix are made available to us Freeview viewers. We don't mind what time they are shown just as long as they are shown on Freeview.

I can't wait I have already set up Classic Grand Prix to recored tonight at 22:15.

I will look fowared to watching Classic Grand Prix when I get home from work tommorow afternoon.

Once again thank you Andrew for getting Classic Grand Prix on to Freeview. Very happy :-) Nice on Andrew.

Well he was going to join Mercedes Sports Car Racing before Jordan had one of their drivers go to jail and asked Schumacher to step in.
Very happy that happened of course.

Magnificent stuff, thanks Andrew.

Andrew

You got a lot of stick in the last blog. This time you have pulled it back. Not only have you got the highlights onto Freeview for the majority to watch on a big telly in the comfort of our living rooms, but you've also chosen one of F1's biggest names who has actually understood the whole point of the feature.

Great choices from Schumacher, and you could have easily added another 10 races which he was involved in which were eventful, even if he didn't too too well himself.

What i think this highlights is that everyone bangs on about the Schumacher era being boring, and i agree, from 2001 onwards it was a terrible for a few years, however, as his choices show, Schumacher's best era was in the 1990's up to 2000. This is the period i remember where a lot of the races were eventful, controversial and spectacular whether for good or bad reasons, and Schumacher helped to create that element of Drama which is easy to forget in the dull seasons that followed 2000.

Like him or loathe him, he has picked some good races regardless of is own performance in some of them. Vettle, take note.

'Clearly, when Lewis and Jenson's choices are presented (who have the benefit of English as mother tongue [and DiResta!]) they might interpret the question differently and pick races won by Moss, Fangio, Peterson, who knows!'

But why would they? Even if it is a driver's favourite races that they have watched, how would any of them choose Moss, Fangio or Peterson when they all raced (and one of them died) before every current driver on the grid (barring Schumacher and Barrichello) was even born? The format is not conducive to selections from the 50s, 60s or 70s because most of the drivers on the grid are in their mid-20s, which means that they'll more than likely choose races from the mid-90s and the 2000s.

Hello Andrew hello everyone. An excellent selection by Michael. He had a real hard battle with Mika at Suzuka that weekend through qualifying and the race. In qualifying both drivers were right on the limit trying to get pole position. The emotions he showed when he crossed the line showed how much he was relived to clinch his third World title. The 1991 Spanish Grand prix between Ayrton senna and Nigel Mansell. The start and finish line straight battle is everlasting image of Formula one.

Yasin, Mercedes paid Jordan to give Schumacher the drive, he was already on the Mercedes young driver programme and had been for a couple of years at that stage.

My personal favorite Schumacher race was the 1994 Spanish GP whefre he finished second despite racing for most of the race stuck in 5th gear. It was a great example of his racing talent and showed just how drivable the Ford Cosworth V8 engine was. Not my favorite driver and someone who amongst GP fans is a bit like Marmite but despite his later indescresions he was always a great driver.

Top marks Schumi for picking races that were goo rather than just ones that you did well in!

As several have already mentioned, great pick from Michael's earlier career. Someone has also mentioned that he showed little interest in F1 before he actually participated so that may be a reason for not picking any 60s, 70s, 80s classics.

With this in mind, be aware that Sebastian is just a young whippersnapper (!) and probably has little to recall frmo before 2000. I'd also suggest that he did not interpret the nature of the question either; my take on his off-track nature is that he is most certainly not a me-me-me character.

Look forward to the selection of other drivers!

Great choices from a great sportsman

Dodgy Geezer is right Schumacher raced for the Mercedes backed Sauber team (in sport cars not F1) along with Heinz Harald Frentzen and Karl Wendlinger, strangly he never shone as bright in sportscars! He also burned out the clutch at Spa on his debut race (pehaps a hang from racing rolling starts in sportscars for the previous few years) Merc paid $150,000 for his first race at Jordan.

Well done Michael.

I too am impressed with the humility of Schuey's selection. I had feared when I read of this year's changes to the Classic G.P. feature, and that of the choices from Vettel a couple of weeks ago, that this would be rather boring.

I hope that the other drivers you have selected will also show the same level of non-self intrest when they are featured.

I'm looking forward to seeing what are Barrichello's favorites, he has almost always struck me as a very modest man.

see i knew andrew revamped classic f1 was a good idea as it was just vettel choices that were bad as he was only in since 07 and but the 5 choices from schumi have just proved the new classic f1 will be as good as last season

Thanks Andrew - Michael's choices were much better. Hugely appreciate you showing Spain 91 in full.

These are all brilliant choices so show them all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love Shumi's selection. For all the readers information,,, They have all been highlighted before. Just go through Andrew Benson's blog archive for the said races and they should still be there.

Loved Japan 2000. worth getting up for that day. Loved 91 Spain. But the ultimate highlights for me was simply watching Malaysia last year and seeing Alonso's engine let go whilst the real Ferrari driver Felipe Massa went to the top of the championship standings. Cant wait for Malaysia.

brilliant chioces from schuey and thanks andrew for showing spain 1991 in full much much beter than the vettel selections very similiar to the way bahrain and australia were last year

You can see his respect and admiration for Mika in his choices and comments, which is good form from him. Great picks and look forward to the next instalment.

Schumacher is yesterdays news. Why does the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ spend so much time on him?
Yes, he was good in his day but the sport has moved on.

Can't see him ever winning another race, he is too old; unless of course,
the other current ten drivers above him all bail out in a race.

@Ron Taylor #33

The man won seven WDCs. Seven. He is a living legend, regardless of his current driving (not that we can judge that after one race which lasted all of half a lap).

I was not a fan of Schumacher.(more a hill fan) I think good drivers dont need there team mate's to move over and let them just go by it make me so angry, but on the other hand i am now more of a fan i would like to see him on the top step again even if it ment taking some stick of my mate's. On another great driver i have seen the new senna film and it really great well worth the wait make sure you see it the guys a true legend

Its a shame the format got changed. I loved the old format. Please bring it back. Who cares what the drivers think. We pick the classic races, not them!

I would have thought that he would have picked Hungary 1998 as his favourite - he was stellar in that one.

A very nice spread of races there, well done Michael :) although i have to admit i am surprised he chose The 2000 Belgian Grand Prix, exellent race and well worth the choice but to actually hear the man enjoyed "that" overtake shows he has more depth than a LOT of people give him credit for ;)

@11. Head and shoulders above everyone? Really? Remind me, who was it took pole in an inferior car for all three of the first GPs? Now who was it again.....some chap called Da Silva...Oh yes, I remember, Mr Senna Da Silva. Under 'normal circumstances', he would have been a somewhat different proposition to Mr Hill, methinks. Schumacher was NEVER head and shoulders above Senna whilst they were on the same track. He was rarely above Hakkinen. Such a shame the only other REAL talent retired thus leaving the way clear..... I enjoyed seeing that overtake around Zonta immensely. Even more than I enjoyed Schumacher being shown up for what he is, last year. Bring on more Mercedes averageness. :) The 'Legend' that is Schumacher may now exit stage left.

Love the new format, very interesting to see what the drivers think. Great choices form Schumi, I've never been a fan of his but you can't doubt his talent. Japan 2000 featured one of my favourite drivers in Mika Hakkinen. The battle between the two best drivers of the time was awesome even if the result wasn't the one I wanted, his other choices are also stella! As for Vettel's choices last time, I actually enjoyed them!

Was really very impressed with Schumi’s choices, yes they are still all from his era, but that still gives him a wide selection to pick from. Delighted to see that he has gone down the real classic route and not on an ego trip like some other driver I could mention. Must give him credit for showing the talents of other drivers (mainly Senna, Mansell and Hakkinen), and also for doing for Classic GP what missing the Bahrain GP did for the current season (i.e. separating the wheat from the chaff).

I see that some other bloggers here are defending Vettel by suggesting that he did not fully understand the question being asked of him. I do not buy into this theory, anyone who offers a single digit salute to the worldwide viewing fans is on a permanent ego-trip. I suggest we do the same to him (choice of finger is optional).

Also wondering what the ‘unforeseen’ problems there were with the Nico Rosberg choices. Hoping it was not that they were another set of Me, Me, Me (and my father) selections as I predicted on the Vettel Classic GP Blog #135.

Finally, very pleased to see that all the choices are being shown on freeview as well as satellite, means that I don’t have to spend my days adding up the hours of the usual endlessly looped nonsense on 301 & sending countless emails to the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ.

All-in-all a very good job done all round.

I'm glad to see the choices made by Schumacher reflected the respect he had for other drivers like Senna and Hakkinen, a side of him that we rarely see. Unfortunately we'll never know how Schumacher and Senna would've compared in equal equipment but I personally believe he would've been the match of him. Sadly, all that will ever be is opinion.

I think the criticism of Vettel is unfair, who's to say Hamilton won't choose his first race, his first win, his title winning race, his win at Silverstone and his monaco win. The drivers have chosen races that are personal to them and if that doesn't include ones that you like then so be it, it's their choices not yours. I'm sure we'd all criticise each other's top 5 choices given the chance.

@rixroxsta

Put that way, your comment is so childish and biased that it does not deserve to be dignified with an answer.

Thanks for getting these races shown on freeview.

Still would prefer a full rerun of a classic season, rather than this format, currently only saved by Schumacher's fairly selfless picks. I do feel whilst you stick to using the word "classic", just like with classic cars, you must disallow recent GPs, i.e. anything under 10 years old. Shame you didn't stipulate that when asking the questions. The real classic GPs, and by classics I mean older, have so many more layers of interest than just a good race. Different driver and team line ups, different technologies and even rules, seeing the cars shapes in different stages of evolution. I.e. even when looking at Schumachers picks, in the early ones, they all have the drooped nose down to the front wing, with Benneton being one of the first on display with the 'shark' nose, higher nose seperated from front wing, then as you go through to 98 and beyond, they all have it. Also just the pit crews, in the early ones from Schumacher's selection, they are all in shorts, with gloves and rain coats at best for protection. Then by 98, they have full fire protection suites. It is all these little details, and reflection on the changes in F1, that made this section great. Especially when you have friends or loved ones who never watched during this period, or for some themselves, it has the extra layer of being able to see and learn about earlier periods, and what people are referring to when they talk about these periods. I really don't think this section should be used to show a "decent" race from last year or even 2008. Or it should lose the classic tag.

So to summarise, real classic GPs have so much more going for them than just a dramatic crash or one or two great overtakes, and without the 'age' factor, its just a replay of a chosen race. I do believe to live up to "classic" it really needs to be from another era(drivers/team/rules/tech), even if eras are defined in 5 year blocks, but definitely not the last couple of years, which was Vettels fault, but also the editorial teams fault for not being more specific with the questioning or setting up the rules to avoid a 2008-2010 whitewash of my greatest hits(which were mostly some of the worst races from that time, pole-sitter goes on to win without much challenge, yawn).

A magnanimous selection which demonstrates Michaels appreciation of his rivals and of the sport of F1. Nice one.

Nice of Schumacher to select races that do not necessarily feature him as the star driver. However, just as I suspected, he was never going to opt for races before his time in F1 as he has stated he knows very little on the history of F1 prior to 1991. Fair enough.

This signifies the fundamental drawback of this format though. I guess Rosberg may ask for either Dijon 1982, South Africa 1985 etc etc and perhaps Rubens will go for a Gilles Villeneuve race or most probably a Senna race. Hamilton will obviously ask for a Senna/Prost race. I pray Webber being a bit older and a bit wiser than the average driver will show a bit of lateral thinking and go for something a bit less documented from the 1970's or even 60's if possible. Other than that, I guess we can wave goodbye to any hopes of seeing races from the 1970's or earlier.

I do enjoy reading the comments of the drivers regarding their favourite races, it does give a bit more context. I just dont understand why we have to be restricted to the selection of these men who are mostly in their early 20's.

Frank Williams in particular, Eddie Jordan, Ross Brawn, Ron Dennis, Martin Brundle, Patrick Head, Nigel Roebuck, Mario Andretti, Tiff Nedell, Damon Hill, Luca di Montezemolo, Niki Lauda, John Watson, (the list goes on and on) have forgotten more things about F1 than the current crop of drivers know. I just wish Andrew that you could open this up a bit more so we can really utilise the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ archives in the most interesting and productive way possible.

By all means, document the current bunch and their favourite races...as I say, their comments are interesting to read...but please be open to this suggestion and the views of motor racing legends that were not raised on playstations!

Also, I still like the idea of broadcasting races in chronological order from the first race you have there in the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ archives....must be some glorious footage from the 1960's and 1970's there....in fact I know this is the case.

@ 45 Lyla

Good points. To me, with the older footage, i always find it interesting so see the other details which aren't always racing related. The cars, the crowds, the pit crews, the way, at some tracks, the crowd are quite able to wonder onto the track if they so wish, the way, at some races that have been shown recently in last years classic F1, a car would slide off the track and a few marshalls dressed in T-Shirts and Jeans (flags in the back pocket) and smoking, would rush out and push start the car back onto the track. Great Stuff which gives you a great insight into how it used to be and how far we've come in terms of safety.

@ 47 Senna27

I'm pretty sure the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ only have / own / have the rights to show races from the very late 70's onwards. Any footage before then may not been owned by the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ as i don't think they started showing full F1 seasons until the late 70's at best.
The only other footage i remember being shown was in year 1 of classic F1 which was a bit of Moss at the Nurburgring or Monaco which then had to be removed from the website as it infringed copyright, which implies the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ didn't own or have the right to show the footage.
Ofcourse, i have the same wish list as you, but i suspect most of the available footage is from the 80's and 90's.

Interesting point. Would be interesting to have it confirmed by Andrew. FOM have control of footag from 1981 onwards, I think. ESPN Classic were rebroadcasting British GPs from the 70s recently...coverage coming from the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ... proof that the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ does have gems hidden away. The Monaco Moss race wa taken from a documentary rather than live ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ coverage. Would just be nice to see whatever they do have from the early to mid 70s again...stuff from the late 70s 80s and 90s are already available commercially all splashed all over the Internet in some form. Can you enlighten us Andrew as to what the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ does actually have from the 60s and 70s?

Nice selection from Michael, great to see Mika's frankly amazing overtake in Belgium again.

I´ve been an English teacher for way too long and know that both Vettel and Schumacher are both entirely functional and fluent in English.

Vettel did not misunderstand or misinterpret, he answered an ambiguous question. A pity that Andrew Benson hasn´t accepted his editorial responsibility for the mess, but don´t shoot the messenger, even if he is young, gifted and German.

39. At 23:05pm on 5th Apr 2011, rixroxsta wrote:
@11. Head and shoulders above everyone? Really? Remind me, who was it took pole in an inferior car for all three of the first GPs? Now who was it again.....some chap called Da Silva...Oh yes, I remember, Mr Senna Da Silva. Under 'normal circumstances', he would have been a somewhat different proposition to Mr Hill, methinks. Schumacher was NEVER head and shoulders above Senna whilst they were on the same track. He was rarely above Hakkinen. Such a shame the only other REAL talent retired thus leaving the way clear..... I enjoyed seeing that overtake around Zonta immensely. Even more than I enjoyed Schumacher being shown up for what he is, last year. Bring on more Mercedes averageness. :) The 'Legend' that is Schumacher may now exit stage left.

_________________________________________

Williams was the fastest car in 1994 idiot.

I don't personally think Vettel struggled to understand the question. Like most foreign sportsmen, he can speak better english than most of the english!

Hi Andrew when I click on any links to the clips the webpage appears but the clip itself does not?

P.S. You and all of the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ F1 team do a great job.

Re #53 "Williams was the fastest car in 1994 idiot"

Benneton was the fastest car. Williams was the fastest legal car, if rumours about the Benneton that year are to be believed. And Benneton removed a part from the refuelling rig too, enabling them to refuel quicker. This wasn't spotted til about 2/3 of the way through the year, and somehow they escaped major punishment for it.

Interesting comments, and I agree that Shoeface has a more interesting selection than Vettel.

The discussion that captured my attention, though, were comments 7, 9, and 10 regarding the fact that winners do not lose with good grace. Think about it! How many "winners" are racing in F1 today, and when I say winners I mean drivers that demonstrate mighty skill, arrogance, passion, and the willingness to sully their reputation in front of the eyes of the world in order to get across the finish line first. I'm talking about drivers that believe, in their own mind, that the World Championship is their personal property, and are willing to defend it with a pack of pit bulls. The only driver I can think of that appears to have fallen from the same mold as Senna, Piquet and Schumacher, would be Mr. Alonso.......

But also, possibly, Vettel can be added to that ilk. Soon I think there will be some classic Alonso/Vettel battles reigniting memories of the Prost/Senna era - we can hope can't we!

But getting back to the point of drivers with good grace. Well I think the pressures of the modern world have moved the sport beyond that concept. With the realization of Bernie's wet dream of the worlds leading auto manufacturers battling for dominance on the track the stakes have simply become so high that sportsmanship takes a back seat to winning. You have the greatest drivers in the world being pushed beyond there limits in the heat of competition, and in front of a world wide TV audience. Consequently we have scenes like Mika blubbering in bushes after throwing away the Italian GP at Monza, and Michael breaking down in the press conference after saving his 2000 season with a win at Monza.

All amazing stuff, and we need more of it!

Vettels antics in Turkey last year, and Alonso playing the team orders card in Germany give us hope for the future.

We need more drivers that refuse to lose!

Thank you Michael for some great choices and for your reasons for choosing them.

2 out of the 5 for reasons other than himself and another 2 out of the 5 for his admiration of Mika Hakkinen.

Nice one Schuey and a nice alternative to Vettel's choices of 2 weeks ago.

Having said that you should have gone for Spain 1996 :-)

@1989GreatYearForFootball post 53;

You clearly have little or no understanding of F1. Schumacher was arguably as good as Senna. Senna may have had the edge in raw speed, but Schuamcher was the more complete F1 driver.

Last year was a blip - a poor car and tyres he had never driven. Three years out of a sport as finally tuned as F1 is a long time even for a seven time WC legend.

Also your username is in very poor taste. 1989 was the year of the Hillsbrough disaster that saw 96 people lose their lives. If you think it was a good year for football you are quite odd.

Ignore the above post - no edit function here:

@rixroxsta post 39:

You clearly have little or no understanding of F1. Schumacher was arguably as good as Senna. Senna may have had the edge in raw speed, but Schumacher was the more complete F1 driver.

Last year was a blip - a poor car and tyres he had never driven. Three years out of a sport as finally tuned as F1 is a long time even for a seven time WC legend.

Also 1989GreatYearForFootball (post 53) your username is in very poor taste. 1989 was the year of the Hillsbrough disaster that saw 96 people lose their lives. If you think it was a good year for football you are quite odd

Could everyone please stop being horrible to Vettel? We are running out of classic races, and the races he chose were important to him. He wasn't choosing the races for the satisfaction of you lot, he was asked HIS opinion, and that is what he wanted everyone to know where his top 5 races. Schumacher has done exactly the same as Vettel, but they are probably more "classsic" just because he has a longer career span. Lots of modern races are classic, classic races don't just have to be from a different era. So could everyone stop being horrible to Vettel? If he has read what everyone has said about him, you would feel devastated, wouldn't you? He deserves a break.

Thanks for 50 minutes of nostalgia and relaxation. Them were the days! And agreed with all, Schumi's selection is less egocentric than last weeks.

#61...I assume Vettel doesnt pay for a TV license...those posting here do.

I have to agree with what some others have said however, I'm convinced the format wasnt explained to him in a clear fashion....there is no way any individual could be so self centred if he really understood how the format works and its purpose.

As for the new classic vs old classic debate...definitions are irrelevant. The point is that for the first time ever, we have access to old F1 footage from the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ archives. The stuff that Schumacher and Vettel have requested are as a matter of fact all over youtube and the internet as well as commercialy availble dvd's.

It is interesting to hear/read what the favourite races of the current grid are, but it isnt always interesting for us license fee payers to watch. The format is inherently age-ist.

(61) Charante-Leclerc, I wish there were more people like you around this place. I agree with everything you say, and I've stated it myself many times. It seems to fall on deaf ears. There's a lot of it around these ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ forums.

(7) Kíllìnghölmê_Clᥠ(aka Charlie Cheesecake)
It was 17 years ago- get over it.

Well done on the choices, Schumi.

Shumi is a legend, the 2000 Belgian Grand Prix is a memorable race for me, the ice man hakkinen just would not no when to back down, awesome. Dave from the Team.

Hi there,

Am I the only one who is having problems watching any of the online videos? They start playing and then after a short while it buffers and then I get the message 'This content is not working, please try later.'

Can someone look into it, and come back to me?

Thanks
Warren

Japan 2000: I was never a Schumacher fan and would have got up early for this one hoping for Hakkinen to take it to the wire. What we got though was a race in which the Ferrari team pretty much outsmarted the opposition. Was it the greatest of races? Not sure but credit where it's due it was a great achievement for Schumacher.

Ha ha ha - It never fails to amaze me that so many people find it so hard to acknowledge Michael Schumacher as anything other than a 'cheat' - basically because he took Hill off in the final race if 1994. To criticise him on that basis would be to criticise Senna or Prost in exactly the same way - presuming you don't think that?!!!

I love all the comments above that acknowedge that love him or hate him, Schumacher was the most successful driver of his era (7 titles, 91 wins... and we could go on), and regardless of whether you agree with everything he did - he did it because he was driven to win - just as any great champion is.

His choices are great, and reflect a respect for his rivals that shows a lot of humility (as we saw from his tears when he surpassed Senna's 41 wins). I'm surprised he didn't choose the 1993 European GP at Donnigton in which Ayron Senna, in an inferior Maclaren, was unbeatable and incredible in the rain. Mind you, Schumacher's own 1996 win in the rain in Spain was also pretty spectacular :-)