#but schumi was on a whole another level

[hyacinthsdiamonds]

Ted saying that no driver has had this level of attention on them since Michael Schumacher...

Gentlemen, a short view into the past; Max's debut season, his Red Bull debut, the literal rule changed as a result of his debut in the sport... oh and everyone and their mother calling Kimi Max 2.0 and Toto's second chance at signing debut!Max since he failed the first time around...

[luigihamilton44]

i think what george is missing is instead of showing he’s a lewis hamilton or better (which if we’re being honest is a big ask) atm he’s trying to show the superstar moves that can be displayed. last year i think he was setting up his car more for saturdays like the ferraris (i think less downforce means faster one lap pace but then your car is sliding over a race distance and you eat up your tires? i can’t really remember the explanation) this is not to say he’s not a good qualifier tho but then lewis is not just a good qualifier, he’s a good racer too. and when he tries to replicate the race craft, lewis isn’t just a good racer, he’s also able to visualize a full race in order to know when to baby his tires and what battles aren’t worth fighting for. some of that may be down to experience but then i look at the rookies he came with and it’s a hard argument. damon hill pointed this out that george drives like he’s trying to compensate for something and i think that’s what’s happening… in trying to dictate when to play the team game and i don’t even want to get into his other radio messages. i think toto is also to blame a little for putting him beside a 7xwdc and selling to him him that his learning phase is over, he’s already a full package when we’re watching him do similar things that he did at williams.

i agree partially to that. like, on one hand it is very difficult to be compared to the one and only lewis hamilton, and what he is trying to do is to affirm is "dominance by youth", if you get what i mean. like, he is not one to let the older driver prevail without a fight and it shows. and he even tries to use his cunning to do it (which often lead to questionable results). However i think george is doing is perfectly normal in an agonistic environment, and it should've been toto or who for him to manage the situation in order to make this natural transition as easy as possible. instead we see mercedes (by words, the facts tell another story) push george in that direction and kind of enable him in this behavior. but after all what do we know, team dynamics are far more complicated than what transpires to us fans. and that is not to say mercedes doesn't deserve criticism bcs we see very little of what happens, because what us fans see is more than enough to prompt that. like, it is to expect that next year merc will lose many fans, it's natural, but this way they are alienating said fans even more instead of making george a good substitute. but now i am digressing.

As for the difference in racing. idk if i am the best person to be asked, because to me lewis is on another level of racing than the whole grid (bar alonso i have to admit), and that is not just because of experience. to me he is someone who can only be compared with the great champions of the past, like schumi, senna, prost, niki lauda, etc. so i agree with you that his experience right now may look like he is overcompensating and to me it doesn't mean just driving in a certain way, but to me it means he underlines his points of strenght, and that's qualifying, and in this sense i think he is doing the right thing. play by his own strengths as main points. what it's sad to see, instead is that this doesn't allow himself to grow up. And mercedes with this behavior doesn't either, because they expect him to be a perfect racer already. There is someone who blames the long time in williams, but that's bullshit imho, because driving in a less performative car helps a lot with many things and gives you a solid base in order to drive a better car with a good ability. but that doesn't mean that a the growth is finished. Mercedes signed george basically in 2022, when he was 24, a more than good age to sign with a good team. the point here is to see how much improvement george made during those 3 years in mercedes. because to me it looks like merc put him up to a challenge he cannot win, instead of forming a true collaboration where he can learn from the very best, even when it came to the experimentations of early 2022, just to make an example. by putting him as the new diamond with all the expectations of the world, merc is just making george shield behing what he can already do, with little space for growth.

Expecting him to be the next lewis hamilton is absurd, because if he were at that level, i can assure you, it would've been noticed earlier. that doesn't mean he can't be a world champion one day and that he isn't worth waiting for his maturity. this mentality of the "all and right now" is detrimental to the whole sport, because not everybody can be lewis, seb, fernando or schumacher, but many world champions came out without being super shiny talents (hill, villeneuve jr, etc). So (while i personally hope merc falls into oblivion hahahhaah) i think that we are watching the true george russell right now, okay, but next year we will see what he will do without the pression of being next to lewis, if he will be able to grow or not

[macybeckham7]

If it’s possible could do something alternative where Michael Schumacher is perfectly well and meets our precious flower fairy. Since she is so mesmerized with Mick, Gina, and Corinna and think of them as fairytale royalty. When she meets Schumi, she politely curtsied and gives him a huge bouquet of flowers.

There was a buzz around the paddock that Michael was going to be at the race, and of course that meant YDN was excited to see another Schumacher. She adored the whole family and in her eyes she thought they were fairytale royalty. She had hand picked flowers and walked into Mick’s paddock, she gave one flower to Mick and Gina, and two for Corinna. ‘Where’s Michael?’ she asks as Corinna picks her up, effortlessly. ‘Hello, you must be YDN’ Michael smiles as he makes his way over to them. She holds her skirt out and curtsied and gives him the flowers, he gasps and thanks her. He kneels down on her level as they both have big smiles on their faces as they interact.