Formula 1: Why Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen find Michael Schumacher a hard act to follow

Michael Schumacher and his Ferrari team were so completely dominant that the FIA eventually enforced dramatic rule changes to effectively blunt the overwhelming superiority of the Italian Scuderia racing team.

Rule changes in 2005 required teams to use tyres to last an entire race; effectively giving the advantage to teams using Michelin instead of the Bridgestone, which had served the Ferrari’s so well over the years.

Schumacher thought that the FIA was effectively trying to “blunt my weapons” which was true to a degree, but some purists argued that it was confirmation that the Ferrari was quite simply too good for the rest.

While he did not claim the title in his last years, some of his racing, when he started towards the back of the grid was remarkable – notably being stripped of his pole position at Monaco to start at the back, but somehow managed to finish 5th despite the notoriously cramped circuit.

His five consecutive titles for Ferrari from 2000 was the first time the Italian constructors had won a championship since Jody Scheckter’s triumph in 1979.  In 2002 he was untouchable, finishing on the podium of every race and only being third once. Again in 2004 he won a staggering 13 races, which led detractors to claim the sport was boring.

But this was the problem. No sport is a sport without competition, and Schumacher’s ruthless dominance and Ferrari’s overwhelming technical superiority was bad for motor sport. Despite McLaren Mercedes and BMW gaining parity throughout the years, it was an overall negative for the Formula 1 championship.

The highest level of open wheeled auto racing did suffer with the contest being completely one sided – and the sport’s governing authorities responded effectively by consistently evolving the competition and rules to ensure that the sport remained “a sport”.

In 2005 and 2006 despite the German’s presence, the rules had the desired effect, with 2005 having nine different drivers taking pole position, and five different race winning drivers throughout – with Mercedes and Renault being the dominant constructors, and Fernando Alonso winning his maiden championship. 

The following year saw Schumacher and Ferrari make a comeback with the German winning seven races, but he could not wrest the title from Spanish driver.

But 2007 proved to be the year of competition that motor sport needed, with Kimi Raikkonen winning the title despite not winning a single race in 2006.  Four different drivers and constructors won races throughout the closely contested season in which there were more rule, team and personnel changes than in any other modern season. 

The title was won by one point, with the second and third drivers tied.  Never had the Formula 1 been so closely contested. This saw the continued evolution of Formula 1 – as it has since found it scruples – with environmental engineering developments to phase out fossil fuels. 

Racism, such as that exhibited in Spain against Lewis Hamilton, was swiftly dealt with, and since Max Mosley’s controversial sex sessions, teams have detached themselves diplomatically to polish the Formula 1 image.

The sport is poorer for not having Schumacher, as he was beautiful to watch, but the dominance he exhibited was not good for the racing community.  With the new breed of elite driver such as Hamilton and Robert Kubica, a new generation of viewers are tuning in to the global sporting phenomena