Thursday, December 02, 2021
You can’t get past Schumacher
What surprised Ecclestone at Hamilton
If Lewis Hamilton overtook Max Verstappen in the final spurt of the Formula 1 season, something historic would happen: The Englishman would overtake Michael Schumacher with the eighth world title. If Bernie Ecclestone has his way, this is not relevant. He is even surprised by the behavior of the Mercedes driver.
Michael Schumacher remains the greatest. Bernie Ecclestone is convinced of that. The long-standing Formula 1 managing director does not allow himself to be dissuaded from his opinion by Lewis Hamilton’s successes – and he will not be in the future either. Because even an eighth world title would not put the British ahead of Schumacher.
“No, not at all. In fact, I’m surprised that Lewis didn’t say at the beginning of the year: I’m resigning, I don’t want to win more races or world championships than Michael,” said Ecclestone in an interview with ntv / RTL. Hamilton apparently saw no reason for this, after all, he still feels fit, proves in top form week after week – with a strong upward trend.
Measured by the individual victories, Hamilton has already overtaken Schumacher. The German has achieved 91 wins, Hamilton is now at 102. That doesn’t change his respect for Schumacher. As early as 2019, the Mercedes driver had said that Schumacher would always be “the greatest of all time” and that he only had “great memories”.
Hamilton’s duel with World Championship leader Max Verstappen in the Red Bull also impressed 91-year-old Ecclestone: “It’s a fight we’ve been waiting for seven or eight years, finally a competition again,” said the 91-year-old. “That’s what people want when they see Formula 1 or a sport at all. They want competition.” It even reminds him of the legendary poison duel between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost at the end of the 80s: “They are both very competitive in their own way. They have a different style, a different way of dealing with things, and that fits in well respective race. “
Ecclestone does not expect a World Cup decision in Saudi Arabia due to the tightness (Sunday, from 5:15 p.m. on RTL and in the ntv.de live ticker), but only in the last race in a week in Abu Dhabi. Verstappen is currently leading with eight points ahead of Hamilton and could already win the World Cup prematurely in Jeddah.