Print wars
Hill, Coulthard and 'Shuey' address F1 life in new books
Posted: Friday December 25, 1998 06:51 PM
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Damon Hill: "He suggested, with a straight face, that my driving could have killed him" Michael Cooper/Allsport |
LONDON (Reuters) -- An angry Michael Schumacher
accused both Damon Hill and David Coulthard of putting his life
in danger through reckless driving this year.
Both his British rivals have now re-visited their
much-publicized clashes with the German former
champion in glossy tomes published this month that look back at
their contrasting seasons.
Schumacher, title winner with Benetton in 1994 and 1995
before moving to Ferrari to become the highest-paid driver in
Formula One, has been around long enough to have no illusions
about how others see him. He is uncompromising, and they know it.
"There are two things that set Michael apart from the rest
of the drivers in Formula One -- his sheer talent and his
attitude," declares Hill, the 1996 F1 champion, in his wide-ranging
offering 'F1 through the eyes of Damon Hill.' "I am full of admiration for the former, but the latter leaves me cold.
"When it comes to his driving, though, I don't mind being
complimentary. He is perceived to be the most extraordinarily
talented driver in Formula One and it would be daft to pretend
that he is not very good."
Hill, the oldest driver in Formula One, reflects on
Schumacher only briefly in a book that considers many wider
aspects of the sport, but he makes it clear that the longstanding
gulf between them remains.
"The difference between the rivalry between Ayrton Senna
and Alain Prost and mine with Michael is that I was never held
in esteem by Michael,' he says in his account. "His attitude is a bit like Goliath. He is full of disdain for his enemies and the challenge they present, as if he is saying: 'why do you bring me these mere mortals?' "
Schumacher and Hill, whose partner at Jordan last season was
Schumacher's younger brother Ralf, have clashed repeatedly over
the years as title rivals. The most famous incident was in Adelaide in 1994 when
Schumacher clinched his first world title after colliding with
Hill's Williams.
Last season, Schumacher criticized Hill after the Briton
weaved across the road when the German was trying to get ahead
into second place in Canada.
"He suggested, with a straight face, that my driving could
have killed him," said Hill.
The Briton also reveals in his book that he had tried
everything possible to move to McLaren for the start of last
season and that he had considered retiring when his contract was
not renewed at Williams at the end of 1996.
He discusses his enduring love of motorcycle racing, says he
would have been thrilled to have raced for Ferrari and went over
the 1994 Adelaide incident with the benefit of hindsight:
"I simply had not understood how far some drivers -- and one
driver in particular -- would go in order to win," he said.
Coulthard's clash came in Belgium in August.
The German led in heavy rain when he came up behind
Coulthard's McLaren. Unable to see clearly, he crashed into the
back of the car and ripped off a front wheel.
Schumacher later charged into the McLaren pits where he
accused the Briton of trying to kill him. Matters were later
patched up after a meeting between the two.
"I suggested to Michael that he seemed to find it very
difficult to acknowledge that he had any responsibility for any
incident he was involved in," said Coulthard. "At one point I asked Michael if this was the way it was in his private life at home -- if he was always in the right and everyone else was wrong. He said that was different.
"Michael said a lot of his problems stemmed from the fact
that when you are regarded as the best in the sport people
become jealous of you.
"I told him that while I admired and respected his ability
I wasn't in the least bit jealous of him -- except maybe in the
financial side!" Coulthard concluded.
Hill says that throughout 1997 he had hoped to "work a
situation where I could get into McLaren." But he said team
boss Ron Dennis made an offer he could not accept.
"I had the distinct impression that, if I drove for him, it
would be as [Mika] Hakkinen's deputy," he declared. "There was no way I could
accept that."
The very first testing session made him realize what might
have been, when Hakkinen turned up and blew away the rest of the
drivers present with his times.
"He did five laps and then parked it [the McLaren] and
walked away, but that was when the reality was brought home to
us, like a punch in the gut," Hill said. "On top of that, I realized exactly
what I had decided to turn my back on."
So too did everyone else, as the Finn surged to his first
world title ahead of Schumacher, who was the first to shake his
hand when the championship was won.
Formula One, as Hill points out, is not for the
faint-hearted, but home to big egos and bigger talents.
Schumacher has proven repeatedly that he has what it takes.
"Formula One is not about being pleasant and helpful," Hill said. "It's
not about being decent and honest. In this sport it helps to be
a hard-nosed bastard. Believe me, I can do that bit when I need to, but I don't
necessarily enjoy it.
"I think I have learnt to survive the hard way."
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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