2010 Season might be a few months away, but iSport’s Motorsport Editor Kunal Shah reckons that Michael Schumacher has already made his first move yet – a cheeky one at that!
Its one thing to have a reputation, but another to live it up! Michael Schumacher, the 7 times F1 World Champion knows exactly how to do that. After his comeback stories did the rounds for nearly 2 months, now it’s the story of him ‘requesting’ for the ‘odd’ number car in the Mercedes GP stables!! The odd number is usually reserved for the lead driver of the team!!
The Mercedes GP team and the FIA granted Michael’s ‘request’ to carry the No. 3 sticker on his car for the 2010 season. (earlier he had No. 4!) ‘Superstition’ was cited as a reason by Schumacher for the literally ‘odd’ request. He’s never driven an ‘even’ number car except in his debut GP in 1991 in Spa, where he retired from the race due to a mechanical failure.
All his World Titles have come while driving an ‘odd’ number car – with No.1 in 1995, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004, No. 3 in 2000 and No 5 in 1994. Intriguingly, the No.4 car has never won the title in F1 history, and has indeed achieved just seven victories over the last decade – courtesy of David Coulthard (two), Ralf Schumacher (two), Rubens Barrichello (one), Robert Kubica (one) and Kimi Raikkonen (one). (source: F1.com)
While history and statistics do reveal the ‘superstition’ behind these numbers, they also remind me of Schumacher and his antics to unsettle his team-mates. Eddie Irvine and Rubens Barrichello were at the receiving end in Ferrari. Is it Nico Rosberg’s time now?
The quest for being the no. 1 driver in the Mercedes stables has already started. While Schumacher has made his move off the track, will he be successful in doing it on-track too?
(The author is a former racer and currently works with Sport18 - a div. of Network18. Kunal can be contacted at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
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