Since Vettel announced that he will join Ferrari lots of comparison have been made between him and Schumacher. The similarities are quite a few:
- Both of them are Germans and World Champions
- Schumacher joined Ferrari while they were in a big crisis and Vettel joined them in a similar situation
- Ferrari restructured the team back in '96 and is doing the same now
- etc
Now that half of the season is past we can try and do a comparison between Schumacher '96 and Vettel '15. This isn't very straightforward because the cars are not the same, the competition is not the same, etc. but I will try to do an objective analysis.
First we'll try and compare the Ferrari of '96 against Williams '96 which was the class of the field and at the same time Ferrari '15 against Mercedes '15. To do this I will compare the results of the second driver in Ferrari in '96 and in '15, Irvine and Raikkonen.
Table 1, 1996 results
Table 2, 2015 results
In 1996 the average starting position of Irvine was 7.6, while in 2015 the average starting position of Raikkonen is 5.78. In the race Irvine has an average position of 5.2, while Raikkonen 4.71. The difference in both cases is small and taking into account that Raikkonen is a better driver (most people will agree) and World Champion, we can say that on pure performance Ferrari of '96 and of '15 compare similarly to the class of the field (but the Ferrari of '15 is much more reliable).
Now let's compare Schumacher and Vettel performance against the class of the field. Schumacher average starting position was 2.5 with an average difference from pole of 0.548, while Vettel's average starting position is 3.22 with an average difference from pole of 0.747. Additionally Schumacher had 3 pole positions, while Vettel has none. In defence of Vettel, probably the Mercedes of '15 is stronger on one lap pace that Williams of '96, but still it shows that Schumacher is one step ahead. If we compare the race results Schumacher has an average position of 2, while Vettel 3. On the other hand Vettel has 2 victories, while Schumacher only 1 (but he has 5 retirements to Vettel's none). Still the balance is slightly in favor of Schumacher.
Next comparison is between Schumacher '96 and Vettel '15 against their teammates. Schumacher pretty much has destroyed Irvine (qualifying 5.1 positions ahead with an average difference of 0.852), but also Vettel has outperformed clearly Raikkonen (qualifying 2.56 positions ahead with an average difference of 0.353). In both cases their teammates out-qualified them only once (excluding car troubles or rain). In the race Schumacher is 3.2 positions ahead of Irvine, while Vettel 1.71 ahead of Raikkonen.
Last comparison we'll do is the championship position of both after 10 races. In '96 Schumacher was third on 26 points (Hill had 63, Villeneuve 48), while in '15 Vettel is also third on 160 points (Hamilton has 202, Rosberg 181). Vettel is much closer and is still fighting for the championship, but this is mostly because Ferrari of '96 was much more unreliable.
As a conclusion, Schumacher of '96 was really exceptional and is very hard for anyone to compete against him. However the comparison clearly shows that Vettel is doing a great job against a better teammate and better opposition (most will agree that Hamilton/Rosberg are stronger that Hill/Villeneuve).
So well done to Vettel and keep pushing :)
After a long delay, today morning Schumacher's manager Sabine Kehm released a new statement confirming small and encouraging signs:
We are and remain confident that Michael will pull through and wake up. There are small, encouraging signs, but we also know that this is the time to be very patient. Michael has suffered severe injuries.
It is very hard to comprehend for all of us that Michael, who had overcome a lot of precarious situations in the past, has been hurt so terribly in such a banal situation. It was clear from the start that this will be a long and hard fight for Michael. We are taking this fight on together with the team of doctors, whom we fully trust. The length of the process is not the important part for us.
There are lots of different ways to read this statement, both in positive and negative light. However I'm choosing the positive one and hoping that Schumi will win this fight. It is clear that the recovery will be long and probably not complete, but I'm hoping he will recover enough to be able to still enjoy life.
Keep fighting Schumi!