Christian Danner: Schumacher’s nasty tricks wouldn’t be legal now, Norris no longer intimidated by Verstappen and Hamilton looks lost in a Ferrari

 

In an exclusive interview with SpaceportSweden, retired Formula One driver Christian Danner, who is a commentator for German TV channel RTL, backs McLaren for the upcoming China and Japan Grand Prixs.

The German, who drove for Jaguar Racing and Arrows BMW, believes Red Bull will still suffer this season from the Christian Horner investigation, which cleared him of any wrongdoing.

Danner, who also competed at Le Mans, said he could understand why British racing legend Johnny Herbert couldn’t stand ‘arrogant’ Ralf Schumacher.

He added that Michael Schumacher was unpopular with other drivers because of his behaviour on the track. Schumacher’s wife, Corinna, and son, Mick, don’t talk about the icon’s tragic ski crash in 2013 at all, he added.

And Danner has vowed never to talk to the “terrible” race director who made him the first ever Formula One driver to be disqualified for dangerous driving.

Q: What did we learn from the Melbourne GP?

CD: “I like these kinds of races and how you are watching drivers who master conditions, and drivers who don’t. That’s where it becomes visible for the general public.

“It’s not a video game, it’s very different and you can crash old or young.

“I learned Hamilton is not on top of this situation at all, yet.

“He didn’t look like he knew what he was doing, it was too much for him in the race. He was struggling obviously and had a lot to catch.

“But it was a perfect start for Lando Norris. It was a different Norris compared to last year, very few mistakes and he was not intimidated by Max Verstappen. He was a much stronger person psychologically.”

Q: Who comes out on top at the China GP and Japan GP?

CD: “In China it’s very early in the year so there might be cold, bad weather there. In Japan it’s the same thing, they may have fairly cold weather at this time of the year so we will see.

“I don’t like to predict in detail too because we’ve got four teams, McLaren, Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari, and they’re all close enough to each other to actually have a thorough race with each other.

“So my prediction is that there is an advantage at McLaren at this moment in time. Whether they can use it or not depends on a lot of things, and luckily the opposition are close enough that the racing is most probably going to be good.”

Q: After those, we have the infamous Saudi Arabia track. Who are you backing for that?

CD: “In Saudi Arabia, it’s a street circuit and it’s fairly high speed.

“If you have a car that works properly then you’re fast everywhere, as McLaren did last season. For me the question is not so much who’s going to win it, but how. 

“Look at Hamilton and Leclerc at Ferrari. This is going to be very, very interesting because the Ferrari is a car that’s quite predictable, quite nice to drive. 

“Leclerc is fantastic and you’ve got Hamilton there trying to establish himself as the new superstar, and these sort of things I’m following much more than simply who is going to win the race.”

Q: What are you expecting from Lewis Hamilton in a Ferrari this season?

 CD: “Hamilton is a very strong character and a very special character too. The way he introduced himself to Ferrari was done in a very Hamilton way with all the pictures and the fashion, him being in red.

“It was a bit theatrical but it was nice to watch. And it was well made, typical Lewis. So far he’s done everything extremely well. He’s got himself a flat in Milan, he’s learning to speak Italian. It’s all fantastic. 

“But what counts is the lap time and that’s where problems are going to arise for him because it’s not going to be easy to beat Leclerc, he is not going to be covered by Niki Lauda, Toto Wolff or the British press any longer. 

“Italians are very emotional and they’re exceptionally direct, if there is something they don’t like they will say it because Ferrari are more than a racing team.

“So if Lewis is struggling they will let him know that this is not what they wanted. It’s going to be a whole lot of new experiences for Lewis, living in a different environment, professionally living in a different environment, you know.”

Q: Do you think he can win a record eighth title in a Ferrari? 

CD: “Well, in a way, I hope Hamilton wins because it would be history in the making.

“But is it very likely? No, it’s not very likely as far as I’m concerned. I don’t think it’s very likely he’s going to win the championship, clearly not in the first year. 

“In the second year we will have to find out and see, however.”

Q: Do you think it would be bad for the sport if Verstappen won this season easily?

CD: “It is clearly not bad for Formula One to have a driver dominate the season, just look back at the Schumacher years. 

“He started from pole and won the race. He did one pitstop, two pit stops, four pit stops, and he still won the race, year after year. 

“Was that a problem for Formula One? No, it wasn’t. It was maybe a little boring, but it depends on your point of view. 

“I’m talking to a lot of people over here who tell me that these years were really interesting.  Did it do any harm to Formula One? Clearly not. 

“Any domination period of a driver is a piece of Formula One history and the fact that you can actually witness how he’s performing is absolutely fantastic because one of the best drivers in the world is proving and showing his talents. That’s great to watch.

“It’s never boring and it doesn’t do any harm at all.”

Q: Do you think Verstappen will go on to win more titles than Schumacher and Hamilton?

CD: “There are a few guys like Fernando Alonso who should have won a minimum five or six world championships, but he didn’t for whatever reasons. From his own way of treating teams to bad luck.

“So you can never say that this is going to happen or that Verstappen is going to win another three titles. You can’t predict that.”

Q: Who do you think the surprise package will be this season? 

CD: “The surprise packages might actually turn out to be two teams, Williams and Alpine. Carlos Sainz did a very good job at Ferrari and he is going to continue doing a good job at Williams. 

“Whether the car is actually fast enough or not, we can’t know. The same applies to Alpine. I think from a technical point of view, they are the team with more potential because they’ve got a very good technical director with a very good updated wind tunnel.

“Flavio Briatore shuffles the money and keeps everything under control in his very own style.”

Q: Do you think either of those could finish in the top five? 

CD: Well you have Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull, and Mercedes. Red Bull and Mercedes, as far as we can actually see, only have one competitive car. Is Lawson going to beat Verstappen? Not very likely. 

“Is Kimi Antonelli going to beat George Russell? Very unlikely. They might be at the same level occasionally, but I think it’ll be difficult. 

“So from a constructor’s point of view, they are not going to get the maximum amount of points. McLaren will, Ferrari will and Alpine will.

 “With Williams, probably more than Alpine, from a driver’s point of view they have a good chance because they’re more at the same level, the drivers they have.”

Q: What was your experience like with Michael Schumacher? 

CD: “I knew Michael quite well. I retired from Formula One a year and a half before he started. 

“So from a generation point of view, we were quite close together. I have had the pleasure to follow his career doing my job as TV expert and commentator for German television, and I actually saw him all the way through his career. It was very, very impressive.

“As usual in Formula One it does take a superior driver, but any wonderful driver is not going to get anywhere without a wonderful team and a wonderful car. 

“And the way he got it together was outstanding. People used to say it was Schumacher who did all the motivational work. Well yes, fine, let him motivate you, but you do need the Ross Brawns and the Rory Byrnes of this world to build you a car that’s fast enough.

“Hamilton didn’t win the championship because he was just driving faster than anybody else. He won it because he had a superior engine in a superior car. 

“And of course he drove immaculately well. So it’s a team thing.”

Q: What was Michael like in person behind the scenes? 

CD: “Well on the track, Schumacher was occasionally quite nasty. In his manoeuvres he was quite unfair.

“Just listen to what Mika Hakkinen has to say and what other people like friends or Nick Heidfeld have to say.

“You just have to watch how many people he drove off the track. He used a lot of nasty tricks, which are luckily not allowed anymore because they were seriously dangerous.

“In that respect he wasn’t a very popular man among the other drivers at all actually. I can only see that and say I think it was probably not fair.  

“But to watch him drive a car was such a pleasure because he had such car control and such a specific driving style which was very hard. It was an incredibly intense driving style. 

“He could go faster than others because of his way of driving. It’s difficult to explain but I adored him for that. And from a human aspect, I always got on with him. We weren’t close friends because his social life was rather different to mine. 

“He had a different group of friends and a different lifestyle and everything. But I did get on with him very well whenever we met, whenever we had a chat or whenever we did something together which happened occasionally because for the past 27 years, I actually traveled to every single Grand Prix. 

“It’s the Formula One family thing, you kind of run into the same people all over again. In that respect I got on with Michael quite well.”

Q: Have you spoken to any of the Schumacher family since the tragic accident?

CD: “Last year in Monza I spoke to Corinna, sometimes a little bit to Mick. I’ve known Corinna ever since she was Heinz-Harald Frentzen’s girlfriend, so it goes way back.

“Whenever we see each other, we say hello and we have a coffee together. It’s the Formula One family. 

“Don’t forget, no matter how old you are and from which generation Formula One you’re coming from, there are not many people in this world who’ve actually been there and who did it in a way we did.

“There is a bond between the Formula One people, even when they have retired. From the driver’s point of view, the bond is much better once the driver has retired.  

“A lot of guys from the 1980s I have a very good relationship with, which I never had when I was racing. 

“I spoke to David Coulthard a few times about that, and when he retired, it took him about a year to understand that.

 “It’s not an ongoing fight or an ongoing war, it’s actually quite nice. We are a very privileged group of people, the ex-Formula One people, the drivers in particular, but also the families as I just mentioned. 

“But Corinna and Mick don’t talk about the accident. It’s their way of handling the issue.

Q: Johnny Herbert said he liked Michael but couldn’t stand Ralf Schumacher, what did you make of those comments?

CD: “I know Herbert quite well because we were racing each other and we actually spent a good time of our racing lives together in Japan.

 “We had a great time together and a lot of laughs but some hiccups in our careers with a lot of ups and downs. I’m very fond of Herbert because he’s got a very good way of absorbing things and observing things. 

“I’m quite close with Ralph although he’s not a friend of mine because he lives in South Africa and he lives in Saint Tropez. He’s got his partner and it’s all a very different world to my world. But I respect him.  

“I talk to him on the phone occasionally, and I can say that Ralph is for me a lot easier to deal with than Michael was. So for me it’s more the opposite to what Herbert is saying.

“But I see what Herbert is saying because Ralph had in his career a few arrogant periods, let’s put it that way. At this moment in time, he’s clearly over it and I actually enjoy talking to him. 

“We exchange opinions sometimes on Formula One because he’s working for TV, I’m working for TV. There is a cooperation between our two TV stations, so we are in the same environment. 

“So even if I disagree sometimes with what he’s saying, because he’s sometimes very hard, very strict, we get on with him perfectly well and he’s got a good sense of humor, which I think always helps.”

Q: Marc Surer said recently it was a scandal that you have German brands in Formula One, but not a Grand Prix. Do you agree?

CD: “I think it’s a disaster and a scandal that Germany doesn’t have a Formula One Grand Prix. I couldn’t care less whether it’s Hockenheimring or Nurburgring or wherever, it’s terribly bad not to have a Grand Prix in Germany.

“The reasons are clear in Germany, there is no public money spent on motor racing at all. So that means that all the other countries in Europe take their money from the areas in the regions like in Belgium and Barcelona and so forth to actually pay the fees.

“But In Germany, this is not happening. It’s not allowed.” 

 “So in that respect, you can’t have enough money to have a German Grand Prix which is in itself a huge disaster because other sports like football are fine, they get all the money they want. A new stadium? A piece of cake.”

Q: Are there any new locations in the world you would like to see on the Formula One calendar? 

CD: “I’d much rather see less than more because I am absolutely convinced that we are running too many already. 24 is hardcore. 

“I think what’s happening is we’re diluting the whole soup a little bit. I fully understand Formula One for what they’re doing because they are making a more profitable business model, which is what they’re doing and they’re doing it extremely well. 

“However, as a motor racing fan I’d much rather see more European races. I’d much rather see less races in total. I could happily live with 18 races.”

Q: Do you think Red Bull’s off-track problems last year could carry over to this season?

CD: “The investigation gave them a lot of trouble and a lot of problems within the team. The serious problem is Adrian Newey. Losing Adrian means a lot more to a team than you think in the first moment because I know Adrian really well, he was working with me in Formula Two. 

“He has more talent than most of the others, and also one of the few who’s actually done the whole thing from chassis to suspension to aero. Plus the packaging underneath the skin of the car.

“He’s a wonderful character and he’s extremely good at what he’s doing. The way he’s thinking is very special. So to come back to your question, the answer is yes, Red Bull are going to suffer big time from the fact that he’s not there anymore.”

Q: You were the first driver to be disqualified for dangerous driving. How do you feel about that now? 

CD: “Well I don’t look back in anger. I still feel that they treated me very unfairly and the person who did it, the race director, is still alive and I know him. 

“So ever since that day, he is not for me, he’s just terrible. I never forgive him, never, ever. It was a big mistake. 

“But is there anything I have to complain about now? No. I have had a career which brought me from Renault 5 Racing to Formula One. I’ve done Le Mans and IndyCars, and ovals and street circuits, and I did everything there is out there without a scar. I’m alive.

 “I don’t have any broken legs and I don’t have any broken necks. I’m healthy and I’m still enjoying myself in this environment. 

 “So if I look back, With a sour feeling to the fact that Jackie Hicks disqualified me in Monaco, it’s the wrong approach. I’m happy to look ahead and I’m proud of what I’ve done and what I’ve achieved.

Q: Do you think Hamilton will feel the same way about the director, Michael Masi, from Abu Dhabi in 2021? 

CD: “Hamilton will never forget it and I think he shouldn’t. I got on with Masi really well, and I spoke to him after all the scandals and everything.

“But what he did was just wrong. It was Hamilton’s championship, and he took it away from him. As far as I’m concerned, there was no reason for him to do it. 

“So I’d understand if he has bitter feelings about it, but if Lewis looks back to what he’s done in his career, he’s earned so much money, had so many successful weekends and wonderful moments.

“There is no reason for him to be bitter about it. He can be angry, sure but if you look back, everything as far as Lewis is concerned ran pretty damn well.”