If Michael was in the Ferrari this year would Mclaren even be in contention for the championship?

Mclaren has had an amazing year. But in my opinion Ferrari has 2 mediocre drivers. Massa is ok. Raikonnen is a hack who couldnt win in champ car.|||Michael's influence on the team canot be underestimated. Poor reliability? Michael says "Let's improve the reliability" and the team would have worked even harder than they have this year.


Michael also would have been the clear Number 1, with preferential strategies and therefore more wins and points.


His ability to develop the car through his feedback to the engineers is sorely missed at Maranello this year.


I'm not sure if having Michael alone would enable Ferrari to win this year, but surely, it would be very close!|||schumi was the best ever, no one can replace him, if he was here, mc laren wouldnt have a chance in hell|||Hard to say of course, I have always liked Riakonnen. But I understand where you're coming from on this. I Don't think the Ferrari Michael combo is was or would be beatable. In a way it's good to see different drivers winning races.


So i guess my answer is they may be in contention for the championship. But it would certainly be a very different picture.|||He might be making it more close than are Raikkonen and Massa, but McLaren is on a flow year in the team's regular ebb and flow. And they have the drivers delivering the wins. For sure he would have to battle hard with Alonso who had the measure of him last year. Hamilton he might be able to scare, who knows?





Raikkonen a "hack" eh? Hmm... he's third among active drivers for career wins (Alonso 19, DC 13), he is tied for 19th on the All Time F1 wins list with Mario Andretti, Carlos Reutemann, and Alan Jones--rate any of them hacks? He's also tied with Graham Hill, Jack Brabham, Jacky Ickx, Jacques Villeneuve, Rubens Barrichello, and Juan Pablo Montoya for (also) 19th in All Time Pole Positions (tied with RB for 2nd among active drivers). Still think he's a hack?


(and I don't even consider myself a fan of KR, but sure as heck don't think he's a hack who couldn't win in Champ Car).





Also, back on track with the original question, remember that in 2005 Schumacher was gifted his one win of the season. He's not the only element in the Ferrari success of the past few years.





RP|||I don't know...hard to say... I believe Schumy would have beaten very well McLaren this year. But why do you say that Raikkonen is a hack, when he has more points than Massa? I am neither a Ferrari fan, nor a McLaren one, but I have been watching F1 for many years, and I think you are a little bit wrong here.|||This is a strange measure of one driver (Massa) that was consistently faster than Michael at the end of last season, and a driver (Raikonnen) who has shown great pace, including in races against Schumacher!





Michael was, and likely still is, a great driver. However in terms of driving ability, I think he would at best measure even with the two very good drivers Ferrari currently maintains. Compared to these drivers, he doesn't have the same commitment - clearly shown by the fact that he is retired, but he does have greater involvement in working with the car and the team than Kimi, and is much more consistent than Felipe.





What he might of offered the team would have been input to help improve the car, which has long been a strength! While Massa has worked on, and improved in this area, Kimi has never been known to provide much help in getting the car developed. Michael would have certainly added here, but this assumes that Massa and Raikonnen have in fact been the bottle necks in improving the car. It's reasonable to assume Michael would be an improvement here, but it's possible too that with Brawn and other changes to the team, that his input would not have actually resulted in quicker changes or better development.|||well with the risk of upsetting my Ferrari supporting friends (please don't lynch me) if Michael was driving i think the McLarens would still be dominating. maybe they would have come off a few times with Michael's habit of nurfing drivers who are beating him (Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve etc). besides that Fernando already beat him twice.|||It would be a better yr for Ferrari thats for sure, and it would be fun watching Lewis Hamilton beat ole Schmacher a couple times and possibly the championship...Massa is okay but he needs to get alot better... I don't think Michael will come out of retirement to drive again..|||He might be a little closer to the McLaren's but I still don't think he would be leading the points. The F2007 Ferrari has just had too many reliability problems.





After all, Michael got beat in 2005 and 2006 by a Renault which is now struggling to hang on to 4th place in the Constructor's Championship and these McLarens are much better than those Renaults Alonso drove.|||Insurance would be more expensive because there would be more "accidents" in the tracks. LOL.


Who knows? It is the typical, who is better Pele or Kaka? or Jordan or Lebron James? It doesn't matter anymore. Ferrari doesn't have a good car this year and they need to use all the tricks to win outside the track.|||I completely agree with rockpool248. The team would have made a lot more effort to improve the performance and reliability of the cars and his feedback is like no other driver i have ever heard of. Schumacher would be right up there with lewis and alonso, not left behind like massa and kimi.|||No.and,It amazes me some of the responses here.for the person that said alonso beat shumacher in the Renault ,but this year the Renault sucks.so Shumacher wouldn`t stand a chance against Mclaren.do you understand F1? just because the 2006 Renault was good doesn`t mean this years would have been the same .and anyway,Alonso did beat Shumacher twice,fine.look what Shumacher has done in F1 and how many records he broke and championships he won,he was champion for 5 straight years,and just because the next 2 years he came 2nd people make fun of him,for those people i say get a dam life.give he guy the respect he is due. and back to the question .I think he would be leading the championship,but would be close.. and also,the other thing i wanted to say.cars change from year to year,but it takes talent to make the most from the car,and Shumacher was amazing in that,the best all round driver in the history of F1.he maybe gone but all you haters of him can never take away what he has done in F1.|||Yes. Michael IS a great driver, but that doesn't mean no other drivers can do better than him or compete with him. I think Massa and Kimi are a good pairing though, it's just that they somehow lack something. But anyway, Kimi IS a very good driver- his problem is, luck isn't usually not on his side.





As for McLaren, Lewis and Alonso are both good, young drivers. I'm sure if Michael was in Ferrari this year and challenging the, they will push even harder to win.|||No.