Schumacher Netflix Documentary

[BillyBobSenna]

What do other think about the Schumacher Netflix special?

I thought is was ok but not great. These are some of my take-aways:

• Interesting to learn about his pre-F1
• Surprised so much of the documentary was sub-titled. I assume it was more targeted at the German audience.
• To much emphasis on his relationship with this wife.
• Interesting story about him hitting Villeneuve. Would have liked to have seen an interview with Villeneuve.
• Also no coverage of his dominating Ferrari years

 

[Durge Driven]

My takeaway, David Coulthard backing off in wet at Spa was 10 times as dangerous as anything Michael ever did !

 

[Sasha Jednak]

I liked it, as someone who started watching F1 at the end of 1999/start 2000, it was nice to get more details from his not dominant car years. Most of things I already knew, and personally this didn't change that he is on top of my favourite F1 drivers list.

 

[Jan Larsen]

What do other think about the Schumacher Netflix special?

I thought is was ok but not great. These are some of my take-aways:

• Interesting to learn about his pre-F1
• Surprised so much of the documentary was sub-titled. I assume it was more targeted at the German audience.
• To much emphasis on his relationship with this wife.
• Interesting story about him hitting Villeneuve. Would have liked to have seen an interview with Villeneuve.
• Also no coverage of his dominating Ferrari years

Pretty much agree with all of that. The fact they glazed over the dominant Ferrari years is a shame, would have liked to see how he co-developed the cars with the team in those years. And I'd have liked to see more from his last race, the emotions, behind-the-scenes stuff when he stepped out of the car for the last time.
But one thing did pretty much get confirmed - he's basically in a vegetative state now. The fact the junior said he would give up everything to be able to talk motorsport with him tells me he's not able to communicate, certainly not with words. And that makes me sad having grown up seeing him race and win all through my youth

 

[NDG]

Yep, watched it, nothing I can say that I didn't know except the partying. It felt more like a review of what he has done, and they shortcut, or rather cut out 5 years of Ferrari Championship and put it into a single paragraph if it was in written form. I guess I was hoping to see a glimpse of the present him, but I knew it before starting to watch that it's just wishful thinking. I thought if Senna didn't die, Michael will not be the Michael that we are talking about right now.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Was nice to see all the old footage again from the 90s but I don't understand why after all these years millions of fans around the world need to guess how their hero is doing.

I don't with to take part in the guessing game but I can't helping feeling this would have a been a good opportunity to lift that curtain and talk about his state.

 

[BillyBobSenna]

Was nice to see all the old footage again from the 90s but I don't understand why after all these years millions of fans around the world need to guess how their hero is doing.

I don't with to take part in the guessing game but I can't helping feeling this would have a been a good opportunity to lift that curtain and talk about his state.

I agree. I don't understand the secrecy. His accomplishments are not impacted by his current health conditions.

 

[NDG]

I agree. I don't understand the secrecy. His accomplishments are not impacted by his current health conditions.

In our opinion, I guess you are correct. But maybe the image, or state that he is in is not acceptable for the family to show or disclose. I will simply respect that.

 

[Ben Lee]

I thought the documentary was ok, but didn’t mention the Monaco 2006 incident at all, and totally glossed over his Mercedes comeback.

 

[BillyBobSenna]

I thought the documentary was ok, but didn’t mention the Monaco 2006 incident at all, and totally glossed over his Mercedes comeback.

Also the drives against Alonso.

 

[Dux]

What do other think about the Schumacher Netflix special?

I thought is was ok but not great. These are some of my take-aways:

• Interesting to learn about his pre-F1
• Surprised so much of the documentary was sub-titled. I assume it was more targeted at the German audience.
• To much emphasis on his relationship with this wife.
• Interesting story about him hitting Villeneuve. Would have liked to have seen an interview with Villeneuve.
• Also no coverage of his dominating Ferrari years

Well most of what was shown I knew, like 95% of it, however it was nice to see it directed and put into one official documentary with soundtracks and all that arranged properly. That was very nice and touching.

It was interesting to see his beginnings, with some private footage which wasn't seen so far, or the way he took Senna's death contrary to the popular believe that he didn't cared and was arrogant, definitely the opposite. Loved the mentality he had on with Villeneuve accident Jerez 97. All in all, really they have materials to make 10 episodes not 1 documentary, so it's really hard to put it all in hour and half.

I was expecting it to be emotional, and held through Senna, his love for his wife, the sacrifices his wife made, his son comments, Suzuka 00 but that ending got me. That ending as he was flying through Monaco with the camera showing his vibrating helmet, the moment he stopped at the chicane after the tunnel, and accelerated again with the music coming on again stronger, that really got me.

So many childhood memories!

The only thing that I disliked was three occasions where they missed Rubens for Michael and in the end putting Berger sliding through Casino corner as well. To me that is a sign of a not very careful editing or the least editing by someone who really couldn't figure out the helmet colors. But they are good to make it dramatic. How it should be in the end.

 

[tr1v1um]

I thought the documentary was ok, but didn’t mention the Monaco 2006 incident at all, and totally glossed over his Mercedes comeback.

I think by todays standards the incident at Monaco 2006 isn't something that's worth mentioning all that much. Infact it has been copied by other drivers and it's astonishing that the FIA hasn't managed to solve the issue for 15 years while another series across the pond shows how it's done. It's just a tiny part of the puzzle that made the driver who he was. I am also not sure if Schumacher is really that much more controversial than other big personalities of the sport. He had a few occasions where he crossed a line even in the early days, but all greats of the last 30 years had their highs and lows.

As other people here have pointed out, there is a bit too much of his family in the documentary, but that's propably just me being a petrol head. They tried to convey the image of him being a nice personality but given his success and the stories of other drivers that time would have been better spend talking about stuff like the Group C times, his one race in DTM when he decided the title fight and stuff like that. I couldn't care less if he was a party guy or not. For anyone looking for a good F1 documentary I would clearly recommend the Williams documentary over this one. And for people who are German or understand German I also can recommend the YT channel "Alte Schule". Much more info there than anywhere else.

 

[Antony Snook]

I wont put it down but from what i heard it deals with information on the surface that fans like me already know. Its kind of like SKY TV F1 commentary. Tell me something i don't know.
I would like a 2nd episode for more in depth fans like me.
Kind of like the Senna movie. I enjoyed the early years that i missed but after 1990 its like i lived through it.

 

[Dux]

.

 

[Dux]

I think by todays standards the incident at Monaco 2006 isn't something that's worth mentioning all that much. Infact it has been copied by other drivers and it's astonishing that the FIA hasn't managed to solve the issue for 15 years while another series across the pond shows how it's done. It's just a tiny part of the puzzle that made the driver who he was. I am also not sure if Schumacher is really that much more controversial than other big personalities of the sport. He had a few occasions where he crossed a line even in the early days, but all greats of the last 30 years had their highs and lows.

As other people here have pointed out, there is a bit too much of his family in the documentary, but that's propably just me being a petrol head. They tried to convey the image of him being a nice personality but given his success and the stories of other drivers that time would have been better spend talking about stuff like the Group C times, his one race in DTM when he decided the title fight and stuff like that. I couldn't care less if he was a party guy or not. For anyone looking for a good F1 documentary I would clearly recommend the Williams documentary over this one. And for people who are German or understand German I also can recommend the YT channel "Alte Schule". Much more info there than anywhere else.

Williams doc would be entirely something else. While at it, speaking of them, Ferrari is probably better, and Mclaren.