Google News David Coulthard on the reasons why Alonso is better than Schumacher in his 40s
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David Coulthard drew a parallel between Alonso and Michael Schumacher in the Formula Success podcast. Although he is in his 40s, Alonso still shows how good he is. After leaving F1, Alonso decided to try his luck in other motorsports.
Coulthard believes that this is the reason why the Spaniard is still at a great level. “When Alonso stepped away from F1 the first time, he went straight into sports cars, IndyCar, he did the Dakar, he’s got a kart track and you see him out testing his karts at his facility in Spain,” -Coulthard said, as quoted by crash.net “So the uninterrupted being in the mode of being a racing driver, and all of the things that that keeps sharp in your mind.
There’s the expression, ‘Don’t let the old man in’. If you let the old man or the old woman in that, ultimately, is what you end up becoming. But, if you fight against that and you keep a young spirit for as long as nature will allow…"
David Coulthard on Michael Schumacher's return
Coulthard then gave the example of Schumacher, who returned to F1 in 2010, but was far from his true level.
It was clear that this was not the old Schumacher. “I think, in comparison to Michael, who stopped and no longer was racing, then went and played in motorbikes and then had a crash and broke a vertebra, and then came back to F1 three years after he’d originally stopped – he could still do go through the motions.
He was still an incredible individual, but he just wasn’t as good as he had been before he was in his 40s and the clock had moved. So I think it was that uninterrupted nature of Fernando’s time away from F1, as we saw with Kimi Raikkonen [who sat out 2010 and ’11] as well – he went away rallying”.
