Seems Michael Schumacher is busier than ever since his ‘retirement’ – between official Ferrari duties, parachute jumping and, er, the odd TV appearance – so we weren’t going to miss the chance to chat F1 with him.
Somewhere in between his FXX lap and interview with JC for last Sunday’s telly show, we sat him in front of TopGear.com’s own camera for his thoughts on this season.
In Schuey on F1, the seven-time world champ talks about his current advisory role at Ferrari F1, helping to develop the road cars, and mentoring Felipe Massa.
“[I] give our drivers some help but I’m certainly not a coach,” he says, but with the caveat that both Massa and Kimi Raikkonen are more than capable of knowing what to do in a race.
We also get the Schumacher view on this season’s rule changes, the proposed budget cap, and whether turning 40 has slowed him down at all. Seems not.
Schuey on Lewis talks about Hamilton’s form this season, and why he appears to have swapped places with Button at the front. Is it driver or car… or team?
There’s also a nice quote about when a new F1 car doesn’t come together properly after a great previous season: it makes the drivers ‘look like we’re all kind of idiots’ – and what that felt like for Schuey in 2005 with Ferrari.
Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo gets a mention, too – is it true he broke a few TVs during the more difficult races in Schuey’s career? ‘Occasionally I have received some bills’, he said.
In the final clip – Schuey in the FXX – Michael tells us what it’s like breaking records on the TG test track, and how even an 800-odd bhp race-prepped Ferrari doesn’t give him an adrenalin rush.
He only gets that now from jumping out of planes now: “Yes, I have a licence for it,” he says.
Who knew?
UPDATE, June 24: these videos are now available outside the UK…
Maybe you should ask topgear.com to make this article available only to uk viewers, because it’s very annoying for non-uk people to see a message saying we can’t see the videos every time.
Quite agree with David
It’s very annoying…
At the risk of starting an international incident, (And please excuse my ignorance) but whats the point of having a web site with movie clips on it that the rest of the world can not watch.
I live for TopGear, TopGear defines me! Whats the reason other countries maynot enjoy the viewing… after all we support the mag and tv program. Or dont we?
How come some clips can be viewed outside the UK and others can’t? Is it something to do with the licences in Britain? It’d be helpful to know these things, as then you’d have less complaining!!
Again, sorry to all those that want the clips available outside the UK. At the moment, we’re not allowed to put them up for a worldwide audience, but we should be able to do so in time. I’ll keep you posted…
(TopGear.com editor)
And would be nice also to have them for iphones
Hello Mr. Regan
If you’re not allowed to put them up for a worldwide audience (by the BBC or whoever) maybe you would be able to put them on YouTube?
I can remember that a couple of seasons back we were able to watch those clips on the website.
Thats not the way globalization was ment to be.
sincerley
A german fan that wants to see an interview with our national icon
PLease still make jokes about the stig.
and if my opinion matters i really wish u hadnt revealed the stigs identity.
he aint da stig he cant keep flying here from Geneva! (his home)
Hi TopGear,
Couldn’t you organise a TopGear Stiggy challenge?
Same car, same track but a couple of Stiggies.
Be fun to see who’s the fastest Stig of them all.
Keep up the pace, love your show!
Ben Collins will be very upset to see people actually believing MSC as real stig.. Oh well.
even i dont know who the actual stig is. :hihi:
ohh, and Thank you very much for hiding the videos from the rest of the world, it shows how much britts care abt the rest of the world, or or may be there is a very very speciel defense/National secret in every video that BBC dont want to reveal to other nations.
tsk tsk.
its about damn time BBC should START treating other people living outside UK like HUMAN BEINGS
okay see… that we can’t see the latest clips from the show is understandable for me. I realise that Topgear is aired on other international channels and they won’t buy them from you if anyone can see them on the site already…
BUT… these clips are never gonna be aired, they aren’t a part of the show which is sold to foreign channels… so basicly anyone outside the UK will NEVER be able to see this, no matter how long we wait for them.
How the heck is that fair treatment? Either show these clips (from topgear.com themselfs) to everyone or just don’t bother making them anymore since harldy anyone (seeing that the UK is just a TINY percentage of the global TG fan base) can watch it. <_<
I really wish people would stop moaning about the UK-only-ness. Yes, it’s a shame, but to persist even after it’s been explained is just annoying. Especially the ones who start bringing Brit pride or some utter garbage into it.
I don’t live in the UK but hey, this is the internet and if one WANTS one GETS. There are infinite ways of seeing the clips and I am not encouraging illegal stuff but just saying the ways are there…. no need to complain.
Just post the following code in the ADDRESS bar of your browser AFTER you click on the video page. (When it says “country not available” and so on).
javascript:eval($(‘#mainC ontent%20.feature%20scrip t’).html().replace(‘playe rID’,'ttt’).replace(‘adSe rverURL’,'ggg’));
and it’ll work.
enjoy.
I can´t believe that BBC can´t put this clips online for the world to see.. only to later broadcast in their world journal horror stories of censorship in China and Iran!
Hilvar, from Lys.
Why you have to be so selfish!, the success of Topgear is not only beacuse of uk viewers but world wide viewers that have been following the show since the first seasons when Tiff was still part of that team.
For the poeple that still cannot check the videos, just go to youtube, most of teh tiem they are tehre already!
schuie could be the stig why would someone like him actually pretend he was if he isn’t
@ Alex (Post 15)
That doesn´t work for me.
well, then i enjoy the advertisment, which are strangely in my language.
Nobody botherd blocking those for my region.
it does seem to be credible and who else the michale have watchedover and over again and why not easy way to dive good cars whitout themanufacturers knowing and also makes sence as to how they got the bugatti veron
Who says Germans don’t have a sense of humour? He was hilarious on the show, good stuff
HE has obviously seen it beofre/part of it because some of the topics being brougt up were briliant(someon winning constantly) ross brawn and the cars top drawer stuff
@ Shameless: I think schuhmi was only there because he wanted to show the world, that the new FerrariFXX Kicks Ass around a track. Its his Personal car that you see there.(which points to a publicity stunt from Ferrari)Top Gear is shot on wednesdays. It is unlikely that Schuhmacher would travel from one end of the world ,only to do a Lap on Top Gear track, and then head back to the race, to do his training sessions on thursday and friday.(at least as long as he was an active driver). He is also very busy as adviser for Ferrari, and has to travel a lot for charity and Publicity events. But i bet he is a fan of Top Gear too. But he does not walk like the Stig.
Hello, i love your show and I’m 18. I have one question. Please send me the replay on my email I’m not special but i just want to know please.
I was wondering what The Stig (Schumacher) thinks about the Nissan GTR V-Spec. I know a lot about cars and I’m reading all the day when i have time. And why don’t you test V-Spec or LM edition to your track? I think it can go in top 5. t]Thanks for the attention.
h.d.s@abv.bg
he isn’t the stig so it doesn’t matter.
Ya know I could tell you a whole load of websites outside of the UK that don’t let you watch their videos… Do you really think it’s just us?
Very frustrating not being able to watch what others can and I don’t why it is that way. But don’t think only BBC & the United Kingdom does it.
As for Stiggy, I’m with SLICKRUBBER. Get’s the real Stig’s identity off the hook for a bit I guess and hopefully the internet geeks calm down. Roll on next weeks TG!
One more thing, the FXX (Black, 30/30) was Schumacher’s personal car, TG asked ferrari to lend them a car, the rest 29 are owned by other people who cant allow their million quid machine alongwith them to driver in UK for some reasons, so TG thought, what better then to have schumi on the program and but wasnt it a crack! i’ve never seen TG audiance gone that much wild before.
Any way, Real stig (Black one) was perry Mcarthy, former F1 driver and a good racer at different catagories, this White one is Ben Collins, a brillient racer at many many catagories including occasional F1 test driver. More over, Stig has been changed from time to time accordingly, For instance, the renault F1 they drove on their test track was actually Heikki kovalinen, The MotoSki in top gear winter olympics was done by that… guy Goosh i forgot his name.. ohh
Any way, the regular hot laps they do on their track are done by real stig.
That Ferrari that was tested was Michael Schumacher very own FXX. This leads to me thinking there’s more than one Stig.
Side note, If you live in the US(like me) Find a UK proxy and then paste and sit back.
any chance you can get crackin on releasing the videos to the world,considering the fact that im a huge tp fan live for it… and also seeing that you came to dublin had a live show. and still yet we cant watch the videos this sucks and is really begining to annoy me about top gear…. get on with it.
wow!..i mean wow!!..schumi is the stig?!!..jezza is a no nonsense guy..he wont support hoaxes..michael is the only guy who could kill the other fi driver’s times..scumacher for US president!!!
and jezza for british pm!!
Wow… e resumee for a video… nice work… why can’t we see the videos? On topgear.ro there aren’t any. Why this ridiculous policy?
Hi Paul#5
Will sunday’s show be broadcoasted again? Missed it and am from NL so can’t watch the video’s indeed!
Hmm, gotto say I am disaappinted. Thats not the Stigs body language. I think, and quite understandably so, there are multiple Stigs depending on TopGear needs and location.
Bad publicity stunt from TopGear, Ferrari and Schumi in my humble opinion.
Apoligies to bring this up again, but I have not seen any reasons why TopGear.com may not broadcast the footage to the rest of the world.
Thanks goodness for Youtube. Soon we wont need to be supporting the topgear.com site anymore!
I think it’s a big mistake to reveal “The Stig” identity.
Same like how men watch women. With, even when is’t very little, clothes the are sexier.
Hi all,
An update on the UK-only situation for you: we’re unlocking the Schumacher interview clips as I type you should be able to see them wherever you are. There are various policy reasons why we have to hold back certain video, but, as I said, we’re looking at what we can do with those.
As always, I’ll keep you updated.
(TopGear.com editor)
REAL STIG = BEN COLLINS
Nuff said!
To Paul Regan,
Thanks for unlocking the video clips.
thank you for allowing the videos to be viewed by non-UK members!
A Truly Amazing Man !!! I mean Who Wold Think Michael Schumacher Was The STIG ? MMMMEEEE!!!
i live in ireland i topgear at the same time on the same channel as people in the uk why cant i waqtch the vids
if he was the stig how could he fly from geneva to london every week. thats a bit stupid
Looks like it was not a good idea to reveal MSC as the Stig. Since he can not be the Stig for obvious reasons, I do not think anybody would care anymore who the actual Stig is. Simply because he would be someone other than MSC all the attractiveness of the secret is blown away.On the other hand, it was the right move if this result was intended.
the stig is’t schumacher it’s just a set up to stop people asking. but the thing is now there are even more comments flying round>
the interviews are great!!!
Thank you TG for releasing these interview, really enjoyed them
one remark about the FXX time though… I hope that laptime isn’t staying right? I mean it would be pretty unfair since a couple of cars have been there aswell, but were disqualified because they couldn’t run over sleeping policemen. The FXX also isn’t raodlegal and thus shouldn’t be up there imho.
And if it is, then the DBR9’s time of 1m 8sec should also be put back on
why is the FXX (a track only car that barely handles a bump) allowed on the board, when the street legal Caparo isn’t.
“Schuey in the FXX
How many laps does it take for Michael Schumacher to know the Top Gear track? And how does his Ferrari FXX track car feel compared to a Formula One car? We find out…”
If Shumi was the Stig, why would they even ask how many laps it would take him to know the TopGear track. If he were the Stig, he would have done thousands by now. He should know the track like the back of his hand.
Ok, Ive wasted 48 hours of my life on this issue, I am moving on now!
here in Italy we can see it….
KAK !!!!!!!!!
Great to see Shumi on the episode. I think he was a great sport considering the jokes JC has made about him in the past…Shumi seemed relaxed even!!..for a German…
I remember watching the lap in the Fxx and thinking..holy shat…did you how tight his lines were out of Chicago and the hammer head, I knew it had to be someone else than the regular stig (I didnt know he was going to be on..honest)..really a lap of a driving god!!! I would love to see the normal stig’s lap time in the Fxx or even JC’s
you know what would be funny? If they pulled the stig identity trick every episode this season. and if it was really susan boyle one of those times.
To all the people from abroad who moan about not being able to watch top gear clips on the website.
Topgear is produced by the BBC (_British_ Broadcasting Corporation) and is paid for by something called the licence fee which British people are supposed to pay in order to get a TV licence, which gives you the right to watch TV. So if you all get to watch it, then in my opinion, you should all pay for it. So we should make the Topgear video vault subscription to people abroad and free for the UK.
I bet none of the moaners would subscribe, and would complain about having to pay instead.
Philpac…
Im not entiely with you. Are web videos also subject to broadcasting rergulations?
How does Youtube get away with it then?
is he the real stig?
Revealing the Stig was the most stupit idea from Top Gear ,they practicly killed the Stig , the guy who thought of this should be shot , i mean the very idea of the Stig is that of a mistery man , the guy behind the wheel that nobody knows about , now what? a new Stig , i mean you’ve done black ,now white , whats next purple ? ’cause Top Gear ain’t Top Gear without Stig no? come on , what the hell are you doing ? anyway im wayting for their next move ? sorry for my English …
The BBC in the UK is funded by UK residents via a TV license which costs over £100 a year and quite frankly why the hell should we have to pay to watch or get fined a £1000. All those complaining should count themselves lucky they get to see the show at all! thee BBC sells the show to other broadcasters out side the UK which is why you can see them. it’s the same with the premier league, w have to pay to see our matches but most outside the UK get them for free, all of them!
Topgear was great! Watched it last night, superb!
Also watched a summery of last yrs season F1, it was so great, why all these changes? Now Mosley is crying again, what the hell. Back to the ´08 cars and away with this man!
Just a thanks for unlocking the interview videos. I understand you have annoying restrictions “due to the unique way in which the BBC is funded,” but it’s very impressive and exciting to see our comments are heard. Of all the fun behind the scenes and outtake vids on this site I think those were the ones most of us were interested in seeing. Thank you TopGear.com
Is it true that tonight’s show will be available to UK viewers only ??
Is he the real STIG? or is it a wind up?
I don’t think Michael Schumacher is the real STIG
Like everyone else I was very excited to see the race between the McLaren F1 and the Bugatti Veyron, but when you announced the race was to be over a distance of one mile rather than the established standing start quarter mile universally used to determine the fastest/quickest accelerating car, I realised it was rigged in favour of the Bugatti’s top end of 252mph against the McLaren F1’s of 240mph.
The McLaren F1 (despite only having one engine, being 15 years older, and having no traction control)left the Bugatti standing by some distance for the first quarter of a mile, and the Bugatti didn’t catch up with the McLaren F1 until they were at about the half mile mark….
If you wanted to guage their performance with greater accuracy, you should have marked their track position relevant to one another at the point where the McLaren F1 reached it’s top speed, not when the Bugatti could overtake with it’s extra 12mph top speed.
That aside, the Bugatti will always lose out on looks to the gorgeous McLaren F1.
Just one more thing – will Top Gear ever let The Stig take a McLaren F1 around the track at their base….Many thanks for a wonderful programme.
ola massa vai fundo amigo torco por vc fica com deus