Both are hailed as masters of motor racing: Michael Schumacher on four wheels, Valentino Rossi on two. Earlier this year, Rossi was even tipped to be joining – or replacing – Schumacher at Ferrari next year.
And in another coincidence Rossi is set to turn the kind of trick that Michael Schumacher was hoping to before his engine failure in Japan. He is set to land a record eighth motorcycle World Championship (his sixth in a row) in ten years.
Five races ago, Rossi lay 51 points behind Moto GP championship leader Nicky Hayden. But heading into the final race Rossi has seized the lead of the championship by eight points. A win is worth 25 points in Moto GP, so the feat is comparable with Schumacher catching Fernando Alonso whom he trailled by 24 points after the Canadian Grand Prix in June.
Schumacher knows that, realistically, he needs Alonso to retire from the last round in Interlagos if he is to have any chance of retiring from the sport as reigning champion.
But if he saw Hayden being taken out of today’s Moto GP race in Portugal by his own team mate Dani Pedrosa, he will have been reminded just how unpredictable motor racing can be.
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Tags: f1 / formula one / grand prix / motor sport
