The controversy dampened (but far from dormant) by Valentino Rossi on Twitter regarding the confrontation between him and Stoner is one that any journalist could lick his fingers over.
“Over the past 6 seasons, Stoner ran 100 races winning 33“, teased the Honda HRC team, prince of the 2011 World Championship thanks to the Australian rider's super-season, adding to the calculation also the 2 world titles conquered and the 34 pole positions.
Valid (same period with 101 races run and 26 won, plus 19 poles and 2 world championships won) retorted piqued: “It's easy to compare these numbers. Too bad that in 2006 – or at the beginning of the count – I had already won 53 times in the premier class and conquered 5 titles”.
Wonderful, for any self-respecting sports bar. But behind the face-to-face between the sensational victory percentages of the two champions (27,5% of races won for Rossi; 33% for Stoner) much more is hidden. That is: the time that runs. The legacy of super-champion DNA that changes hands. Values that for a passionate young person are worth bar discussions. But which for those who count a few more years symbolize the history of sport. And not just motorized.
But if we stay in the racing world, this equation appears more evident than in many other sports. Valentino supplanted by Stoner in the Olympus of two wheels smacks of an infinite saga. The same one that has produced a rotation of rare eloquence on four wheels over the last thirty years. Who does not remember Niki Lauda? He wrote an era by winning 2 titles with Ferrari, interspersed with a fire from which he miraculously escaped, then retired with great fanfare at the end of 1979. He returned at the beginning of the 80s, with McLaren: more for financial needs (it was said) than for irrepressible passion. And despite this, Lauda was crowned champion again in 1984, beating his McLaren mate Prost by half a point (!) Which in fact was faster than him, even if less experienced and cold.
It was in fact Prost who took over from Lauda the baton of super-champion: two titles, 1985 and '86. Then it was Senna's turn. Also in that case, the two were team mates, always in McLaren. Prost was very expert and cold, regular, calculating. Senna uncatchable, even from the stopwatch. Prost tripped him in 1989, snatching the title from him for a blatantly voluntary ram in the penultimate race. Senna had already captured the 1988 title; so he did it again in '90 (in turn ramming the Frenchman, who in the meantime moved to Ferrari) and was consecrated world champion in '91. Indisputable number 1.
New backlash from Prost in 1993: Senna beaten for the World Championship, but only because the Frenchman's Williams was worth much more than McLaren. But at that point it was no longer Prost, the thorn in Ayrton's side. It was Michael Schumacher. The handover took place in May 1994: Senna killed by a trivial accident at Imola was the cause; but the German had started the season dominating, and would have finished it with the first title then doubled the following year, in a panorama now free from champions. Schumacher's 5 further titles with Ferrari (from 2000 to 2004) are yesterday's news. But there was already a certain Alonso on Renault, ready to beat him in 2005 and 2006, effectively decreeing his retirement, then canceled two years ago with a return to Mercedes which to date has not provided the desired results.
Time flies, dear Schumi. Alonso can confirm it himself: considered today the most complete driver on the track, despite a Ferrari no longer a total weapon; but without a doubt worried by Sebastian Vettel's long shadow who dominated the last two seasons of Grand Prix with Red Bull. A concern that Valentino Rossi is probably experiencing today, exactly identical, when he is called to speak about Casey Stoner. If only because she is 6 years younger than him. And probably, even more so, because he doesn't seem to care at all about controversies like this one...
