Betrand Gachot and Russel Crowe would make best friends ey... PUNCH ON!!
Still, in reference to Schumi. I can't see how he'd be a negative influence on development for next year's car. You're talking about the bloke who would win the WDC, have the shortest summer break of all his fellow F1 drivers (Unlike Senna, who'd just f*cking disappear for 3 months), go back to Maranello and bang in countless laps, one after another, in order to produce and develop yet another world championship winning machine.. For God's sake, they managed it 5 times (6 constructors wins not to mention). In the end, we talk about how Schumi won his first WDC in a Benetton, which wasn't so much a rubbish car (Not much designed by Rory Byrne ever was), but the ford powerplant was not the work Renault package.. Yet he still brought home the bacon.. Remember 1996 in John Barnard's woeful Ferrari?? Nearly beating Villeneuve in a lesser car in 1997, and likewise vs Hakkinen in 1999??? 7th position in qualy, driving for Jordan, on a track he'd never raced on before (SPA), which as we know, ended up being one of his strongest circuits (Along with Imola, Monaco, Mangy Cours, Montreal and others).
Nige on the other hand, just grew/trimmed his mo and whinged a lot... Not Schumi.. He's probably lost his real keen edge that he used to have, but it would be safe to say that fierce competitor is still in there, just waiting to burst out, he's still mega fit, he's a tactical genius and I'll bet anything there is still a gargantuan amount of racecraft within Schumi still, even these days. The confidence and experience is there, no doubt, plus, never discount a wiley old fox that is still a bit hungry... I reckon Schumi is, and I can't wait for Valencia!