Wednesday November 3rd, 1999

Michael Schumacher is once again under fire from the Italian press, this time for photos of him drunk, partying with McLaren-Mercedes personnel after the Japanese GP. Leading the voice of rage was the daily Italian sports newspaper, Gazzeta dello Sport, whose editor wrote: "The sight of Schumacher drunk is above all unusual and unpleasant. We thought he only drank milk. But they tell me that every so often he transgresses and that because he's not used to it he collapses after the first drink and then starts playing up."

But more than the fact that Schumacher was drunk, the paper was enraged with the vision of a Ferrari star celebrating with the 'enemy'. "A sensitive man, a driver who loved Ferrari deeply, a champion who supported the cause and the image of his team would never have done it. It was as if he'd insulted the feelings that are inspired by the 'red religion'.

"Let's make it brutally clear. He is a hemisphere away from the passionate world which sustains the legend of a car which is famous but which hasn't won the world title for 20 years. He is an enormously talented driver who in return for great riches gives Ferrari his skill, experience, intuition and class, but not his heart. He is the perfect champion for an era, which has no place for flagbearers."

It should be noted, however, that Schumacher was in fact partying at the Winfield-Rothmans renowned hospitality motorhome of Karl-Heinz Zimmermann, where Schumacher had a beer with his brother Ralf, as well as other figures from Williams, McLaren and Ferrari. Furthermore, Zimmermann - an Austrian well known and liked in the paddock area - holds such parties every year at the end of the season and Schumacher always attends them, even after the controversial race of Jerez '97, when he had beers at Zimmermann's party with Jacques Villeneuve, amongst others.