Michael Schumacher not as adaptable as previously thought?

[PlatinumZealot]

I think all the excuses for the king's slowness really sum up to this; he is having a very hard time adapting to the new cars, the new tyres and the new regulations. I and many others once thought he could drive anything anywhere, anytime, but now Nico is showing us that is not true. According to Ross Brawn Schumacher can only drive fast when the tyres behave a certain way or when the car has a certain balance (going as far to change wheelbase). What do you guys think?

"One of the big things for us this year was the front tyres, as the tyre compounds have changed. And we haven't got on top of that. I think Nico, as part of the evolution of the tyres, is very skilled and very talented at using the tyres.

"I don't think Michael has quite worked out how to get the best from these tyres. Some tracks where the tyres are perhaps not such an issue then he is fine, where you get tracks like this where finding a way of getting the tyres to work is hard.

"I also don't think they reward an aggressive style. Michael's talents are an aggressive-style car that is on the edge of stability and controlling it there. I don't think these tyres reward such an approach, so it will be interesting next year to see what Pirelli come up with."

[mike]

i think this actually deserve an own thread

in 2007 bridgestone harden all tyres and u can see that aggressive entry drivers and less-aggressive entry drivers can drive at the same pace consistantly (kimi vs massa) (alonso vs lewis)

and if you look at the 2009 slick tyres it basically says u can take corners alot later while, aggressive entry drivers seems to lost some to the less aggro entry drivers

and now 2010 slick tyres it actually came back a bit as the rear can take a bit more abuse, while the front takes less, so the car became more under-steer friendly, so clearly if you have the wrong weight distribution, its hard to make it work

back to the grooved tyres, they seem too lose more grip as slip angle increase compared to the slicks, so therefore it implies that in order to drive them fast, u hav to average out the slip angle of the car/tyres throughout the corner (entry aggressive drivers), instead of focusing all the turning at 1 point (less entry aggressive driver)

Schumacher was good in his time for a reason,(soft and grooved tyres)

[Giblet]

I'll bite.

Alonso has driven each car the way it needs to be to go fast. He drove the Minardi, 05 and 06 Renault, 07 Mclaren, and 08 and 09 Renaults different. People think he still drives like he did in 05 and 06, cuz that was when he started winning dominantly and people started focusing on his style at the time. Short version, he drives each car different, and adapts to them quickly. Going from a quick Renault to a quick Mclaren to a slow Renault could cause many to lose their bearing with setup and style.

Michael needs to be able to the same, but his teammate is showing he can do it in whatever he drives, however it has to be driven.

[Aryoh]

Put Alonso, Hamilton, Kubica or any other driver on vacation for 3 year and than change motors, tires, and lots of other on cars and than judge Michael.

[Just_a_fan]

Schumacher was good in his time for a reason,(soft and grooved tyres)

Michael benefitted immensely from the availability of unlimited testing. He was able to fine tune the car to his requirements and was able to spend time getting used to new bits and new tyre specs as they evolved. He is unable to do that now and that, along with his being away for 3 years has meant he is struggling to dial himself in to the current cars and tyres.

He is, in effect, faced with a double whammy. The current tyres don't appear to suit his preferred style and he is unable to spend sufficient time on that issue because race weekend running is mostly limited to set up work for that weekend.

It was a big mistake coming out of retirement. A very big mistake.

[raymondu999]

Actually, I wonder if Hamilton is adaptable. He is known to favor oversteer, but he mainly has to wrestle an oversteery car. I don't think understeery was ever on his plate. Was it?

[Jersey Tom]

MS has driven in years of open tire competition with rapidly iterating constructions and compounds. He could pretty consistently stay on top of things then.. find it surprising that with a fairly well set palette of rubber he struggles so much.

Part of it could be the lack of testing.

Guy could just be old.

[xpensive]

I believe both JAF and JT have valid points. I've always belonged to those thinking that MS was more of an xtreme training product than a naturally gifted talent. He moved the goalpost on the concept of what a driver was, taking an active part in just about everything regarding car and team, while fit as anything walking on two legs.

These skills don't pay off these days, simple as that.

[mike]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/85823

"I think the characteristic we have on the front tyre at the moment is quite unusual, in the way because of the construction and choice of compounds, you put a load into it and it doesn't give more grip – it just flat lines, and that isn't very common for a tyre," Brawn added.

i thought this is quite interesting....

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Only when the car is fast or capable of winning will I make judgement.

Hamilton looked a novice in the Mclaren dog of the first part of 2009, second half he looked amazing. Hamilton remained the same but somthing changed...THE CAR!

[marcush.]

You are ignorant ,sorry to say this .
Schumacher came into F1 in Spa with no track knowledge one test the week before in Silverstone (Club circuit?) and stuck a Jordan on p7 beating de Cesaris who never was a slow qualifier and totally fearless ....

So his speed was real not something born out of endless testing or what have you.H e was instantly quick with everything he got hold off.If it was a F1 car.
He was good in f3 (Frentzen just as good),Sportscar (Frentzen was just as good ,but quicker in qualy),he was useless in DTM .

Why he is not able to beat Nico ? there are possible explanations :
He has lost some of his natural speed
Nico is just quicker
and the whens or ifs of technical items or human issues within the team


to claim he was not god anyways is really a joke .would you give an avaerage driver preferential status ? why should you.the guy delivered ,he gave Benneton 2 WDCs and Ferrari only 5.....

[xpensive]

In 1991, he was barely matching an ageing Nelson Piquet, who knew absolutely nothing about physical fitness.

[marcush.]

quick enough to send him into retirement..

[xpensive]

Nelson was on a funny contract, 100 000 USD per point, simply to collect his retirement fund. But to behold the two in the same team for 1992, instead of Brundle, good lord sparks and santa rolled into one.

[marcush.]

I ´m surprised just how many people feel inclined to show him now ,warwick the next bloke to have to rub in some old sentiment..
That Michael Schumacher seems not to have too many friends these days.
i wonder how it would have been if he was winning .