marcush. wrote:ringo wrote:This talk of Button's car holds no weight.
I know Button said it, but i don't think he was serious. How can a car be made for him and he never spun a wheel in it.
We should know by now, tailor made cars are just excuses for when one driver does bad and the other does well.
Rosberg drives nothing like Button and he has 3 podiums from that W01.
may I remind you kindly of some Jean Alesi and GerhardBerger who came to Benetton both with wins under their belts TO the winners of the last two championships with Mr.Schu and they found the thing impossible to drive to the limit?
Both sudffered severe crashes trying to extract time of it and only after benettons techies finally realised they only had a car to suit Schumacher they started to make progress and moved forward ..It took Gerhard 3 years to win again..
also Button had years when he saw no land compared to ..who was that ,Ralf ,Fisi?
I also recall how difficult it was for Fisi to adapt to his new Ferrari at the end of last season, so these are examples of where competent and proven Formula One drivers have had difficulty in adapting to a car design. This also supports the theory that a car can be designed for one specific driver, and not be as suitable for his teammate (example, McLaren).
When it comes to Michael Schumacher and his return to racing, I try to examine this entire scenario with the big picture in mind. Without a doubt, Mercedes are heavily involved in motorsport. After many years supporting other teams, they took the plunge and bought their own team. These recent actions support the notion that Mercedes intend to cash racing success in Formula One into prestige and cachet for their road cars. Ferrari reaped huge chunks of public opinion as a result of their glory years of 2000-2005.
So Mercedes are in for the long haul, they intend to build a team that hopefully can carry them to the same kinds of success as Ferrari enjoyed. There are smart people running Mercedes, and they know you just don't build a genuine contender overnight, and that it isn't easy.
In 2009 this same team was named "Brawn", and they won the championship. So far, so good. But this was a team lacking in the huge resouces that Ferrari and McLaren enjoy. Considering that Brawn didn't lock up the titles until near the end of the season, it's reasonable to assume Brawn dedicated as much resources as possible towards capturing that title. Meanwhile, both Ferrari and Red Bull had given up on their '09 designs are were already investing in the 2010 car. So when you don't dedicate as much time and money as others towards the next year's car, it probably won't be as quick. Not that it's a dog, it just doesn't have the thousands of hours of fine-tuning and tweaking of design as others.
So that's what Mercedes had when they purchased Brawn, a decent team and a car that probably wasn't going to be as good as the front-runners. That's OK, because Mercedes now had the nucleus of a new team that would eventually lead them to glory. Then of course, along comes Schumacher and he comes out of retirement.
Some people perceive a driver as just someone who jumps into the car, operates the controls, and goes fast. For myself, that's only the beginning, and I measure a driver by many other factors. And Michael Schumacher brings an impressive array of talents to his new team. On two different occasions during his career he has been part of the cycle of taking a so-so team into a powerhouse that won titles. He did it with Benetton, and he did it with Ferrari. That kind of experience is invaluable in building a new powerhouse team. For example, when Michael first went to Ferrari, it was like living in a Marx brothers movie, it was such a farce. But once things got sorted out, Ferrari had been transformed into an efficient machine that ruthlessly mowed anyone aside and won races and titles. We didn't see many mistakes, the team operated with great precision and purpose. And behind the scenes, Michael was part of that process, identifying problems, making suggestions, all in the end benefitting his team.
And that's my perception of Michael Schumacher's role within the Mercedes team. They intend to build a powerhouse Formula One team, but first and foremost, Mercedes have to take a decent team, identify required changes, stabilize the team in 2010, and build onwards past that point. To expect wins in 2010 is a bit unrealistic considering the car that Mercedes inherited in 2010, and to expect a title in 2011 is just too much. But it takes time to construct a team that continually runs near the front, Mercedes know that, and I hope some of their fans can understand too.
I have watched Schumacher since his first foray into Formula One. He isn't as quick as when he was in Benetton, the man is succumbing to the ageing process. Behavior-wise, he hasn't changed, he still conducts himself in the same way as before. And when you seriously ask yourself if he's adaptable, just examine his situation at present within his team. Both drivers are new to the Mercedes, yet Rosberg is generally beating the snot out of Schumacher, posting quicker times almost every time, be it in practice, or qualifying, or the race.
Mercedes hired Schumacher based on what he was, and Michael is not going to change or adapt, because he doesn't have to.
Racing should be decided on the track, not the court room.
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. The only thing the probably adapted for him is probably the cockpit size and a default steering wheel design.