Rosberg expects a level playing field at Mercedes

[marcush.]

Nico has said very clear that they have a similar driving style and that everything that Schumacher got in terms of improvements benefits him as well. Good example is the blown wing. Schumacher tested it and approved it. Nico took it on board for qualifying and the race and profited by it. No sign really of a disadvantage. At the moment Nico is simply quicker and the team is delighted about that. If there is any pressure it is clearly on Michael to fulfill the expectations.

My impression is that Schumacher will not close the gap until Brawn switches resources to the 2011 design in summer. There may even be the risk for Schumacher that the team tries Nick and he has to step back to let the team maximize points for the 2010 WCC. It would be a bitter experience.

So there are two possibilities :1.Schumacher simply has lost it in those three years ,and it will have to be seen if he can raise back to former heights.
2.the car does not perform in relation to Rosbergs .

but why would he fall back instead of coming closer ?Nico adapting to the team better ? or him degrading already from the euphoria of starting up again? Or the car developping a problem?

the fact that they will give him a new chassis will remove all doubts there.after this there is not much in terms of excuses left and maybe we will see him loose interest quickly when realising he will not be WC again.

btw did Shovlin ever work with someone else than Jenson Button as senior Race engineer? He started out at Benetton and went to BAR were he was assitant RE to Olivier Panis then was promoted to SRE to Jenson ...maybe the two just do not fit
very well?

[WhiteBlue]

My impression of the Shanghai race was Schumacher having a tyre related problem which others did not have. It is as if he expects the tyres to behave totally different to what they actually do.

[marcush.]

My impression of the Shanghai race was Schumacher having a tyre related problem which others did not have. It is as if he expects the tyres to behave totally different to what they actually do.

So ....what is going on in their briefings debriefings? this must have been something they have to discuss .?? is it the Maestro is telling how things should be going and nobody dares to raise his voice? or is it even the other way round that Nico and his guys keep their cards close to the chest and let the old man fall in every trap ..you never know.

[ArchAngel]

...is it even the other way round that Nico and his guys keep their cards close to the chest and let the old man fall in every trap ..you never know.

Though I feel this is less likely than the other alternative explanations, I wouldn't put this bit of gamesmanship past team Rosberg (as speculatively orchestrated by Keke and Jock Clear) in their bid to gain a clear upper-hand in the intra-team rivalry. But one would also think that a 7-time WDC should not so easily fall sucker to such ploys 4 races in a row.

[lebesset]

michael is not used to a level playing field ; when last in F1 he had

the resources of one of the biggest teams behind him
a car specifically tailored to him
tyres specifically tailored to him
special treatment for the team from the FIA

and then it took him until the fourth season to win the championship

there were of course other factors which I am sure I don't need to mention here

but he is an excellent driver ...give him time ; personally I don't expect to see him champion again , but I do hope to see him winning races again , at least he deserves that , even if he doesn't get the latitude he previously enjoyed

personally I would like to see the tyre monopoly maintained , no going back to the years when only cars on the best tyre had a chance , we need a level playing field there as well ! avon would do just nicely , plenty of racing tyre experience , and as they are now owned by cooper tire , american interest as well !

[marcush.]

c´mon ..lets speculate..you were 3 years out ..it s the first time you will be competing on intermediates .. you would surely ask your collegue just how these inters work compared to what you know..
-so either rosberg did not know ,and can only use them correctly out of his natural
abilities
-or he talked the differences down and MS realised only when the second set of tyres went away from him in the same manner as the first set...
-or MS is looking for excuses ,or lets say explanations.

[marcush.]

I really have to lough that anyone and his cat seems to have found a new pasttime to
explain why Schumacher is past it and will destroy his nimbus...

the same Schumacher everyone said had a career which was marred or devalued by some less than fortunate happenings ...lets dwell again on them:

-kicking out Hill from winning the title in Australia ,Bennetton cheats,Villeneuve bumping ,Montecarlo parking..
Have I forgot anything?

there were lots of Champions who kept driving and maybe were not really cutting the mustard at the end of their careers but who cares?
why not let him have fun and earn some money as long as he can ....I cannot understand why someone given the same chance would not even blink before signing the contract has the right and view of himself to drop the axe over this guy.
he is not actually slow .He just is not as fast as Rosberg at this time.

so maybe he´ll end his F1 career as Piquet sr,Hill,Villeneuve,Mansell,Lauda, Rosberg,Fittipaldi,Hulme,Hunt,Jones and Scheckter..not in a winning ways ....but who cares ? Would anyone say one of those was not a deserving champ?
Does schumacher even care what these people be it armchair judges be it yesterdays
almost guys or tabloids trying to make money and not giving a --- for anything write ,say or think?

I feel Mercedes has done the right thing signing him if nothing else it proved Rosbergs worth .

[marcush.]

quite revealing story there..

http://www.motorsport-total.com/f1/news ... 42810.html

Brawn rues his team for being sort of paralised by the shear presence of MS and
maybe listening too much to his input during the last weeks and speaks of having
learned some lessons recently .He hints at the team having to learn to handle him just as a normal persson less as an idol to make sure the team gets the job done.

[nipo]

I suppose some people in Mercedes are getting very anxious about fixing the "Schumacher problem", as I call it. He was given confidence and was assumed to be good marketing for the brand. As it turns out he was passed like a backmarker at the Shanghai round and there was nothing very "champion-ish" about it. The world at the moment probably sees both Merc and Schumacher made a stupid decision. The Sliver Arrows certainly wouldn't like this and would throw everything to make sure at least Schumi gets some good results. We might see the current level playing field skewed when the major updates start coming in over the middle of the season.

There are already reports that Schumacher will first receive an updated chassis targetted to fix specific problems he is encountering. I doubt whether this will really get to the bottom of the problems because Brawn himself revealed that it was hard to understand the exact issues Michael is having with the car. In any case, Merc is already working at making sure their priced investment in the seven-time world champ will bear fruit. I still bet Nico would crush Michael for at least a few more races, though, because Nico is really calm and just knows how to bring results home (as demonstrated this season and the previous ones with Williams). He's clearly the better driver as of now.

Actually, it is very sad to see MS come back like this... You can't really compare this with how other champions ended their careers. Schumi's career already ended and it ended on quite a high. A decision to come back is completely different from a decision to stay around for a while, and naturally it is perceived as confidence in both team and driver that the comeback will bear some fruit. Sadly, it is the complete opposite so far.

[marcush.]

in what is it different to what Niki Lauda did a long time ago?,or Prost taking a sabbatical.
drivers struggling due to cars not suiting them is normal...next to none could drive
the bennetton taking schumacher to two worldchampionships.
Schumacher did not fail in those four races ,in fact if Heidfeld was in MS place and had bagged the same results we would not discuss much more than what a pity it was with all those incidents at the start of the year.so our perception is bleaked by the unreal expectations we have in terms of how quick you could possibly jump in and be at the front.
in fact he was a few tenths slower than Nico (barring the china race)not hopeless or mediocre.
compare this with lotus and Virgin ,both loaded with experience in no ways newcomers into the sport ...still they are not one second behind but 4 or 5 per lap....this is not easy
it is not meant to be easy .You cannot jump in after 3 years and expect to wipe the floor with guys who are fine tuning their finesse for years now...

[autogyro]

+1
I am sure Michael is well aware of his shortcomings and I do not see his results up until now as being proof of his inability to win races.
We need much more information to conclude that.

[nipo]

it is not meant to be easy .You cannot jump in after 3 years and expect to wipe the floor with guys who are fine tuning their finesse for years now...

I agree with you. Problem is the degree which Merc and Brawn thought Schumi's abilities has deteriorated might have proven to be an underestimate. Look at Brawn's statements about MS before and after these 4 races. Nobody assumed he would jump in after 3 years and wipe the floor like you said, but clearly some expectations have not been met, especially at the 4th race. It is frustrating not only to the average fan but evidently to the main parties involved in this comeback as well. It is not meant to be easy, but I think it is fair to say that Schumi might be struggling a bit more than everybody would have thought.

As I said, in Shanghai he was passed like 10 times by numerous cars in the showers. He looked like a backmarker or like something broke in his car. Compare that with Alonso's fierce fight with a broken gearbox. Compare that to Nico clinching a podium in the same race. Compare that to MS's own "rainmaster" nickname. He looks, talks and walks like a fallen star. My, how can I not feel sad?

@autogyro - I sincerely hope he magically bounces back and gets a chance to fight for race wins!!

[marcush.]

oh ,btw who managed to get into Q3 on all 4 races?

Vettel
Webber
Rosberg
Schumacher
Kubica
Sutil

to me nothing is proven yet ,can he do it or not ,we shall see .Maybe the people involved were lulled into the feeling that coming back would be easy for him but in fact it is not .

[ArchAngel]

quite revealing story there..

http://www.motorsport-total.com/f1/news ... 42810.html

Brawn rues his team for being sort of paralised by the shear presence of MS and maybe listening too much to his input during the last weeks and speaks of having learned some lessons recently. He hints at the team having to learn to handle him just as a normal persson less as an idol to make sure the team gets the job done.

It's not such a stretch to imagine that Schumacher's crew might indeed be somewhat intimidated by the aura & reputation of their driver, to the point of acceding too much to Michael's assessment of technical matters against their own better judgment. This "unequal" relationship could ultimately be detrimental to Team Schumacher's attempts to get on top of their car setup issues.

Initially, I felt that Andrew Shovlin and his crew were struggling a bit to "keep up" with Schumacher and react to his car setup needs. But now, four races into the season, I can see how Michael might have equal culpability for his own setup woes by trying too hard to impose his technical assessment at the expense of his crew's expertise & better judgment. Perhaps he needs to start trusting his engineers & mechanics more and "empower" them to do their jobs.

[marcush.]

quite revealing story there..

http://www.motorsport-total.com/f1/news ... 42810.html

Brawn rues his team for being sort of paralised by the shear presence of MS and maybe listening too much to his input during the last weeks and speaks of having learned some lessons recently. He hints at the team having to learn to handle him just as a normal persson less as an idol to make sure the team gets the job done.

It's not such a stretch to imagine that Schumacher's crew might indeed be somewhat intimidated by the aura & reputation of their driver, to the point of acceding too much to Michael's assessment of technical matters against their own better judgment. This "unequal" relationship could ultimately be detrimental to Team Schumacher's attempts to get on top of their car setup issues.

Initially, I felt that Andrew Shovlin and his crew were struggling a bit to "keep up" with Schumacher and react to his car setup needs. But now, four races into the season, I can see how Michael might have equal culpability for his own setup woes by trying too hard to impose his technical assessment at the expense of his crew's expertise & better judgment. Perhaps he needs to start trusting his engineers & mechanics more and "empower" them to do their jobs.

these were exactly my feelings.Hey this is not just another new driver ,he was the guy that actually made Ross brawn who he is.I highly doubt if ross would have been even asked to go to italy..so maybe things were too euphoric and too much make MS feel cosy and give him his ways it will work...
Maybe Brawn thought of it like:ah the guys so quick it does not matter if the direction we´ll take is spot on...let MS do the magic...FOR SURE they were not expecting rosberg constantly outqualifying him , no matter if the car was to his liking...
I recently saw a pic in the pits with shovlin and Schumacher standing besides the w01 and the body language of shovlin cried loud:I´m not comfortable in the situation..arms crossed and it also seemed to be some sort of barrier between the guys...
as