Michael Schumacher not as adaptable as previously thought?

[siskue2005]

He won first first races with Benetton in a wet 1992 SPA race with over a half minute margin. Some members of the grid in that race were Senna, Mansell, Hakkinen, Alesi, Patrese .... A simple fact check may reveal that they were not any good enough adversary anyway. But in my humble opinion they were...

Schuie's Spa win was as much to do with well timed tyre changes than on track ability. Senna stayed on slicks too long when it started to rain and dropped back to the midfield (although he finished 5th so did some good work during the race). Mansell and Patrese then stayed out too long on wets as the track dried so they came out behind Schuie after their pitstop.

So actually, a fact check might suggest that Schuie started his winning streak as he continued it - by passing others by the use of well timed pitstops rather than overtaking them on track. Michael is probably the best ever driver at maximising the power of the team to help him win rather than relying purely on his car handling skills.

yup everything is pitstop....will award the 7 WDC to the pit crew

Yeah, the bashers might think that, but In terms of hours/or distance in the car over the 12 races, I assume it is enough for him to come up to speed.

I too subscribe to this theory. The rookies are up to speed now, but Shumi needs more time? He's had enough time. When his fans say that he's slow because he had no input to the car it's ridiculous. Alonso and even Button have wins in cars they had no input in. I know Shum is the developmentmeister, but I don't think the team will ever be up to speed with mostly Honda personell.

which rookie are u talking about
Petrov took till hunagary to even beat Kubica in quly
MS beat Nico long long ago!!...its conisistency from the tyres and car is were it all goes down hill.

Well Schumy is not lucky like ALONSO and BUTTON to jump into a race winning car(to have wins in cars they had no input in).....even Petrov would have won a race in Mclaren 2007/Mclaren 2010/Ferrari 2010 without his input blah blah

[marcush.]

Just check the best sector times in each and every race of this year.
You will easily see that :
Rosberg and Schumacher in no ways are much different when it comes to absolute speed .It is a fact that Rosberg is most of the time a tad quicker ,but there are some sectors where Schumacher was consistantly quicker than Rosberg.Most of the time ,they simply were equal .
You can derive from this: Rosberg is better in stringing up a lap time out of three sectors ,this could easily be accounted towards Michael trying too eagerly or being too relaxed,who knows.
What you can´´t derive from this is a general lack of speed .If that was then Rosberg needs the axe as well and Mercedes needs real quick drivers....

As we have seen this year with Vettel and Webber ,these have quite often 5 or more tenths in between them on their Q3 lap...and nobody would say instantly go home you are past it you are destroyed by your teammate...so what is the fuzz about it? ok he´´s not dominating rosberg ,but what would these bashers say then? poor rosberg he gets second priority ,Schumacher is doing his No1 thing again.

Maybe Schumacher is deliberately going slow to remove these accusations?

[siskue2005]

Just check the best sector times in each and every race of this year.
You will easily see that :
Rosberg and Schumacher in no ways are much different when it comes to absolute speed .It is a fact that Rosberg is most of the time a tad quicker ,but there are some sectors where Schumacher was consistantly quicker than Rosberg.Most of the time ,they simply were equal .
You can derive from this: Rosberg is better in stringing up a lap time out of three sectors ,this could easily be accounted towards Michael trying too eagerly or being too relaxed,who knows.
What you can´´t derive from this is a general lack of speed .If that was then Rosberg needs the axe as well and Mercedes needs real quick drivers....

As we have seen this year with Vettel and Webber ,these have quite often 5 or more tenths in between them on their Q3 lap...and nobody would say instantly go home you are past it you are destroyed by your teammate...so what is the fuzz about it? ok he´´s not dominating rosberg ,but what would these bashers say then? poor rosberg he gets second priority ,Schumacher is doing his No1 thing again.

Maybe Schumacher is deliberately going slow to remove these accusations?

+1
This seems to the notion all Brain dead Schumy Bashers

If Nico fast = Schumy --- go home
If Schumy fast = Nico no2 car likes Schumy

[Dragonfly]

I think that if Michael made it his personal goal, he could adapt as much as to collect points and on average be at least level with Nico. But I don't think this is the goal worth a comeback.
If for Nico this is a respectable achievement, it is not for a man who for 14 years has been at the lead and seven times of them - on the absolute top. In 2005 he managed to finish third in the standings while Rubens could not finish some races having no tires left on the car, figuratively speaking.
I hope, and I think Michael is learning and trying, learning every detail even how far he can push the limits of hard racing nowadays. He's claiming his territory again and in the process creates precedents which, if happen again, would be a difficult task for the stewards to neglect.

[LionKing]

He won first first races with Benetton in a wet 1992 SPA race with over a half minute margin. Some members of the grid in that race were Senna, Mansell, Hakkinen, Alesi, Patrese .... A simple fact check may reveal that they were not any good enough adversary anyway. But in my humble opinion they were...

Schuie's Spa win was as much to do with well timed tyre changes than on track ability. Senna stayed on slicks too long when it started to rain and dropped back to the midfield (although he finished 5th so did some good work during the race). Mansell and Patrese then stayed out too long on wets as the track dried so they came out behind Schuie after their pitstop.

If you look at the race result and the time differences (he had also done the fastest lap as well), I don't think one can easily attribute this victory just to pit stop luck.

Classification:

1 19 Germany Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 44 1:36:10.721 3 10
2 5 United Kingdom Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 44 +36.595 1 6
3 6 Italy Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 44 +43.897 4 4
4 20 United Kingdom Martin Brundle Benetton-Ford 44 +46.059 9 3
5 1 Brazil Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 44 +1:08.369 2 2

[/quote]
So actually, a fact check might suggest that Schuie started his winning streak as he continued it - by passing others by the use of well timed pitstops rather than overtaking them on track. Michael is probably the best ever driver at maximising the power of the team to help him win rather than relying purely on his car handling skills.

[/quote]

This does not reflect the truth as well. Look at his retirement race at Brazil. Started tenth, passed Fisichella for fifth but got puncture and went to the back of the field, just a few seconds from being a lap down on leader Massa. He passed cars one by one, including Raikkonen for fourth and finished around 20 seconds down on winner. This was how the man retired. Started at the back of the grid in Monaco same year and finished 5th. 2005 Imola started 14th finished 2th just behind Alonso.... etc,etc...

[Shrieker]

Ms always had some kind of extra push in every step of his F1 career, but saying that "he wasn't that good and won because of favouritism" isn't right. I hated him (and my dad loves him which really made our F1 weekends ) but man was he good back in the day.

"Ms was never adaptable". I don't agree. He was. Now ? Well, he's just old. But he still might surprise next year, if he keeps his seat.

[BMW_F1]

TBQF Nico needs a better barometer.

[marcush.]

I would have loved to see Heidfeld have a go in Spa .That would have put thing into perspective.

[Mysticf1]

He was adaptable when there was unlimited testing at his disposal, thats whats really hurting him IMHO.

[marcush.]

you are ,in my view ,seeing things...
when schu came in there waseven less testing than today,and no simulationworth speaking of

[donskar]

M Schu can still drive and drive very well. BUT, he is past his peak as a driver (IMHO). That's in no way meant to be a criticism of him -- it's just the way things go. No one bets Father Time.

In addition, the cars are a bit different from what he was accustomed to AND he has had less time to acclimate himself to those differences. He has also had less time to turn the team and car into HIS team and car. Finally, he has joined a championship team. He will not be able to be the sort of hero he was at Ferrari -- a savior who turns around a team in shambles and turns it into a dominant force.

I think he will retire at the end of this season OR at the end of next year unless he is in the thick of the championship. IMHO his competitive spirit is so strong that he loves racing when he wins -- not when he is not winning regularly. Unless next year's Mercedes is as dominant as this year's RB, Schu will not be as competitive as he needs to be to continue. For his own sake, I hope he steps down.

[Dragonfly]

I'd dare say the cars are not a bit, but quite different than what he left at the end of 2006.

[marcush.]

we have seen these phenomenoms again and again in F1 ,a very good example the pairing of Alesi and Berger ,admitedly both not champions in f1 but both blidingly quick drivers on their day and very closely matched .
They spend so much time as teammates that we can see how the pendulum can go one side or the other....with changing regulation ,different car ,tyre whatever ,one year alesi the next year Berger was on top ,and swung back and forth for each year one of the two had the upper hand ,with the last year 1997 Berger being behind only because of his illnees but winning still a race in Hockenheim.

From my side the issue of not being in the swing of things clearly is not Michaels problem ,as things did not change significantly from the start of the season till now.

The car not to his liking and being not ataptable to his likings (!) seems more one of
his issues .we have heard from all drivers ,with age you do not drive through the problems you want to improve the car to do it exactly what you need ....trying harder what you are doing already will not help .You need to try a different approach (not line)to get more from a car that does not respond.so I guess this is one of the culprits ther ethe car and tyres do not repond to the armoury he has in hand in terms of driving ability.

[ringo]

I'd dare say the cars are not a bit, but quite different than what he left at the end of 2006.

That's where the adaptable arguement comes in. The cars are different and he can't adapt to the difference.
There is no inseason testing, and he can't adapt it.
Amongst a list of other things that are affecting him, all have to do with adapting.
Micheal should step down and give heidfeld a go.

[marcush.]

I´d love to see heidfeld,but I doubt we would obtain conclusive information from it.
If he was as quick as Nico,fair enough but MS was as quick as nico most of the time as well,and of course Hidfeld is eager to show his worth.
If he was slower..you´d say..ok he´d need time to adapt
If he was quicker ,the car and tyres would suit his stile
if he was quicker than Rosberg...rosberg and schumacher ..send both in retirement?
what if ,it really just is the tire and car combination not fitting to MS after all and the pirellis the perfect fit and Michael blowing away Nico next year ..there is no ways
someone could predict what is going to happen ..we saw with tire supplier changes ,or new regs coming in drivers rising and drivers falling flat on their faces.
Heidfeld had big issues adapting to the Bridgestone rubber not long ago ...he was in one year absolutely destroyed by Kubica in Qualy.. but that was 1 single year...and he could not make ANY excuses for being rusty ,or new team or whatever and came back to beat the same Kubica the year after or at least match him..so what?