Rosberg expects a level playing field at Mercedes

[WhiteBlue]

It really depends what you call more support. It is interesting to look at race engineering in that context. Nico got their most experienced man (Jock Clear) who engineered both Villeneuve and Button to world championships. Schumacher got Andrew Shovlin who is vastly less experienced.

One can interprete the race engineer pairing to be an advantage for Rosberg, but then we would probably neglect that Schumacher is constantly on the radio with his engineer and is used to talk a lot to the team. One part of Schumacher's race craft is his ability of multi tasking. He does fast laps and constantly keeps talking on the radio getting updates on anything from the sensors of his car over the weather developments and observations about his competitors. Fisichella for instance does not do this. He famously claimed unexpected radio traffic when he went off track once. I do not know if Rosberg has the same communication habit, he probably does that to a lesser degree than Schumacher. If I would have to make a guess how Brawn's personal split of in race communication with both drivers will be I would think it will be probably 70% Schumacher vs 30% Rosberg. You may call that unfair but it is practically unavoidable given the habits of 15 seasons in F1.

Considering all aspects I would still call the situation over all fair.

[Fil]

Shovlin is the reigning F1 race engineer though..

And Jock hasn't exactly been kind in his thoughts on Schumacher in the past.. so that would've been an awkward partnership initially had they been paired.


I don't think we'll see any favouritism blatantly public at all, particularly pre-season.

[WhiteBlue]

Shovlin is the reigning F1 race engineer though..

You got me there. I thought that Shovlin engineered Barichello but that is obviously wrong. I checked another source that confirmed Clear/Barichello Shovlin/Button.

[DaveKillens]

Shovlin is still relatively young, at 36. Pairing Shovlin with Schumacher will be like gaining a doctorate. He will learn a lot, and it will deliver results for as many years as Shovlin is with Mercedes.

But let's face it, Michael Schumacher is joining this team... and he's Michael Schumacher, and it's hard not to offer Shovlin as his engineer. If Michael did not get Shovlin, it would not be a good way to start things off.

[RH1300S]

The place this equal status thing will go 'wrong' is in deciding the point where one driver has a better shot at the title than the other (assuming there are in with a shout).

Ross has made it quite clear that he will favour one driver over the other if they are clearly in with a better shot of the title.

In theory, the driver is as likely to be Rosberg as Schumacher.

The interesting thing will be at what point do they call for a 'one/two' lineup. Last year, arguably Jenson should have had that support, but needed to fight to the last race, which also kept Vettel in the frame. So, Ross didn't call it last year - but you would have to suppose that if Michael was in that car last year, then the game would have called 'over' for Rubens some races earlier.

[raceman]

you would have to suppose that if Michael was in that car last year, then the game would have called 'over' for Rubens some races earlier.

+1

exactly everyone's thoughts

[raceman]

@this thread's subject


actually, Merc have shown car #3 in the livery unveiling show, which is Schumacher's race number for 2010. so, favourism starts from the livery show itself - and they say Rosberg expects a level playing field at Merc! huh.

[marcush.]

It really depends what you call more support. It is interesting to look at race engineering in that context. Nico got their most experienced man (Jock Clear) who engineered both Villeneuve and Button to world championships. Schumacher got Andrew Shovlin who is vastly less experienced.

One can interprete the race engineer pairing to be an advantage for Rosberg, but then we would probably neglect that Schumacher is constantly on the radio with his engineer and is used to talk a lot to the team. One part of Schumacher's race craft is his ability of multi tasking. He does fast laps and constantly keeps talking on the radio getting updates on anything from the sensors of his car over the weather developments and observations about his competitors. Fisichella for instance does not do this. He famously claimed unexpected radio traffic when he went off track once. I do not know if Rosberg has the same communication habit, he probably does that to a lesser degree than Schumacher. If I would have to make a guess how Brawn's personal split of in race communication with both drivers will be I would think it will be probably 70% Schumacher vs 30% Rosberg. You may call that unfair but it is practically unavoidable given the habits of 15 seasons in F1.

Considering all aspects I would still call the situation over all fair.

very obviously not many drivers are in their comfort zone when they talk to the engineer .
on the other side ,the boffins babbling silly and useless stuff to their driver
all the time is also not going to help matters.
What you could see quite often is from the lesser mortals ...try to discuss when
neart the limit ...and you can almost see it come that the guy drops the ball.

So with Schu to have the ability to push and think and communicate is really outstanding.

i don´t think Schu and Clear would have had issues working together ...but I believe Jock clear prefers to think he could make the difference and engineer
Nico to the title against the master...

[xpensive]

...i don´t think Schu and Clear...

You mean Jochen Klaar, who works for Rosch Braun?

[marcush.]

...i don´t think Schu and Clear...

You mean Jochen Klaar, who works for Rosch Braun?

I took me a second to get that one,mate..

[WhiteBlue]

...i don´t think Schu and Clear...

You mean Jochen Klaar, who works for Rosch Braun?

I took me a second to get that one,mate..

naturally, since Ross is a German word in its own right and a translation to Rosch is meaningless.

[WhiteBlue]

[Giblet]

The DP king

[segedunum]

Did you see how uncomfortable Rosberg was at the launch, and that awful forced smile? He knows what's coming and as he's re-stated Schumacher isn't going to change his methods for anyone.

[WhiteBlue]

Did you see how uncomfortable Rosberg was at the launch, and that awful forced smile? He knows what's coming and as he's re-stated Schumacher isn't going to change his methods for anyone.

Would you be able to substantiate that?

My impression from the Stuttgart launch was a fairly relaxed and eloquent Rosberg. Schumacher is still uncomfortable and feels unwell when he has to speak English. His control of the language is much inferior to Rosberg and that doesn't help the issue. And finally you can rely on some Brits to spoil the party by asking akward questions. Perhaps the German press should ask Hamilton at the McLaren launch how often he is going to lie to the stewards in 2010 to gain a place from a competitor.