You won’t like Schumacher when he’s angry
Mark Webber said this week that the title is being fought between three teams; McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull.
If that isn’t a proverbial kick up the backside for Mercedes GP I don’t know what is. Yes it’s true that the ‘Silver Arrows’ have not dazzled yet this year but you feel there is a big performance around the corner.
As well as the car, seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher is being written off from many quarters. One thing the F1 paddock will not want to create is a Schumacher with a point to prove. He’ll be doing his best Bruce Banner impression to transform back into the win-at-all-costs driver who everyone either loves, hats or is petrified of.
True, so far he has not looked like World Championship material but – in the week in which it was announced the late, great Ayrton Senna is getting a musical in his honour – you have to feel that Schumacher wouldn’t have come back for an encore if wasn’t going to be as good as his initial performance.
He has not been poor the past few races; he has been extremely unlucky. Twice he has looked to get a solid start and twice he was been unfortunate – a shunt at the first corner and a reliability issue ruining his races.
People criticised him for not fighting his way through the field in Australia, but if people expected a champion’s drive in only his second outing in four years they were asking for too much.
The Brackley-based team are confident the 41-year-old is gradually improving and expect to see the real Schumacher as soon as possible. This weekend we could start to witness the magic once more.
If he can just get himself a clean drive we can start to judge where he’s at in a terms of race pace.
Before he can start thinking about podiums or winners’ trophies, though, he is going to have to beat his team-mate for the first time this season.
Nico Rosberg has not really impressed either and has largely gone unnoticed. While Schumacher gets caught up in the mayhem, Rosberg has been quietly racing by himself; too slow for the front three teams, too quick for the mid-field.
Mercedes will be looking for Rosberg to deliver a truly great drive soon. The best racers get a poor car higher than it deserves to, Rosberg is doing no more than finishing where he’s expected to.
If he wants to be praised for his performances he is going to have to be able to attack the McLaren’s or Ferrari’s at the very least.
Rosberg has never finished higher than 11th in China. Schumacher won in Shanghai on his last outing at the track in 2006 – fighting his way up from 6th on the grid in heavy rain. Wet weather is a possibility on Sunday, could we witness the same thing happen again?
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So Nico Rosberg hasn’t impressed? He had before you wrote this drivel and even more so now. No wonder no one has bothered to comment. If Rosberg is no good then Schumacher is rubbish – and we know that’s not true.
@Peter would agree that you are being a bit harsh on Nico Glen. I think he has done a decent job so far this season, and the performances of Schuey have only made him look even more assured.
However, completely agree that Schuey has been well below par this season and he is well down the drivers in terms of performances. He cannot live on past glory forever and the fact is drivers like Rosberg and Kubica are out-performing him week-in week-out!
He had before China, had he? For me, he has been solid but unspectacular. I said he hasn’t impressed me, not that he was “no good”, there is a difference.
He is driving a car that is poor compared to the other three big teams, granted, but he hadn’t ever looked a threat to the bigger teams. When racing them on the track, they have either beaten him with ease – Hamilton at Australia – or pulled away from him.
His podium in Malaysia was more down to mistakes from other drivers rather than his own skill in my opinion.
HOWEVER, obviously he had a good weekend in China and I have acknowledged that in my latest piece.
Nico had done the best he could in an uncompetitive car before China, and I’m more impressed with him over the Shanghai weekend than any other.
I think Schumacher has had a mixture or poor car set-up and bad luck so far, while your summation on the pace of Nico in the Mercedes is spot on. Renault and themselves are in limbo behind Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari, and improvements must be made to get anywhere near them.
@Peter: This isn’t drivel, it’s another fan’s opinion! Why don’t you put yours out there in the forum and we’ll see on what we agree on, yes?