The season is still on its early days. I will not be surprised if Michael rebounds so spectacularly as to make those journalists eat their words.

i think it's part of the italian mentality. it's one of extremes and drama. generally, italy is a country in decay. a glorious past but what have they contributed to the world in the last 30 years? national television is a joke - game shows with old men and parading bimbos, it keeps the masses numb. corruption. berlusconi. backpacking through italy it was just amazing how often people tried to shortchange me or con me out of my money otherwise, a huge contrast with surrounding countries. it's a place that's almost bankrupt and in need of revolution.

on the other hand, media everywhere are good to write someone from hero to zero in the matter of days. that stuff sells. believe me, formula 1 drivers are used to this, part of the game.

He also has to prove himself to the team. They might be supportive (at least publically) at the moment, but if the performance doesn't come they won't hesitate to drop him just because of his name.

he's proving more than enough so far IMO ...

his performance keeps me amused, happy and in an almost constant party mode .... in the mornings I read the stuff and I have the race of China and all the great regenmeister footage in my handpalm (phone) to keep me happy every single second of the day

he's doing a better job than a million words can describe!

Schumacher's return is kinda like the best thing what could have happened to get a fresh eyeopener!

The German Eagle has landed, or crashed is a better word so far. China 2010 was one of the best races in years! Thanks Michael, thanks, danke danke.

Think Spain is going to be a BIG race for Schuey in lots of ways.

if you need to get your happiness from the failure of others i can't even begin to imagine what your own life must look like...



btw, some of your signature translations are wrong, i wouldn't want you to make a fool of yourself ;-)

it's hard to explain, I won't even start to try, but I was happy for his teammate, Massa for Petrov even!! I have had much happiness to see they didn't brake for Schumi and just blasted him away. Not just over took him, but well, he was blasted really. Kuddo's to anyone who passed him, what's wrong with that? After ALL those years.. pfffffff, the best is yet to come!

Isnt MS's basic problem the tyres, interesting to note that during his time at Ferrari the Bridgestone tyres were tailored specifically for MS

the press ride bandwagons so hard...I hope he performs better in spain just to see same sport writers make an unabashed u-turn

It's not that much of a bandwagon though, is it? He has been convincingly beaten four times out of four.

Oh, I think the media are vile. They jump on people when they are not doing so well, and excessively big up people when they are doing well. Yet none of them have achieved anything comparable themselves.

It is similar to how the British media treat Button and Hamilton.

I feel sorry for Schumacher and hope he doesn't read this drivel.

Bernie reckons he's gonna win soon.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport...one/8634873.stm

I'll go further ;

The 3 year plan is in it's very early days.

No reason for your reasoning, just another step in the ladder - he'll take it analytically and worry about the relative emotion after the jobs done.

You are kidding, I hope? You think Mercedes hired Michael so he can win in three years?

Thats what both Mercedes and Schumacher stated shortly after he was signed

I agree.

Schumacher gave Mercedes his publicity worth before he even stepped into the car. They say you can't buy that sort of publicity but obviously Mercedes did. For example the first I saw of it was prime time news on all CCTV China channels, Japan would have been the same - get a clue to how many people that alone went to and Mercedes are a big mover in the market here. By the way, in Asian culture just competing brings enormous respect.

You consider how much print MS gets for his mid front grids and mid front position finishes compared to other finishes. I don't know if the telecast was the same for all, I guess it was, but on Globo HD with Portugese commentators that I watched the China race I was stunned at how much screen time MS got, more than Rosberg in 3rd. Regardless of where he even finishes this year his and Mercedes name's will mentioned in every article ever written in the future about F1 2010.

Mercedes have done one of the publicity deals of a lifetime that others can only dream of, theres a bigger world outside of your TV room Mate.

"Think Spain is going to be a BIG race for Schuey in lots of ways".

Well thats the second post without giving us a clue as to why....... are we allowed in on the little secret or do we have to learn a secret handshake or something?

In my opinion, the reason(s) for Spain being important are:
- The car will feature a major upgrade and the car may therefore be more competitive
- It may make the car more to his liking, and therefore his performance much improved
- It could be the perfect answer to the mounting criticism being leveled at him and would also deal with any mounting pressure within Mercedes.
If he's struggling and Nico is flying and the car appears to have improved significantly, then that may make the situation worse for him.

So, that's my reasoning for the race being a 'marker' as such.

thanks Owen

It's not what Michael said, he said this:

"I am convinced that together we will be involved in the fight for the Formula 1 World Championship next year ...."

Next year being this year, of course. That doesn't sound like a three year plan to me. You don't hire a 91 times race winner, seven times world champion, greatest driver of the modern era expectign to have to wait around for him to get going, you do so because you think he'll beat everyone else.

Granted, that was great, all the lead up to it; now people see a car so bad that even Michael Schumacher can't make it win.

I think Bernie is just trying to reassure millions of Schumi fans to keep them watching! I for one would prefer if he wasn't racing this season. I am sure that if he wasn't racing last sunday I would of enjoyed the race a lot more than I did!
Having said that I think he will do reasonable well(i.e be within a couple of tenths of Rosberg) in Barcelona but I haven't seen anything to suggest that he is still capable of competing/beating the top drivers. I can't remember a single lap in winter testing, practice, qualifying or during a race where it seemed that he had it hooked up. Going back to the last race even the rookie Petrov had 2-3 outstanding laps where he was the fastest guy on the track and managed to pass both Schumacher and Webber in that time.

He needs more time. Why that's so hard for some to grasp here is beyond me. I agree Spain will be an important race. It's been such a strange season for him when he went years without any major incidents. Getting bumped in Oz, car breaking down, wet weather races, etc. Hardly the norm. Don't get me wrong, Nico is doing a great job. I just think if Michael has a good clean race like the season opener, plus with the upgrades Merc is bringing, he'll be fine. I said that Nico would be better for the first third of the season, they'd be equal in the middle, and Michael would be better the last third. I'm still sticking to that.

He would have won the Australian GP if it hadn't been for those pesky Button and Alonso characters so says Norbert Haug

We are entering the farce realm:


"Schumacher could have won Oz - Haug "

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/83086



I could have won it too, had Mercedes signed me, and the rest of the field crashed at turn 1.

what irritates me most are naive fans that think a ''great'' driver should adapt to every car.no matter how much it negates ones driving style.im not a big schumi fan,but this thread has more than its share of uneducated opinions.

from ted travitz article

Team principal Ross Brawn confirmed that his team had under-reacted to the new-for-2010 narrower tyres and as a result, the car's dynamics had resulted in a naturally understeering car.

They had also made a mistake with the weight distribution in that they had reached the maximum weight they can move forward in the car.

Schumacher's problem in China was an inability to accelerate effectively out of slow speed corners. Poor traction accounted for most of the lost time, but it was the car's balance in those slow-speed corners that also slowed Schumacher down.

It was a vicious circle: The car's weight distribution is wrong, according to Brawn, so bring weight forward and work the fronts harder to get the car to Schumacher's liking. But as a result the rear is light so traction is poor, which means the rear slides and wears out the tyres.

Haug is just hilarious... made my day

I agree, that was a bit much. He should have stopped at 'making the podium'. What I do like is Haug sticking up for his driver and deflecting some of the pressure off of Michael onto himself. Coaches do it all the time. When everyone wants to throw you under the bus, you can guarantee someone will speak up and say something that will make people shift their focus. Kind of smart if you stop to think about it. He knows full well how it will come across and he said it anyway. I'm not saying I agree, but I can see the reasoning behind it for sure.

Well its pretty sad that Haug had to come out with a such ridiculous statement to defend Schumacher. More depressing is that he goes on to blame the car itself. This statement from Haug is far more ridiculous than the one made by Horner a few days back. What's wrong with these guys?

where does he say that? ..he actually points out the opposite.

while his ''could've won'' comments are plain ridiculous,one cant take the car characteristics out of question.if merc manage to reduce the US tendency before spain arrives,u will see a very different schumacher IMO.

MS was the fastest man on the track at Oz for a few laps and Petrov, with all respect to his class job, had new tyres - does that help?

What irritates me is how all the Schumacher fans use to say "he could win in a Minardi". Now its, he needs time... car doesn't suit him... yadda yadda yadda

Haug comments that Schu could have won are ridiculous. Podium, maybe, but he was never going to win. I'm getting a kick out of the old 7 time champ needing others to make excuses for him...

Horner & Haug certainly are better than us! The arm-chair experts! Nor people would just go into any forum and choose an arm-chair expert and made them their team boss!

He said so on the BBC forum. He was defending Schumi voraciously after the race.

What do you want him to do? Criticize his own driver? Say Schumi has forgotten to drive? That he won his seven world championship by fluke?

i dont even like the guy ..far from being a fan.

still doesnt stop me from pointing out how naive people can get when theyre on an agenda.

Well I just want Haug to tell the truth.

we dont know the truth yet.we've had 4 races.hes coming off a 3 year break.hes driving an understeery car.

cut him some slack.

Kimi Raikkonen was performing really good at the beginning of the 2008 season but in the middle of the season all of a sudden Massa started to beat Raikkonen after a few updates were brought to the car. Which was not suiting Kimi's driving style. Does that mean Kimi lost all his talent midway that season and that to without retiring or taking a sabbatical? It's obviously no. The car was not suiting him and therefore he was not able to drive it to the optimum level.

In the same way Michael Schumacher does not like some of the characteristics of the car and therefore is not able to give his best shot! First let the car suit his style atleast!

you made a good point there. as solid as the merc's are, the win or lose at the grace of other teams.

I would also refer to people about Rosberg - in this case Senior.

When he went to McLaren he had a shit of a time all year but more because McLaren told him the car was perfect and he should change to suit - he didn't and Prost thrashed him.
McLaren finally relented for the last 2 races and gave him and his engineer a free hand - the results were stunning, Rosberg blew the entire field away leading by miles at the Oz GP until his puncture late in the race, a drive overshadowed by Mansell's famous tyre blowout and the 3 way fight for the WDC won by Prost.

Well said Cheap Racer!

This is it, isn't it? All the years when Schumacher was winning everything.... can you imagine if someone had suggested that the car might not suit his teammate...? They would have been laughed off of the forums. There's no naivety going on here, just a relishing of (a certain group of) fans having to justify their hero's less than impressive performances in terms which they would not have given the time of day to had it been any other driver....

EDIT: Imagine, for example, if the positions had been reversed here..., if it was Rosberg who wasn't comfortable with the car. How many of Schumacher's fans would have given the idea that Rosberg might be capable of being quicker if the car suited him more any credence?

or Montoya @ Mclaren.

what is interesting with Michael is that he is dealing with the same technical engineer that he deal with at Ferrari.. What it really boils down to is that these new cars are totally different.

Oh dear Oh dear, making excuses for Schumi now are we Mr Norbert Haug. Fact of the matter is, Schumacher is over the hill now and he has returned to a very different F1 from the one he walked away from in 2006. People who were expecting him to come back and dominate were being too optimistic, as well as seriously under estimating the younger drivers. When in this situation, having not raced a car in anger for three years, seven world titles count for nothing. Watching onboard footage, he seems to have lost much of his driving technique. Unlike the days of old, his driving lack progression. Also, he looks to be lacking race craft. Schumacher got passed pretty easily by Petrov in China. Had that been the Schumacher of old, Petrov would have had a much, much tougher fight on his hands. Yes, maybe it could be the car, but a driver of his calibre should be able to adapt. Believe me, I am not saying Schumacher is not a great driver. We have all seen in the past that he is. But I think he is past his prime now, and he does not appear to have the right racing mentality or race craft anymore. Schumacher is not the only F1 legend to drop off in his later years. Remember Nelson Piquet? Was a great driver, but by the end of his career it was clear he was not the driver he once was. Late in 1991, his last season, he was chewed, swallowed and spat out again by a talented young German called...oh yes, Michael Schumacher. Are we seeing the same situation now with Rosberg and Schumacher? Maybe!

None zip zero nadda but MS is a 7 times WDC Rosberg aint, so of course we fuss over him much more...

Or Kimi @ Ferrari, or any of Michael's teammates through his years @ Ferrari?

I also think MS is too old to adapt at this stage of his career..

Jeff Gordon once said that adapting to a new car will always be easier for the new generation drivers who are just entering the sport than to the veterans. - they have less to unlearn..