Schumacher fails to shine in rain

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Schumacher starts six places behind Rosberg in Malaysia

The third race weekend of Michael Schumacher’s F1 comeback doesn’t seem to be going much better than the first two.

That was despite a wet qualifying session giving the man they called ‘Regenmeister’ an opportunity to demonstrate the skills that won him many wet F1 races.

Team mate Nico Rosberg out-qualified him by more than a second on the same track, on the same tyres, at the same time.

Schumacher was also out-qualified by both Williams drivers and Robert Kubica’s Renault – all cars that don’t belong in front of a Mercedes W01.

Schumacher’s trials in the Mercedes had previously been put down to his lack of time testing the car, and needing to get up-to-speed with the new specification Bridgestone rubber.

But I can’t have been alone in thinking that, shown a wet piece of track, Schumacher would return to his old form. Instead, he was even further behind Rosberg than usual.

He started the session well. Mercedes, like McLaren and Ferrari, sent their cars out later on the wet track in Q1. But both their drivers succeeded in setting a fast enough time on their sole runs to make it safety into Q2.

Schumacher’s first lap was a 1’52.239, almost matching Jenson Button’s which he set at the same time. It was also three-tenths of a second faster than Rosberg’s effort.

But in Q3 Rosberg turned the tables. Each driver had time for three laps in the shortened session and Rosberg’s best lap was 1.044s faster than his illustrious team mate’s. Afterwards Schumacher said he’d taken too much out of his tyres on his first run in Q3:

On my last run in Q3, I wanted to secure a lap time and then go for the second lap but after I finished my first quick lap, the tyres were already gone so I could not go for it anymore.
Michael Schumacher

The times show Rosberg took care of his tyres on his first run:

Schumacher

1’51.717
1’51.827
1’52.479

Rosberg

1’56.151
1’50.673
1’51.448

At the head of the field was Mark Webber, who a gamble to run intermediate tyres and successded – exactly the sort of tactic we came to expect from Schumacher in his day. Immediately behind Webber on the grid are a roster of four German drivers – none of them Michael Schumacher.

It’s another result for him to grin and bear. At what point do we start asking how many of them he’s willing to put up with?

Compare Michael Schumacher’s form against his team mate in 2010

2010 Malaysian Grand Prix

    Author information

    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    122 comments on “Schumacher fails to shine in rain”

    1. I have never been a MS fan in the past but I am beginning to become one just on the stength of the negativity on these pages and others about his comeback.
      He was out 3 yrs and the technology changed as have the regs.
      He is rusty no doubt and it should come off as time passes but he cannot test as he could in the past.
      How long was it when he first came to Benetton that he won? How long did he and Ferrari struggle before his first win with them?
      Give your head a shake man.

      1. Past laurels don’t put points on the board, and there are too many very good drivers out there to have to wait for a past great to regain his footing. He doesn’t have an reserved emeritus position on the grid. He looks very lacklustre, and Brawn/Haug need to think hard about whether they really have two of the best drivers—in 2010—in the car.

        1. Robert Smith
          5th April 2010, 1:45

          Yes it estimated Schummi will be banking 37 million this season.So he buy favorable comments and won’t even care!

      2. stength of the negativity on these pages… Give your head a shake man.

        I think this is the first article I’ve written about him since the start of the season and I don’t think it’s unduly negative at all. I think it’s the sites running headlines like ‘Expect Schumacher to quit soon’ who are being excessively negative.

        How long was it when he first came to Benetton that he won?

        Are you saying our expectations of someone who’s starting 250-odd races and won 91 of them should be the same as someone who’s never raced before?

        1. Even when he came to F1 he had been racing in other series, this time he hasn’t. I’m not saying experience counts for nothing but you’d imagine if he’d just won last years GP2 he’d be in better shape.

        2. this article is pointless on q3 conditions were semi wet on those 7 min no one spun out the grip levels werent so bad i dont believe that that q3 was relevant to see whos fast and whos not

        3. Keith, the article implies MS is failing; this is negative as it undermines what is an amazing comeback story. As a writer you are well aware that you don’t need to pull a tabloid-style front page headline to be negative.

          The implication is that Schumi didn’t do an amazing job getting into Q3 when the likes of would be champion Massa, former champion Hamilton, 2 time champion Alonso, and reigning World champion Button were not able to do so. Just because Hulk also managed this feat does not mean he’s failing; if anything it means both Nico’s are excellent drivers.

          Further, though I don’t fault you Keith, these pages are most definitely riddled with anti-Schumi sentiment so when an article about anything other than his latest fantastic performance comes out saying anything but what it was, it does come across even more negative than it may be.

          Just to be clear… his latest performance WAS a great performance as was every driver in the top 10. Those are tricky conditions for any of those guys and it really separated the men from the boys. He was also fast in the practice sessions in the dry as well. He’s clearly improving. Who here, that hates this guy, has any real statistical or rational means to defend a position stating anything to the contrary? None of you. Not one of you haters does. Get over yourselves! Give the guy some credit. Ever taken three years off anything and come back? Bowling? Skiing? How long did it take you to get YOUR skill back? Probably never did, did you?

          Ugh, I hate your hate!

      3. agree…schumacher maybe not at his best anymore but if tomorrow race rain pour down….i believe schumacher will show its true skill in wet condition….
        and i really hope lotus can finish the race again…

      4. I agree Alex I don’t like him either but am getting sick of this, (I don’t think this article is negative though) I mean constantly all you hear is “Schumacher gets beaten by his team mate again” When Schumacher beats him in a session they go all silent. It’s so annoying.

        1. Andrew White
          3rd April 2010, 23:46

          Schumacher has beaten him in three practice sessions (out of nine). They don’t really mean much anyway. Rosberg has beaten Schumacher in all qualifying sessions and races so far. It’s a talking point purely because people aren’t used to seeing Schumacher get beaten so soundly by a team mate. I say give him time though.

          1. Schumacher was closer to his team mate in the first race then Massa, Webber and Button were to theirs and no one slated them.

            I also think he would have been close if not beaten Rosberg in Melbourne if it wasn’t for being caught up in Alonso/Button’s accident at the start of the race.

    2. he needs more time…

      1. I also believe that.
        At 41 years of age it takes a longer time to get your reflexes adjusted to new circumstances. Obviously, these reflexes won’t be as good as they were at the age of 25. That’s a fact.
        The other thing is that Nico Rosberg is one of the fastest drivers out there. Who knows – perhaps even THE fastest.

        So far, in dry conditions, Michael has only been about 0.1sec behind Nico. That’s nothing.

        Today’s qualfying means nothing, it was a lottery as we all know.

        1. Before today, if I’d asked you to name F1’s best wet weather drivers would you have put Nico Rosberg ahead of Alonso, Kubica, Vettel or, for that matter, Schumacher?

          1. I wouldn’t.
            But that’s probably (also) due to my memory not serving my well enough to recall Rosberg’s past performances in the rain.

          2. I wouldn’t and on the strength of the evidence I still wouldn’t. Just because McLaren cocked up the timing of their runs doesn’t mean Hamilton is any worse a driver.

          3. Rosberg is responding in just the right way to the situation he found himself in. Head down, ignoring Schumacher’s little power plays at the start of the season, determined to show he can make something of the opportunity of driving for a top team. Schumacher’s comments that he’s annoyed with himself at being slower than Nico (as though natural law had been turned on its head!) and just needs a few more races must also be the perfect goad. I’m sure Schumacher will show his skill and experience at some point in the season, but I suspect most days he’ll be those few hundredths behind his teammate.

          4. depends what tyres they’re on!

          5. I was always a big Nico Rosberg fan – the guy just didn’t happen to have a right car for the past four seasons. The only time when the car and the conditions may have allowed him to really win a race was Singapore 2009 – and he unfortunately screwed up on the white line.
            Now that Merc provided him with the third-fourth fastest car on the grid i think he started to really deliver. To be honest, if you consider that Merc is clearly slower than RB and Ferrari, and lacking in pace (due to f-duct) to mclaren, Rosberg should be finishing each race in ~7th. so far hes been 5th in both races.
            I think, in fact, our tendency to overlook Rosberg as a competitive driver was due to his mid-grid consistency. His successions of 5th-6th-7th places in a Williams spoke of a decent driver at the wheel – albeit not a paricularly exciting one. Hes never quite had the flair of Hamilton, the uncompromising skill of Alonso, and even the occasional brilliance of Massa. Rosberg was Nick Heidfeld-esque driver. Calm and consistent; but never outstandingly brilliant.

            As for Schumacher, I quite expected Rosberg to beat him in the opening races of the season. He does need time and perhaps this time could amount to a seasonful of races. That said, I believe bad publicity has amplified his lack of performance in the first two races. He may screw up 8-9 races like the past two, and yet if he wins a single one afterwards, everyone will start singing praises of michael schumacher.

          6. I think it’s a fairly balanced bit of writing. I don’t see any absurd speculation or slander here. It’s always difficult as a journalist to keep your bias out of your stories. Indeed it’s almost impossible, but I think that Keith does a very good job of it. I’ve been following this site for a few years and I don’t even know who Keith’s favorite driver is. If it’s difficult for us as F1 fans to temper our particular bias when we post, then how much more difficult is it for the author of the article?

            The only real criticisms that I’ve heard Keith make regarding Shumacher were about his some of his past “driving ethics”.

            Also I’m inclined to believe that the readers of this site tend to be more knowledgeable about F1 issues than the average fan and therefore much harder to please.

            Good job Keith!

        2. he needs time to find limits on the car, he needs more time to adapt to the real racing conditions… gap of 3 years is pretty big & i think this more like his rookie season… he should be stronger in second half… but the real Michael will be back only in next season…

          most of the drivers on the track i’m sure envy Michaels resume… if not all.

      2. how much more…in your opinion.

        1. As long as it takes. Wats the hurry?… I read a lot of articles talking about Mercedes should re-think their driver line up… I think there is a comment here as well… but I dont think there is a better driver out there available that will perform better than Schumacher at the moment.

          I dont understand whats the big deal is anyway… there are so many other interesting and good drivers on the grid to watch and enjoy. Its a little sad for Schumacher fans, but no reason why general public should be bothered atall.

    3. I don’t understand the negativity. The man came back mostly for the fun and after being out for three years in which the sport changed heavily, I think he’s doing reasonably good. Particularly for a man on his age.

      1. Seriously, I don’t think Mercedes will agree with Schumacher saying he’s here for the ‘fun’. They are paying him millions and having chosen him over other really good drivers they expect a whole lot of seriousness,dedication and for him to work his backside off.

        1. Even if Schumacher is back for fun Mercedes would accept it because his profile is so high it’s already been worth it. But the truth is he’s not the kind of guy to do things half ar$ed so he’ll obviously take it seriously.

          1. I’d have to agree with K (provided Schumacher does not overdo the “fun” part in public interviews, that is). I recently moved to Germany and from what I have seen so far, every radio and print coverage of F1 starts with Schumacher, no matter who wins.

            1. From what I understand he’s already been an extremely valuable asset to the team in terms of testing. One of the best test drivers out there.

    4. I can’t believe how rapidly those tyres are affected by degradation. A couple of laps and they are “gone”???

    5. Times Change! Problem is (like the preview build up to the F1 season) Schumacher’s return has been so overhyped by the media – Of course unless he doing anything but winning hes going to be a disappointment. But did he not say he just wanted to have some fun…

    6. Frankly Schumachers comeback seems to be going to plan. Every session he has clawed back the tenths on Rosberg. From the begining he was unhappy in Bahrain, in Australia he started to look better in the car, this is his first wet quali remember, in this format, and for three years.

      Rosberg has not been extending his dominance over schumacher, in terms of speed it’s consitantly shrunk. I think Schuey keeps getting better, when we get to Europe, at current rate Schuey could well be matching Rosberg for pace. An then he’ll outfox him. Just like we saw in preseason. Just like he’s always done. Schuey has magnificent pace, but he’ll beat Rosberg on brains. I still see him ahead by the end of the season, an certainly he’ll take him over a whole season.

      1. @Scribe. Lets not forget that even Rosberg is working in a new team, and for the first time with Schumi’s buddy (Brawn). I really think Schumi’s ring rust is being used as an excuse for his lack of pace. Schumi has the experience gained from over 250 gp starts and over 90 wins, and has enjoyed the same amount of pre season testing as Rosberg. If he is a 7 time world champion, and the so called best f1 driver of all time, he should have shown glimpses of his natural ability.

        I’m not a fan of Rosberg, but I will admit he is amongst the top six drivers on the grid this year. Schumi might be shaving tenths of a second off him, but i only expect Rosberg to get quicker. I really dont know what you mean by beating him on the ‘brain’ factor. Schumi has the experience but clearly lacks the speed of any top tier driver in formula 1.

    7. I was thinking I’d see Schumacher make the decision to try intermediates. I’m surprised he didn’t, and as soon as Webber did I knew he’d be on pole.

      1. pfft. pole or the wall. even leggy got that.

        The only reason he took the gamble was to beat Vettle. His car was fast enough for pole full wets or no.

        1. Yet Vettel did not end up on the front row…

    8. God, leave the guy alone – he’s 41 and been out of F1 for 3 years. I personally think it was a mistake for him to come back and had a feeling Rosberg would own him, but I hate this habit of sticking the boot in when drivers don’t do so well. It’s rather unpleasant.

      1. leave the guy alone

        Again, this is the first time I’ve written about him since the start of the season.

        I think some people are just as over-eager to claim he’s being unfairly criticised as others are to put the boot in.

      2. Oh c’mon, Keith has just stated facts here, and as a sportsperson I actually like a fair criticism when I don’t perform. It kinda motivates and helps me to know where I’m going wrong. Plus ‘he’s 41 and out of F1 for 3 years’ is no excuse when they are paying him so much and having selected him from a pool of highly talented people. when you’re ready to take laurels you should be ready for some brickbats too.

        1. i agree. This is why this site it’s much better than james allen’s. He never criticizes a driver when he is not performing. He doesn’t want to make enemies in the paddock. I was even banned from the site when i questioned him about it. No wonder why they choose brundell at bbc. He even criticized coulthart, when he felt he deserved it. And don’t forget he was his manager.

        2. Hello? 2 races back. he’s driving like a top driver.

      3. Alonso, Massa, Button and Hamilton all out in Q1 yet Schumacher qualifies 8th and he’s the one all the papers are going on about under performing.

    9. I reckon Schumi’s still getting used to the cars which are probably very new to him even in the wet. I thought the gap was big but it’ll just take time I guess.

    10. Yeah another time beaten by Rosberg! He’s the better driver at this point. I do think Schumacher needs a bit more time, he seems to be a bit conservative, not taking the risks he took earlier in his carreer. Rosberg is just a little more confident in the car, but as Alonso said: It’s a long season and Schumacher will be dangerous. In the years where Fernando became champion Schumacher seemed stronger in the second half too.

    11. I’ve never been Schumi’s biggest fan either but I’m going to give him more time. He’s had 3 years away. We haven’t even got to the European races yet. Merc will probably bring a ton of updates to the car like all front running teams will. Maybe that will bring them to the front, and then we’ll really see him motivated and unleashed?

      Either way, I’m going to wait until at least Monaco to really start thinking about it too much.

    12. In the race he wil show who is da king

    13. I don’t think this article is negative at all. It even notes the fact that Schumacher used his tyres on the first lap, which was his fastest lap.

      Let’s face the fact – Schumacher was never a genius when it comes to strategy. Brawn or someone else always took care of his strategy. The couple decisions he made while he was Ferrari’s advisor were terrible. (It’s like Alonso – when he has a good car, it’s because “he’s the best driver in developing a car”).

      Rosberg was smarter one today.

      1. it is usually the team boss or the engg who plan the strategies, the main job of the driver is to put his head down n drive flat out.
        we cant call it a bad strategy because no1 except webber even tried it.
        Schumi couldnt preserve his tyres 4 3 laps and his fastest wasnt fast enough, he needs to be a LOT better to challenge at the top; does tht sum it up?

        1. As you can read from the article and conclude from lap times, Rosberg saved his tyres for the first lap, Schumacher didn’t. Clearly Rosberg’s strategy was a LOT better.

          Does that sum it up?

          1. umm, if u consider deciding whether to push the hardest on lap1 or lap3 as strategy, then u r right!
            but even then, the conditions dint change much within those 3 laps, which means even with fresh tyres, he couldnt go faster than nico on not-so-fresh tyres.
            if u ask me, there was no gr8 strategy there…jus flat out driving to the start/finish line.

            1. “umm, if u consider deciding whether to push the hardest on lap1 or lap3 as strategy, then u r right!”
              Umm, of course it is? Deciding when you push hardest is nothing but strategy. So I’m right then, thank you.

              “but even then, the conditions dint change much within those 3 laps”
              Ten cars dries the track pretty fast. Schumacher wanted to make sure he had atleast one OK lap time, so he pushed hard on the first lap. Rosberg kept it cool and made it to first row. End of story.

            2. no he did push hard on lap one but then quickly caught up and got stuck behind kubica. his laptime in the end mirrored kubica.

              i just think michael’s sort of lost and confused by present day f1, not the same as it used to be for him before he left.

              no doubt about his skill though, magnificent driver. just imagine this, four months ago he finished 7th in a Las Vegas karting event. amongst the drivers who finished 1st to 6th,

              Bas Lammers
              Norman Nato
              Jeremy Iglesias
              Arnuad Kozlinski
              Marco Ardigo
              Tony Lavanant

              my bet is, put any of them in an F1 car right now. i’d like to see how they perform!

    14. the one thing Schumacher dsnt have is time.
      he has 3 seasons(many believe this might jus be his last) and he cant go into his 2nd wih so much negativity surrounding his performance.
      nico hulkenberg did not have enough testing time, but dint he do better? there are only 2 ppl on the track who have no-refuelling experience and one of them is schumi ie he should be knowing how to take care of his tyres(ofcourse the tyres have changed).
      if he says thecar is not good, i can understand, but after the qual, i m completely disappointed with him.
      This was his best possible chance to make a statement and he blew it.

    15. Well, if he wins tomorrow … or in China – he will still have a relatively good comeback. Then he’d be at 34 points. Niki Lauda’s comeback which was given as a “good measure” included (if you calculate in the new system) 37 points in the first races, which only held one retirement, so there was nothing to blame on reliabilty as well.

      1. Interestingly, if he wins tomorrow it will be 28 years to the day since Niki Lauda won on his F1 comeback at Long Beach. And that too was Lauda’s first race back from ‘retirement’:

        More here: The F1 comeback Schumacher will want to emulate: Niki Lauda

        1. So, can he be able to catch 7 drivers in front of him, if he wasnt able to get into TOP5 both races? I dont think so, but in these conditions… No one knows

          1. Button went from P7 to P1 mostly by virtue of one well timed pitstop. With a wet race anything can happen.

            1. He went to P2. Vettel retired later. But if we are thinking… they have Ross Brawn, so yeah, now im sure- Schumi can try to win :)

            2. hence the word “mostly”

        2. You’re forgetting the absence of a testing ban back then. If there were no testing ban, Schumi would have benn performing better. Also, he should have been involved in the development of the car

      2. yes but pressure is increasing.

    16. I think his “slow” comeback is more of a well paced, conservative climb to the limit. At least he’s kept it on the road at all times. It would have been so easy to push too hard today. He knows where the limits of his knowledge is and won’t succumb to media pressure to go beyond.

      1. Great comment, my thoughts exactly, he could have pressured himself for the fast lap times, but instead opted for more track time, he knows this is now the only way to gather more experience, he is calculating his way back to the top, but opposition don’t get it, he is a smart type of race breed.
        Like you said he won’t go beyond his current pace, but gradually climb and gather valuable points, rather than showing fast laps and retiring.

    17. Sush Meerkat
      3rd April 2010, 14:42

      At the head of the field was Mark Webber,[b] who a gamble[/b] to run intermediate tyres and [b]successded[/b]”

      Two grammatical errors there Keith.

      I’m glad he’s slower than Nico, I hope it stays that way, surely this is the first time in quite a while for him were the team is open in terms of data to both drivers.

      I found it hugely entertaining last week as well when Luca D

      1. “I found it hugely entertaining last week as well when Luca D”
        missing something? grammar what?

    18. I think Rosberg is beating Schumacher because he’s younger, fitter and hungrier than Schumacher could ever be at 41. So Schuey will have to work extra hard to find that raw pace he used to have.

      1. But u dont know what addvertisment is Schumi to Mercedes!

        1. thats worth a whole lot more than the 7Mn they payed schumi.

    19. I hope in race mode he will show pace especially if it rains. It would be fascinating if he could reach the podium in the wet race!

    20. A) Schumacher doesn need time for adjusting his reflexes… his reflexes are gone. Or do you think gradpa at 75 has the same reflexes as he had at age 30????

      B) Nobody is in F1 for FUN… you dont get paid in exces of 20mio€ to have fun. Not even Michael. Results are expected either way.

      C) His current performace is all about we are going to see from him… thats it. Or do you again expect dominant victories at 41, when you have Alonso, Hamilton, Vettel, and even Rosberg on track, probably even with better car… nonsence.

      1. Formula1 is bussiness. And Schumi is addvertisment. If u can get this addvertisment for only 7 or 8 million pounds or whatever he earns, then even with no results, Mercedes can smile :O

      2. Schumacher’s cardio is probably second to none, he was racing bikes while retired and from that i gather his balance is even better than it used to be, plus your paradigm of what is fit and when it diminishes is being radically changed through time.
        Just look at some fighters or endurance competitors and see that people over 35
        are getting victorious over a young and eager challengers, and it has a lot to to with a belief system ,rather than a changed state of body tissue.

      3. A rather impressively large slice of nonsense from fbr there.

    21. I have been a long time Schumi fan. And these 3 and a half races have been disappointing to watch so far.

      I think he was too complacent going into the season and that over-confidence is catching up with him now.

      Although, the positive feeling is Schumacher has hit rock-bottom now. The only way now is up. Lets hope he makes the podium tomorrow.

      1. Im Schumi’s fan too for about 10-11 years. And yeah, I hoped he is better, but if he has adeal till end of 2012 then its no need to make a panic. Myb he will be champion next year. And even he hasnt been leader, I like to watch him driving. And the best, he is now doing his hobbie :)

    22. I have not read anything to indicate they are running the same settings, so a one second gap if one driver is running dry settings and the other wet….seems reasonable….

    23. Greg Beckett
      3rd April 2010, 15:22

      I personally think, as much as the press built up that Schumacher would be back to his best within short time, so many people underrated Rosberg that it’s made this situation appear worse. He’s always been a consistent runner in my eyes, that’s his biggest strength, reliability. 10 out of 12 races he spent in the points in the opening of last year in a not so great car. He has a decent chance of his first ever win tomorrow, and two 5th’s before isn’t bad considering the McLaren’s and Ferrari’s are quicker.

      I’m keeping a close eye on how he progresses, but I never assumed Michael would blow him away from the outset. Possibly the toughest team-mate you could face is someone consistent when you’ve been out the sport for 3 years.

      I’ll be judging Schumacher on his second half of the season. He needs to start progressing soon though, I thought this was a golden opportunity for him to get at least second row. Poor preformance in Q3 there.

    24. wong chin kong
      3rd April 2010, 15:29

      The title ‘Schumacher fails to shine in the wet,’ is not appropriate. It tends to solicit comments on those drivers qualifying in front of him. What about those so called good drivers, Alonso, Massa, Button, Hamilton now at the back of the grid. Qualifying times in Malaysian GP with freak unpredictable weather is like lottery draw and the grid places doesn’t tell anything on the drivers’ prowess. If it rains cats and dogs on race day, I bet the race positions will all be messed up and who knows, unexpected drivers will be in the poduim.

      1. Schumacher was on track at the same time as Rosberg. He didn’t “fail” because of freak weather conditions or bad strategy calls. He just wasn’t fast enough under the same circumstances.

    25. Perhaps it is the lack of testing that is hurting him.

      Schumacher is not used to this testing ban. He would generally keep testing alongwith Ferrari much more than any other team.
      Running the car only on Fridays for practice is clearly not enough for him.

      Plus, for the first time in his career he is being equal to his team-mate.

      But tomorrow is Schumi’s ultimate test. If he fades away tomorrow as well, then serious questions need to be asked

    26. I think Schumacher is proclaimed regenmesiter mostly for one great race in the rain and (by his own account) that was mostly because his engine was lacking power. In other races he put down some poor performances too. I don’t think he really stood out in the rain.

      I clearly remember Schumacher being pretty poor in the wet while driving for Benetton and Alesi being amazing in the rain in his Ferrari. The next season they changed teams and all of a sudden Schumacher was driving well in the rain and Alesi was strugling.

      I’d say most of the great rain performances is based on the cars handling (be it the car in general or the specific setup for that race) rather than just the drivers skill.

      1. Aside from Spain in 1996 (the “one great race” you may well be talking about), people rave about the time he held off Hill at Belgium in 1995 on dry tyres for over a lap, while his title rival was on wet tyres.

        I do on the other hand agree that the car setup can to an extent influence performances in the rain.

    27. However great a driver Schumi was, he relied very heavily on being a clear number 1 with a team built around him and a car built to match his driving style (which was detrimental to his team-mates like Herbert with very different styles). Even then Rubens sometimes was quicker. In a properly equal set-up with a car he had no role in the initial development of, I never expected him to do particularly well, or leave Rosberg trailing, though I am surprised he’s been as poor as he has.

      Ultimately though the Schumi ‘myth’ – and I mean that positively – was always a construct. He was the finest of his generation, but favourable team set-ups, favourable FIA and steward decisions, most often the best car under him, and an aura that Ferrari nurtured by carefully managing the media so he was seen as infallible in order to intimidate his contemporaries, turned a probable 3/4 time champion into a 7 time champion. There’s a lot of relatively average guys that given that sort of treatment could have won a title.

      So he’s human, but he’s not lost it, he could and should still win a race this year, all we’re seeing is the reality of F1, that what happens outside the car has huge impact on what happens in it. I picked him for 7th in the championship, ok, looks like maybe 8th, still no great surprise.

    28. tho a bit slower his lap times are more consistent. nico took it easy on the first lap and so had more grip when the track was slightly better a few mins later. if it had rained just after that first lap then we would be looking at a totally different result. michael would of been 5th and nico 10th.

      nico did a better job cos he conserved his wets but that would of looked silly if the weather had turned.

      1. Well the predictions were that it would be drier. That’s why Webber went out on his intermediates even.

        Of course the predictions are wrong a lot (start of the Australia race and Q1 in Malaysia)

    29. I his debrief he almost confess how bad he was in this qualifying:

      MICHAEL SCHUMACHER:

      “I am obviously a little disappointed with my result today as it was evident from the earlier qualifying sessions that we looked pretty good and I clearly could have achieved more. On my last run in Q3, I wanted to secure a lap time and then go for the second lap but after I finished my first quick lap, the tyres were already gone so I could not go for it anymore. Though it is good to know the limits of the wet tyres for tomorrow, now I have to concentrate fully on the race. Congratulations to Nico today for scoring our first front row qualifying result…”

      I still miss Norbert Haugh press releases:

      NORBERT HAUG

      “Today was a qualifying session where anything was possible and we saw some surprising results like three World Champions starting the race from 17th, 19th and 20th positions. Michael did the best job amongst the Champions finishing in eighth place.

    30. Well, its a big dilemma,
      MSC vs ROS,
      Experienced vs Young,
      Has everything to lose vs has everything to gain,
      Pressure of fame vs pressure of Father’s fame
      Returner vs Shiner
      I don’t care about ROS vs I have to outperform MSC

      MSC,, he has everything to lose and nothing to gain with his comeback and to tell me that we will need couple of races to regain his form, I disagree,, Its Michael,, he was the magician of F1,, in wet and in dry,, no matter what stage of the race, fuel, tire,, he use to get it but seems that he is out of tricks, may be its due to the fact that he is under a great pressure,, yes to prove that he is still the godfather of F1,, its no longer the battle of MSC vs Prost or Senna or Mika or even ROS. This the battle of MSC (2004) to MSC (2010). You could have seen that clearly today in the Q3 garage while they stopped the race how pressured he was. Never seen it so obvious on Shumi ever before.

      As for ROS,, no question he is a skilful driver, Calm and difficult to be pressured, Hope he holds his P2 although he is not so known for aggressive overtakes,

      Prediction for Sunday:
      Safety car 1st lap, Alonza, Massa or Button.
      Shumi’s best is 6th
      Redbull 1,2

    31. I dont think MS is doing that badly, in fact I think its Rosberg that is doing very well. MS is not the man he used to be and may never be that however, its too early to tell imo. His teammate is not in the position that Rubens was he is allowed to run how he wants.
      Not even being a MS fan I would wait till the 2nd half of the season before I start to look too deeply into his results.

    32. John Edwards
      3rd April 2010, 17:41

      Give the bloke a break.

      I’m no Schumacher fan, but the bloke needs time in the car. Although I’m now feeling sorry for him which is conflicting me!

      The car may not be to his liking yet, I think he’ll be there in time.

      He’s enjoying himself and I don’t think he actually gives a monkeys about what people think.

    33. John Edwards
      3rd April 2010, 17:43

      Oh and another thing, Schumacher has been beaten on a wet track before. Remember when David Coulthard panned him in Brazil after Mclaren attempted to give Schumacher the race?!

    34. I dont think he’s doing a bad job. i think he will do well in the race tomorrow. 4th position could be possible… and even a podium if a red bull or two break down :)

    35. Folks, let’s not panic. It’s not the end of the world. Joe Saward made a very good point on his blog that they could’ve gone for different setups to make sure they cover all eventualities tomorrow. It seems Nico went for a setup more suited for the wet whereas Michael went for a setup more suited for the dry.

      As Vettel knows painfully well, pole doesn’t score any points – you only score points on Sunday. ;)

    36. I don’t think Michael is doing too badly, although in my opinion today he could of done better.

      He has had three years away from the sport, not to mention the cars and tyres are different. He won’t be as fast as he was when he was in his prime, that’s a fact. It will take him time to get up to speed, he is doing bad at all for only three races back to the sport. Then don’t forget Mercedes are off the pace this year.

      Now I’m not ignoring the fact that Rosberg has out-paced him in most sessions with the same machinery, but it comes down to him not being up to speed.

      The media love a story, whether that be a positive or negative one, but what doesn’t help his situation is that the media has over-hyped his comeback, and when he hasn’t delivered they are quick to criticise him. For example, in Australia, he was racing down the back of the grid for most of the afternoon and finished 10th. Articles I have read which criticise his race forget to omit he suffered damage at the first corner. We didn’t know the extent of the damage therefore I don’t think it is fair we write him off and say he is past it.

      Anyway if I go on it will be a border-line, full-blown rant. hehe

    37. I think the person with the most to be frustrated about regarding talk of Schumacher’s struggles (and I mean generally here, not Keith) is Nico Rosberg. The focus is so heavily on Schumacher not delivering front-running form thus far, very few people seem to be acknowledging that Rosberg is in fact a damned good driver, doing a good job.

      1. Story of Nico’s life, isn’t it? IMO, like Jenson, the only way Nico will ever get noticed is if he becomes champion.

        1. Winning a race would go a long way towards that as well.

      2. I agree with you Andy, but I think there’s good reason people haven’t been raving about Rosberg until now. He’s had some good races, yes, but he’s had poor ones too – he threw away his best chance of a result at Singapore last year, for example.

      3. Also, bear in mind that Rosberg has probably been motivated by Schumacher’s return as his team mate. This is his chance to beat(on level footing) the man widely regarded as the best driver in formula 1, in doing so, he has the chance to prove himself and even “de-throne” the former champion. Rosberg did not have anything to lose and everything to gain, he also has the burning ambition of youth / someone who is still building up to the peak of his career.

        Add to this, the psychological boost of actually beating Schumacher, which is probably having the opposite effect on Schumacher himself.

        I’ll admit that I was never Schumacher’s biggest fan in his glory days. I always considered the team orders and having the car custom built to suit him, skewed his rating as the best driver.

        However, since his return, I have a newfound admiration for the courage he’s shown and his passion for the sport. I don’t think he should be written off at all. Expectations were unrealistic to begin with.

        After taking a break for 3 years, it is bound to take time to get back into the routine / frame of mind to handle the F1 circus, let alone trying to win a race or championship in the same way he used to.

        I hope he’s not deterred by negativity emanating from his critics (elsewhere in the media). His presence, somehow lifts the sport (maybe that’s just me?).

    38. I don’t share the general negativity. To come back to any sport after a three year layoff is quite something.

      Rather than use Lauda as a comparison, how about JV? His first few races for Renault were embarrassing.

      When he subsequently joined Sauber, no one really rated Massa at all – just as no one really knows how good Rosberg is – so there were similar calls for him to give it up. However, it did take JV a very long time to get back up to speed.

      Apparently, Schumi doesn’t like understeer which is a problem with the Merc (and with the new tyres.) Kubica, on the other hand, loves it, which may partly explain the Renault’s unexpected form. But Ross is working on it.

      It’s very early days to write him off.

      1. Totally agree. He’s met my expectations entirely, he’s looked fairly solid so far and if he’d had a bit more luck he’d have more than a handful of points.

        The media, especially of the British variety, tend to overhype and sensationalise everything. It’s quite tiresome really – fortunately, this site for the most part avoids that trend, even tho its a blog.

        I’m waiting to se how he does towards the end of the season.

    39. ThePink Bengal
      3rd April 2010, 20:16

      I don’t think he’s been doing that bad to be honest. We only have two and a half race weekends to go by and in my humble opinion, the Mercedes wasn’t as strong as Ferrari, Red Bull or McLaren in the first two races. Plus, he had a crash in Australia which ruined his race.

      In my opinion he’s doing well with what he has. Sure Rosberg has beaten him more often than not but as many others pointed out, he’s been away for a few years.

      It’s not easy to jump into an f1 car (I assume). That guy who replaced Massa last year…Lookhowbadyouare or whatever his name was, did terribly and he was Ferrari’s test driver.

    40. Wel,I think this is quite unique situation FIA and F1 has produced due to austerity measures, which are absurd in F1:
      imagine a pianist who is allowed to play every two weeks for two days for few hours before a concert, or any other serious professional in these circumstances. And driving a race car requires practicing and training, I guess? I have never seen anything like this anywhere…

      1. Agreed – no testing is one of the dumbest ideas ever. Limited testing yes, but the current situation is silly.

      2. I second that, it is like banning football practice

        1. only that a football practice costs only a ball if you kick it out of the field. in F1 testing costs a whole lot, thats what they are trying to prevent.

    41. Oh ye of little faith…

    42. And, may I add, Michael is now like a pianist in comeback after long absence – now what if they (musicians)had a rule – welcome back, but you get a piano every two weeks for 2-3 days, 2-3 hours…

    43. I think Schumacher is quite fast, at this moment faster than Rosberg already.

      It just doesn’t show in the final results yet, down to one nagging annoyance after the other. Bahrain was the only race where conditions remained constant for both drivers, the other two races till now just had TOO MANY variables that affected the final outcome.

      Think about this, – four months ago Schumacher raced in some kart race in Las Vegas and finished 7th. The drivers who finished 1st till 6th were,

      Bas Lammers
      Norman Nato
      Jeremy Iglesias
      Arnuad Kozlinski
      Marco Ardigo
      Tony Lavanant

      My challenge is, put any of these drivers in an F1 car right now. I would love to see how they perform!

      I don’t believe that Schumacher has anything to lose in this comeback. In fact, it just goes on to highlight how immensely superb he was when he was in his prime, that even now after having switched off for so many years he’s still ONLY one-tenth slower than Rosberg, probably in ‘human’ sense which probably means just a little less urge to throw the car around like a mad man through a corner compared to before.

      But doesn’t mean that he can’t do it, sure he can and will do (in due time). I just don’t believe that he’s gonna do it just for the sheer excitement of the fans, nor just in order to make the front page headline and awe the world. He’s smarter than that, just taking his sweet own time. Slow, steady and mature.

      And it makes sense, whatever he’s doing. Imagine this, he had the banker lap from Q2 which really saved his life as in still hung him on to P10. So why wouldn’t he be enthusiastic to do another banker early for Q3? He did push hard on lap one, in fact he was so fast that he caught up Kubica and got stuck behind him. In the end his lap one lap-time only mirrored that of Kubica.

      He hasn’t even made even one single driver-error type mistake on track ever since his return. Alonso, Massa, Button, Rosberg have all spun or gone off track in miserable conditions but this old guy is keeping still it clean. One might argue that the old guy isn’t pushing hard enough, true. But wouldn’t you normally expect an old guy to make so much more mistakes when performing at this level in this young man’s sport?

      1. Yeah, only kart races really show who’s fastest in F1 …

    44. Keith, you are a sensible man, so what according to you would be a successful season for Schumacher? Considering, he is old, no driving for 3 years, and the current band of drivers are some of the best competition Schumacher ever had.

      1. Didn’t Keith predict Schumacher to become WDC this year?

        1. I did! Not looking so good is it?

          The 2010 season in 20 questions

          I expect last year’s constructors’ champions will have the best car again this year, and the man who’s won more titles than anyone else will win another.

          You know, it would be so easy to go back and edit that…

          …I won’t, though!

      2. The first thing I’d expect him to do is beat his team mate.

        And I certainly didn’t expect him to have a problem doing that in the sort of conditions where he’s traditional excellent. Look at the weather in the last race he won, for example.

        1. so, you expect him to besat his team mate? fair enough, so do i. But when? FP1 of Bahrain, after being out for three years??. Some people were, but i think that is totally unrealistic. Is qualifying of race three realistic? Probably not either to be fair. Niki said it would take while, and i tend to agree with that. I think we should expect him to be up to speed by the half way, 75% mark of the season.

    45. poor schumacher. its good that hes back i reckon, but i dont think hes gonna set the world alight, its not good or bad, but i dont think its what he would want…

      i dont think it will tarnish his reputation either, its good for everyone. i doubt hell beat rosberg, and i dont think its in mercedes interests for anything to dent rosbergs confidence either.

      so looks like they have a high profile german driver who will help them enormously with car development and also teach rosberg a thing or two…

      i never really liked schumacher or his approach though at times he did some azmazing things in a F1 car. i think the biggest thing now thats gonna show him up is that hes not the undisputed number 1 for the first time in his career.

      if i were him i wouldnt want to be in the role hes found himself, nothing about his character would make me think he would want it either, but hes there gonna be interesting to see how he deals with being beat all the time…

    46. What made this site fantastic was the pure journalism. There were no favourites, no hype. The page was full of images, insight, history and facts.

      I’m not the only one that’s pointed this out; but people came to this sight because there was no page 3 articles and pulp trash headline grabbing.

      I’ll come back after a few races and see if the sight has put the original author back on. The one that just loved racing.

    47. Been following F1 since the days of Jackie Stewart and Jochen Rindt. MS has stood out as not being the fastest driver of any generation (think Senna was) but was the most complete one in terms of team motivation, speed in any condition, ability to develop the machines and race craft. He showed that F1 is a team effort and was the first F1 driver to acknowledge the team after every race.
      His come back will take time (who can predict how many races), but he will get there. RB is one of the shrewdest cookies in the business and would not have risked inviting a “has been” back. RB knows MS the best and we will see how the team develops.

    48. another matter some (no many) people seem to overlook, that how much effort schumacher has to put in just in order to be back in F1, physically.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOTZTMfB4-U&feature=related

      this is at the end of the monaco gp in 1992, nigel mansell is 39 in this video and can barely stand, has to be carried to the podium. imagine the fitness schumacher has and needs in order to compete at this level at the age of 41.

    49. Robert Smith
      5th April 2010, 1:41

      I like reserve any comment on the GREATEST AND RICHEST DRIVER IN THE WORLD Michael Schumacher!

    50. Schumacher has being out-qualified and out-run by his team-mate, fair and square and not even the rain has brought him the results he is looking for since the beginning of the season. Maybe he’ll catch up in the comming races, but for the moment my feeling is that he’s being beat up by his no-so-great team-mate.

    51. I think Schumi is doing a pretty good job and has cut the gap to Rosberg
      with each race. Remember 2007 and how long it took Alonso to get used to the new tyres McLaren used, but by mid-season he was up to speed.
      Schu is getting used to the whole package. I think by Europe we’ll see a return to his true form..

    52. What Anthony said. Schumacher have been cutting off 0.2s of Rosberg’s advantage each training session. He was just unlucky in the last two races.

    53. I expected Schumacher to be quick in rain. It’s true that the Merecedes lack pace then Ferrari & Red Bull on a dry track but if Nico can pull the car up there what’s wrong for Schumacher.

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