Mercedes: Schumacher shows pace before crash

2011 Singapore GP team review

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Michael Schumacher showed strong pace before colliding with Sergio Perez.

Michael SchumacherNico Rosberg
Qualifying position87
Qualifying time comparison (Q2)1’46.043 (-0.362)1’46.405
Race position7
Laps28/6160/61
Pit stops23

Mercedes drivers’ lap times throughout the race (in seconds):

https://www.racefans.net/charts/2011drivercolours.csv

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849505152535455565758596061
Michael Schumacher124.277117.686116.748117.688117.48116.754116.735117.047118.316126.645138.962116.39119.687117.667115.197114.518114.78114.832115.281115.409115.744115.889117.083124.926133.383113.096114.08114.496
Nico Rosberg123.534117.292116.182117.387117.764116.537116.547117.251124.906136.475116.522116.926117.457115.591115.588115.629115.823116.342116.826116.814116.699123.772134.084114.649114.518115.082115.509118.17134.848161.708123.226120.17146.17118.644119.174115.889114.934115.356115.173114.904114.71114.383114.643114.714115.307115.63114.953115.294115.366115.536116.053117.98116.416116.588117.504116.915117.728118.042119.091120.658

Michael Schumacher

Michael Schumacher, Mercedes, Singapore, 2011
Start tyreSuper soft
Pit stop 1Super soft 29.61s
Pit stop 2Super soft 29.473s

Schumacher elected not to run a lap in Q3 to save tyres for the race, and still lined up eighth in front of the two Force Indias who also did not set times.

He made an opportunistic move on Lewis Hamilton at the start to move up to seventh, but lost the place back once more on lap four.

After that he ran behind Rosberg and made his first pit stop one lap after his team mate. In the second stint, while Rosberg had no traffic in front of him and both were running on a used set of super softs, Schumacher was over a second per lap faster than his team mate.

On the 29th tour he tried to follow Rosberg past Sergio Perez but found the Sauber driver defending the inside line at turn eight.

Schumacher moved to squeeze down the inside but hit the Sauber as Perez started to brake. The Mercedes started to launch but fortunately came back down before he hit the barrier.

Schumacher called the collision a “misunderstanding”:

“He was about to go inside and lifted, and I was not expecting him to do that so early, and therefore hit him. It’s probably one of those race incidents which look more impressive from outside than from inside, as I am totally OK and my impact in the end was not too heavy.”

The stewards reprimanded him for the collision.

Michael Schumacher 2011 form guide

Nico Rosberg

Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, Singapore, 2011
Start tyreSuper soft
Pit stop 1Super soft 29.549s
Pit stop 2Super soft 29.417s
Pit stop 3Soft 30.261s

Was only two tenths of a second off Felipe Massa’s time in qualifying, and took seventh on the grid.

He went into the first corner on the outside of Massa and Mark Webber and took to the run-off area. He rejoined the track in front of Massa.

Massa passed him in the braking zone for Memorial corner, and during the first lap Rosberg was told: “Everything is OK with cutting the corner.”

Hamilton appeared behind him on lap five and was quickly through, demoting the Mercedes to seventh.

Schumacher closed on him during the second stint and when they changed tyres again Schumacher again closed on his team mate who was now behind Adrian Sutil and Perez.

Rosberg overtook Perez but then made a mistake at the last corner, losing the place again. In an instant he was back down the inside of Perez at turn one and this time it was the Sauber driver who had to take to the run-off.

The safety car period solved his Sutil problem as Rosberg got out of the pits before the Force India driver.

That effectively settled his finishing position, although he was passed twice by the recovering Lewis Hamilton over the final laps.

Rosberg ran the second half of the race on soft tyres but wasn’t able to do anything about Paul di Resta ahead of him.

“I was struggling with the rear end in the race, and our car just really didn’t suit this demanding track,” said Rosberg.

“I had more problems with tyre degradation than the cars around me, which combined with having to switch our strategy when the safety car came out, meant it was impossible to make any progress.”

Nico Rosberg 2011 form guide

2011 Singapore Grand Prix

    Browse all 2011 Singapore Grand Prix articles

    Images © Daimler, Singapore GP/Sutton

    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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    66 comments on “Mercedes: Schumacher shows pace before crash”

    1. He was having a great race again before the crash. Also, he was over 3 tenths faster than Rosberg in Q2.

      It’s been a great couple of races for MSC… hope he can keep it up.

      1. Perez didn’t weave so it was Schumacher’s fault if he didn’t get out of his way and crashed, but he is having some good races nonetheless.

        1. Lol, where does anyone say Perez weaved? The first person to say it was his fault was Schuey.

          He’s been fantastically candid in his personal critique this season. An example to all other drivers, Massa & Hamilton included!

    2. Forget Singapore Schumi and concentrate on Suzuka,one of your all time favourites!!!

      Yes,yes,yes,he has the pace!!..he has the knowledge like no other,and “PLEASE” listen to Rosberg!!….he and the Merc GP team wants you to stay with them post 2012..
      Plus your Zillions of fans :)

      1. @Duke, what did Rosberg say?

        1. I think Duke pointed about this: “Rosberg wants Schumi to stay beyond 2012” http://www.yallaf1.com/2011/09/26/rosberg-wants-schumi-to-stay-beyond-2012/

          1. According to an unbylined article on a website I’ve never heard of quoting a foreign language news agency. Is there a more credible source for this one?

            1. I did a bit of Googling, which reveals that ‘everyone’ uses these quotes from SID.

              SID is a daughter of Agence France-Presse (AFP).

            2. Not sure Keith it’s in these sites too:http://www.totalf1.com/details/view/393368/Rosberg_wants_Schumi_to_stay_beyond_2012/

              Don’t know if it’s credible :)

            3. Verstappen – do any of these ‘everyone’s have names?

              NFS – That appears to have been cut and pasted from the same site.

              By the way, I don’t consider it at all unlikely that Rosberg said what he did, I just want to know if he actually said it and if it’s been reported accurately.

            4. Oh ic Sorry keith, i understand that. :)

          2. Great… thanks for sharing. It also depends if the next years car (MGP-W03…I just christened it)shows a positive trend & is able to challenge the top 3; get into the podium. This will be the only rationale to extend his contract beyond 2012

    3. What good is pace if you can’t keep the car in control? I think the ‘misunderstanding’ on MS’s part was that he thought that was a passing place on the track, which it is not. And perhaps he thought he had enough pace to get by NR eventually, and didn’t want to see him disappear down the track after he(NR) got by SP…but again, to finish ‘first’ you must first finish. MS is overdriving the car and after so many controversial ‘front wing’ issues this season plus the borderline blocking of LH in the last race was lucky to only get a reprimand yesterday for a ridiculous and amateur-like move that never stood a chance.

      1. You could say the same about rosberg at turn 1 he quite clearly should have had a penalty. He started behind hamilton and after turn one where hamilton was bottled up (because he was racing on the track like all the other drivers bar rosberg) he was ahead of hamilton. Lewis didn’t get a bad start he simply had no where to go because he stuck to the track. That is out of order infact i think the reason he did it was because rosberg knew the only way he was going to keep ahead of michael during the start was to make his own version of turn 1.

      2. I think the ‘misunderstanding’ on MS’s part was that he thought that was a passing place on the track, which it is not.

        At that moment a pass wasn’t out of the question though. The speed and traction out of that corner he had over Perez was so great that it wouldn’t (and shouldn’t) have been difficult.

      3. I’m sure with all the valid points we all have for and against Schumi, this thread can go on for ever and ever. Just like your opinion to show Nico should have been elected the “driver of the weekend” ahead of Schumi.

        I prefer to take the positive from the race (and from the stats in this article) – obvious Mercedes GP is clearly showing progress – the car is improving and so are the team. Eventually Schumi and Nico will win races next season.

      4. Lol Robbie, I bet you weren’t thinking it wasn’t a psssing place when Hamilton pulled a pass at the exact same spot a few laps after the restart….. Luckily “or some would call it skill” the other guy saw him coming & left him a bit of room….

    4. I find this hilarious from adamcooperf1 twitter: “Best news of the day, Paul McCartney will play on the Sunday night of the Abu Dhabi GP!”
      “The bad news is that Britney Spears will be playing on Friday, might cause some confusion at Merc GP if she visits the paddock…”
      Britney in Britney world :D.

      back to topic:
      I think Michael is close to his old magic, Rosberg’s turn now to have to raise his game to another level

      1. the new Britney is sporting a new hair cut and lightly trimmed beard.. won’t be a confusion for sure.

        1. Or maybe the new Britney going to clean shaved, put on wig and ooops i did it again…one more time, just joking :D

    5. That or I think if you rewatch it appears NR found himself with 2 cars side-by-side having moved inside him, ie. a 3-wide situation, and perhaps with the stewards deeming it not penalty-worthy it was because NR saved a collision from happening by ‘making his own version of turn 1.’ He also ceded the position back to FM I think it was, after passing him from cutting that corner.

      But anyway this is about MS showing pace before his crash, and to that I say ‘so what’. All kinds of drivers show pace for brief glimpses thanks to the tires, which then fall off and the pace is no longer there. One still shouldn’t be driving into other cars so often in a season.

      1. But anyway this is about MS showing pace before his crash, and to that I say ‘so what’. All kinds of drivers show pace for brief glimpses thanks to the tires, which then fall off and the pace is no longer there

        This is what Keith posted – In the second stint, while Rosberg had no traffic in front of him and both were running on a used set of super softs, Schumacher was over a second per lap faster than his team mate.

        On a idential car; set up; tires, a driver was faster than his team mate…. seriously now, you don’t like Schumi or this article highlighting someone’s race pace ;-)

        1. Nah Robbie just doesn’t like Schumi :D

          1. @ Robbie

            I think you will like this

            http://www.schumacher-fanclub.com/

      2. “So What?”

        Then why are you getting all defensive about it Robbie?

        Also Nico’s re-pass on Perez (which led to the whole incident anyway) was plain clumsy, Nico just barged him out of the way (again penalty worthy maybe?) . Ever think that after that Perez wasn’t in the mood to give ANY room to a Mercedes trying to pass him, hence what we saw?

    6. NR seems to be doing just fine and only need the equipment to up his game…same with MS but it is MS that is trailing NR in points…still…with 5 races left in season 2 of MS’s return to F1…I would question who’s turn it is to up his game.

      Hmmm…can’t seem to respond directly to other posters, so the above one from 4:23 was to TheBrav3, and this one is to NFS.

      1. I agree with you about the equipment thing but mmmm i think if not because his DNF and mistakes Michael has already surpassed Nico in term of points and Schumi pace in last races has equaled or better than Rosberg so i think Nico might have to raise his game from now on.

        1. I think ROS goes for Ggory on Qualifying whereas Schumacer sets his car up for the race. But for some of the collisions & other retirements (remember Monaco where MS stormed away from ROS & was looking like heading for a strong points finish until his engine blew, whilst ROS eventuallly finished outside the points after a uneventful race) he would be going quite strongly points wise this season.

          In my opinion ROS goes for the best quali position & then hopes he doesn’t fall too far backwards on Sundays, & to be fair sometimes this works, but it isn’t the way to get the best results IMHO.

    7. Was never a Schumacher fan until his comeback, but must now admit he’s my favorite driver on the grid- follow by Kobayashi. His race craft is still there and if Mercedes can put together a solid car for next year there’s no reason this man can not be on the podium in 2012.

      1. strange he is your favourite driver since his comeback, when he has been at his worst in his career, and hardly a top 10 driver in the last 2 years. maybe your fanaticism of him is driven by nostalgia. the reasons he wont be on the podium in 2012 is because he is past it, mercedes is an average f1 team (made to look good at brawn gp when the car was designed by honda), nico rosberg will still be his teammate and still be beating him, there are about 8 other faster, younger more hungry drivers on the grid, and 3 teams (6 cars) have faster cars which are reliable meaning they will finish ahead of the struggling schumacher consistently.

        1. Nah, dis-agree with you. He is very exciting to watch. MSC and Lewis are real racer.

        2. Fortune teller eh? Love how you are so sure about what’s “going” to happen….lol

          1. whoops, to clarify, I was refering to “dkpiote”‘s comments with my response above

    8. The Mercedeses were only fast on fresh tyres. It seems they still haven’t figured out how to reduce tyre wear. Schumi would undoubtedly have suffered a lot in the final stages of the race, if it hadn’t been for his misjudgement. That was not the first time this year. It’s the same old story. Mercedes keep making the same mistakes again and again.

      1. I disagree, bear in mind that Schu was making his tyres last at least one more lap than Ros per stint. In the final stint, Schu’s tyres would have been three laps fresher, so I would have expected him to have better pace than Ros. Alas, we’ll never find out.

        1. Rosberg’s tyres could only last the remaining part of the race because of the safety-car phase induced by his teammate. ;)

    9. Icemangrins…I don’t like MS, and just because MS was a second faster for a brief stint when it appears MS and NR were on equal grounds (who knows about their actual setups though) does not make me now believe that MS is besting NR…NR is the one that sits 10 points ahead, with a huge lead in qualifying performance, and tends not to damage his own car through boorish moves. Again, who cares about the pace if one cannot bring the car home in one piece. For all he has perhaps ‘gained’ by finally catching up to NR after almost 2 seasons, he has lost it with ridiculous moves like on SP that had no hope. Meanwhile NR just ‘quietly’ goes about his business and still heads MS. MS (7 time WDC touted by Brawn as 2010 WDC) should have been trouncing NR (who has never won a race) from day one, yet here is where we are nearly 2 seasons in. I quess if I was an MS fan I’d be grasping at any sign of hope too.

      1. *I quess if I was an MS fan I’d be grasping at any sign of hope too.*
        Or perhaps for Schumi hatred/NR fan like you been worried and uptight when Schumacher has shown glimpse of his real speed :)

      2. Robbie that’s a really pointless post. It’s obvious that your opinion is already made up, and you won’t change it regardless of how impressive Michael’s driving is.

        There’s no arguing with the ignorant.

      3. So from that I take it that you don’t think NR is potentially a race winning driver.

        Fact is that MS has been matching NR of late, maybe doing a little better, that’s a matter of opinion. But if you think NR could win races in another car then you’d have to believe that MS could be too.

        And if you’re winning races you’re a chance at the championship. And if you’re a chance at the championship then there is no reason you should retire.

    10. NFS…”if not because his DNF and mistakes”…that’s like saying he would have won the race if not for all the cars that finished ahead of him. Put another way, if he wasn’t overdriving the car so much this season perhaps he wouldn’t have thrown away so many points and would actually be heading NR by now. But here is where we are. NR got whacked at the start of the last race, so that negates one of MS’s dnf’s. The rest of his issues are down to misjudgements and at this point I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near MS on the track for fear of race ending contact. He can’t seem to handle the pace when he finds it.

      1. The point is his pace has matched Rosberg in last races. Oh he could handle it like in Canada, Spa and Monzao. could be saying about Nico as well wouldn’t want to anywhere NR, Perez for sure..It’s racing. If you want to put it this way maybe Nico just couldn’t put maximum pace of the car :D

      2. MS has one more mechanical DNF than Rosberg. So, if you want to match up their ‘not his fault’ retirements then you can do that with NR’s at the last race.

        Yes, I agree with you that the rest of the gap is down to Michael’s mistakes, misjudgements and lack of pace at the start of the season.

        The trend is upward though. That’s what people are excited about. We haven’t seen the best of MS yet in this come back, but we are approaching it. This latest accident actually seems like a bit of an anomaly. I think we should take it at face value as a racing incident. I’ve had motor racing accidents like that, you expect someone to accelerate and they don’t that type of thing, it can be very tough to avoid.

        For me, he seems to make fewer mistakes as his pace improves. When he’s in a good position the battles are less desperate and his car positioning better.

      3. Again, who cares about the pace if one cannot bring the car home in one piece?

        You are right… Ideally no one cares….because it is Schumi.. We all do

        After his first stint, he was catching the pair 1 second a lap. Though we all half heartedly agree that Turn 8 isn’t the bad place to attempt an overtaking move, Perez closing the door not expecting Schumi to be there, Schumi expecting Perez to yield (remember, he said it was a misunderstanding), the adrenalin rush, plus the surprise pace MGP W02 had (at this point, Schumi doesn’t know he can’t handle the pace of a F1 car) – everything was over, before he could even back off.
        The fact that you feel that no one should be near Schumi in the track is just an exaggeration of the whole situation. This isn’t applicable to any F1 drivers (Yuji Ide) included.

        if he wasn’t overdriving the car so much this season perhaps he wouldn’t have thrown away so many points and would actually be heading NR by now.

        He made four mistakes so far this season most notably in Valencia where he got demoted to P17. Silverstone was a one off where the stop-go is still considered a bit harsh & ditto at Turkey. He could have salvaged at the maxium 12 points (which you say he threw away). Then he had retirements on three occasions which is not in his control. Inspite of all that, Nico is leading by 10 points when in 2010, Schumi was trailing by 80+ points after Singapore gp. I think Schumi did close the gap in pure race form in 2011. When FIA introduces points system for Qualifying, we can talk about his one lap form compared to his team mate. Thoughts?

        He can’t seem to handle the pace when he finds it.

        I think you just compared someone who celebrated 20 years in F1 to a caveman. He is arguably the most complete driver in the present gird. If I have to read your mind, in Lap 29 Schumi was like, “oh, what does this red button do… let me press it anyway….. woh woh woh….now, how do I stop this thing. Seriously, this is too faaaaast tchooooooo. I can’t handle the pace of a formula 1 car at this age sniff sniff

        1. Well put Iceman!

    11. Pity Schumacher crashed as would have been interesting between him and Rosberg as he cut down a 10 second gap after the last pit stop really quickly & was looking good.

    12. Simply. I think Michael throwed away a fifth or sixth place.
      Anyway I prefer he retires after a crazy and “optimistic” move, than seeing him walking around in ninth place half a lap behind Rosberg (as he did some months ago).

      Keep up Michael!!!

    13. Has been the case with Schumacher since his comeback in F1,whenever he starts to gain the pace something horrible happens.

      1. punishment for all the WDC’s he got by cheating. :P

        jk.

        1. That’s a super exaggerated comment.

        2. @ kitsuna

          LOL

      2. But like the article said, Schumacher looked promising prior to his accident. I’m still convinced he’s going through a good spell.

    14. I can see a lot of similarities between Schumi last season and Ham this season.. both drivers have incredible drive to succeed and just hate to drive in the midfield.. which makes them take higher risks.. Schumi made less of those mistakes this season it seems.. which kind of hints he learned to control himself a bit better.. while Ham still needs to learn the same lesson…

    15. Such a shame to see Schumacher crash out. He’s had a couple of great races recently and it would have been nice to see him do well again. I’m sure he will bounce back at Suzuka.

      1. “Bounce back” as in off of the wall?

    16. Still can’t reply directly to other poster’s…have requested info as to why…anyway for now @ snowman…lol

    17. Just in case no one else considered the idea, it doesn’t take any skill to go “faster” into a corner than anyone else.
      It take the most skill to go “through” the corner faster than anyone else.

    18. Christian…I just don’t think his driving is ‘impressive’ as you do…again, what good is pace if numerous times throughout the season you ruin your race by breaking your front wings on other cars…if he was besting NR in points or in quali, and if he hadn’t broken so many wings then I wouldn’t have anything to have decided ahead of time now would I…so if you want to think it is impressive as a 7 time WDC to be constantly outqualified by NR, and numerous times ruin one’s race, then go ahead…I think it is you that has decided ahead of time that no matter how much he lags behind his teammate, no matter how many incidents he puts himself in, he is still impressive, no matter what.

    19. DVC…I think that NR is unproven since he has never won a race, but the way he has handled having MS as a teammate, which everyone said when MS returned to F1 (Brawn’s 2010 WDC) that it would be daunting for NR, has been impressive. Of course in a better car both drivers would be doing better. But right now we get to compare them in the current car.

      I cite the fact that NR has never won a race not to run him down for that, but to highlight that a 7 time WDC should not be struggling like this if you go by his numbers and you go by the years and years that his fans said MS would be able to win even in a crap car. Well he has proved the opposite. MS finally has a teammate on equal footing on a team, allowed to compete with him, and it just shows that even a non winning driver can best MS when the team isn’t all about MS. It shows what advantages it took in the past for MS to do what he did.

      And to say that this last incident should be taken at face value as a racing incident is to disagree that he should have had a reprimand or more, so the stewards obviously think it was more than just a racing incident. The fact is he has broken several wings or worse now, and even in a few of the races where his drive was applauded he still cut corners ie. showed signs of overdriving the car. I put that down to him not having everything being about him on the team, and having a teammate that is actually allowed to compete against him.

      Perhaps the trend is that at times MS shows better pace than NR on seemingly equal footing, but I think that with the current tires and with DRS it is hard to conclude that MS is now doing better than NR when in fact NR continues to start ahead of him on the grid, and even though MS has shown on average to be a better starter than NR off the grid NR himself has had some great starts too. And MS isn’t always gaining on NR in the race. Sometimes their pace is similar. Sometimes NR’s is better. What I do know is that NR has gone through way fewer wings and been embroiled in way fewer controversies. And he heads MS in points and in quali performance. MS isn’t keeping it together.

    20. “When FIA introduces points system for Qualifying, we can talk about his one lap form compared to his team mate. Thoughts?

      He can’t seem to handle the pace when he finds it.

      I think you just compared someone who celebrated 20 years in F1 to a caveman. He is arguably the most complete driver in the present gird. If I have to read your mind, in Lap 29 Schumi was like, “oh, what does this red button do… let me press it anyway….. woh woh woh….now, how do I stop this thing. Seriously, this is too faaaaast tchooooooo. I can’t handle the pace of a formula 1 car at this age sniff sniff”

      Lol, Icemangrins…it doesn’t require a points system for quali to determine that NR has a better handle on things on Saturdays. I guess you are implying ‘who cares’ since there are no points involved, but in fact I’m sure that if it was MS that had the majority of better starting positions we’d be hearing all about that from his fans ad infinitum.

      And lol you are taking way too literally my comment about MS finding pace and not knowing what to do with it. He is hardly showing himself to be the most complete driver out there based on the number of front wings and other incidents he has been involved in. Too often he seems to be overdriving the car, and a complete driver would be taking the pace his tires have just allowed him after a pit stop and would not squander that like MS has done on several occasions this season. So again, what good is the occasional bit of pace if at some other time in the race you hit someone, or cut a corner and risk damaging the car or spinning out. A complete driver contains things, uses the pace when the tires have allowed it, and keeps it together and brings the car home unscathed.

      1. whoa…down boy…down…
        i get it clearly that u hate MSC, but try thinking from a neutral basis. for u to compare his present driving to his earlier days is just not right. he was out for 3 years from the competition, we had so many changes to the car and Tyre, yet coming back and matching his teammate who is almost half his age with in 1.5 seasons is quite impressive.
        If u remember when fisi and luca who drove for ferrari after massa’s accident, luca was around 1 to 1.5 sec off kimis pace, fisi was around .5-.7 sec off the pace. this inspite fisi was still racing for FI. it shows how difficult it is to a driver to adjust to a different car, when v had Msc out 3 years and coming back and was what 0.3 sec slower than NR last year.
        yes it takes little time for one to adjust to new things,but i can say u that there is no other driver who can do it faster than MSC. And i definitely know he will outpace NR sooner or later.
        I would have agreed with u if this would have happened if MSC had joined Mercedes just after leaving ferrari and NR beating him.
        It is that 3 years gap that is hurting him. Had there been no gap, he would have made u eat your own words, crap it and eat them again!
        So definitely His driving is Impressive. Period.

    21. Lol on the ‘down boy, down’…

      Not buying it…first of all Fisi and Luca are not 7 time WDC’s…secondly, before MS had actually really even turned a wheel in earnest with Merc, Ross Brawn had him as 2010 WDC…thirdly, for at least a decade millions of MS fans claimed that he could win with a dog, or rally the troops and turn a dog into a winner, and upon his announcement of returning to F1 everyone said it would only take him a handful of races to be up to speed, yet here we are with fans now making excuses for him regarding the 3 year layoff…perhaps he should not have returned then if the layoff was going to be that detrimental, but obviously even the likes of Brawn did not consider that as he had MS as 2010 WDC.

      So here we are after nearly 2 seasons of his return and all he has done is show some signs that at some points in some races he matches or betters NR’s pace, yet NR is 10 points ahead of MS and has outqualified him the vast majority of the time, and just when MS looks like he is getting a handle on things he crashes himself out.

      It simply isn’t good enough that this is where MS is at after so many races and it shows that his ‘success’ was largely due to the vast advantages he had over his teammates and the rest of the field in the past, helped largely by the desire of the FIA to see MS end the Ferrari WDC drought. Take away the FIA’s motivation to see him succeed, put him on a lesser team with lesser resources and with a teammate that is finally allowed to compete against him and here’s a 7 time WDC just now finally maybe catching up to NR. Not dominating, just catching up.

      I cry foul for the way MS had overkill advantages in the past and now we are seeing reality, an MS that is still a bully on the track but without the massive safety net of advantages galore, especially the non-competing teammate.

      1. Wow your imagination is getting higher and higher you making Michael like a low class Formula 3-4-5-6 driver that make your comment loosing the credibility, so you are saying all kinds of drivers show pace so it means Yamomoto, Narain etc has the same skill as Hamilton as Vettel as Schumacher as Senna and so on without seeing what skill that make them a great driver..Pls go find a place debating live on tv or write an article in F1 Racing magazine or whatever , i bet many would take you as a superb obsessive Schumy hater in your own fantasy F1 world. For sure he is pacing Nico at the moment and his past teammates wasn’t as complete as him and they even praised him as a great driver and for sure zzzzzzzzzzzzz

      2. Btw There were also lots of NR fans that assuming NR would win races and even WDC 2011 and where he is now? It down to the car which Merc is around 4th best car. And for sure Michael is not at his prime at the moment and in his 40s, i bet like i said to you before young Schumacher was better and more complete than Nico. NR so far hasn’t really really show a capbility of a legend list or a wow stunning drives, like i said before comparing him to his generation the like of Vettel, Hamilton, Alonso he looks descent and i put DiResta higher than NR.

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