Michael Schumacher (merged)

"That's motor racing"
"A missing wheel nut stopped Michael in Malaysia

"It is a shame that I could not finish the race but unfortunately one of the wheel nuts in the left rear was lost. The car suddenly was becoming very instable in turn 6 and I could hardly steer and had not drive left. I initially thought it was something to do with the suspension but after I had stopped I was there was one wheel nut lost. It is something very unusual to happen, in testing we never had problems with it. I would have obviously wanted to finish the race, and I think it could have worked out quite reasonably because I was able to kind of safe tyres for later. But in the end that is motor racing, I remember that very well. It makes no sense to get angry about it, you have to accept it as part of the game and look ahead. At least Nico scored our first podium finish, and I am happy for him and the team."

Edited by merschu, 04 April 2010 - 11:37.

Or lets remember 1996.

IMO he sounded very deflated today. I think he is realizing that even if he does get back up to speed then he still has no chance of making an impact driving for his current team.

Michael had relatively good start, and rest is history. Good news is, He is not broken.

Now the China.

Ross Brawn & the Mercedes team sabotaged Schumi's car..!!

Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug felt to - and apologized after the race with Schumi:
"Sorry, something should not happen! We make from it. We will work hard and concentrate to make sure that our car in the future, reliable and simple step by step faster. "

Fair words for Schumi Malaysia helped. But for the future does he not gloomy: "In China (18 April) we wish to once again be a bit better there. There are as yet few good things for us. "
In any case, a new nut ...

Edited by merschu, 04 April 2010 - 14:12.

i mean fundamentally the car isn't good enough so not much he can do, BUT... he is getting his bum spanked by rosberg at the moment and the amount of excuses being piled up in his defence is a bit humiliating for a man of his standing in the sport

i mean fundamentally the car isn't good enough so not much he can do, BUT... he is getting his bum spanked by rosberg at the moment and the amount of excuses being piled up in his defence is a bit humiliating for a man of his standing in the sport

Know what you mean, I thought losing a wheel nut was a terrible excuse.

well done on missing the point

well done on missing the point

Your mouth is writing cheques that you can't cash.

What excuses? First race - 3 years out with little testing, Alonso spins him last race and his wheel falls off this one?

After these 3 races your statements have no substance - pointless.

Edited by Paco, 04 April 2010 - 16:33.

What's all this Michael part I/II stuff?! People don't lose talent,and F1 drivers most certainly do not turn into less talented clones just because they've been away a long time.

Edited by SeanValen, 04 April 2010 - 17:15.

In that case, bring then Häkkinen back and see what's result. According to your principle Mark Webber would be much better driver than Häkkinen at his peak. It would be absurd to rate for instance Häkkinen's, Fisichella's or Coulthard's abilities by their last races.

In fact it's quite visible that most of the drivers loose much of their speed between 30-35 - not to mention when they are 35-40.

Edited by Paco, 04 April 2010 - 17:17.

In that case, bring then Häkkinen back and see what's result. According to your principle Mark Webber would be much better driver than Häkkinen at his peak. It would be absurd to rate for instance Häkkinen's, Fisichella's or Coulthard's abilities by their last races.

In fact it's quite visible that most of the drivers loose much of their speed between 30-35 - not to mention when they are 35-40.

As far as I know he is still driving the understeering W01 he had at Bahrain-the team have repeatedly said there will be no major changes in this area until Barcelona. I would say he's coping rather well with a car that doesn't suit his style at all and has adapted very well. Today was the second race running where he had issues that had absolutely nothing to do with his performance on-track,which is pretty annoying but I'm sure he's moved on.

Same for Rosberg, it does not suit his style.

That's what he said after the stuff floating around on the internet about the car suiting his style better,but I think the understeery Williamses were said to suit his style perfectly? I remember people even remarking how different he was from his father,as far as driving style is concerned.

Edited by rog, 04 April 2010 - 17:27.

He never told the understeering williams suited him, who told this?

The first time I paid any attention to this was when the tyres were changed in 2007,when Wurz was his teammate. I remember reading then that changing to Bridgestone's meant drivers that tended to attack a corner (rather than brake early and turn-in early) struggled,while those with a smoother style preferred the understeering tendency of the cars. Wurz said so himself in an interview that the understeering nature of the car+tyres suited NR's style better. I'm sure there's a quote to be found somewhere with a premium subscription to autosport.com (which I don't have)

Edited by rog, 04 April 2010 - 17:49.

Maybe he can cope with it better than some other drivers, why not. But it doesn't mean Rosberg prefer understeering. He clearly told twice that he would prefer a car that tend to be oversteering instead understeering. Of course best would be more a neutral car.

Maybe he can cope with it better than some other drivers, why not. But it doesn't mean Rosberg prefer understeering. He clearly told twice that he would prefer a car that tend to be oversteering instead understeering. Of course best would be more a neutral car.

It could however mean that once they get the weight distribution sorted (either with a neutral or tadly oversteering car) the results will turn around completely in MSC's favour.
We've seen the same in 2008 when Ferrari suddenly focused on developments for Massa for some reason. Kimi lost his advantage completely.

The style of the car is that important. Most people know Kimi was by far the better driver but the car was tailored to Massa, and he lost his edge. The Mercedes hasn't been tailored to either driver but it's likely it suits one better than the other.

I doubt that, it's just assumption. Nico doesn't prefer understeering as well. Both can to benefit from a better weight distribution.

Edited by Dragonfly, 04 April 2010 - 18:28.

Michael missed 3 years of car evolution, no to speak the the car he's driving now has zero of his input in its design. Techniques that worked great for him in the Ferrari might not work now. I think he's simply cautious. Not time to take larger risks and he's still not confident to the end in the car IMO.
But we've seen in the past that a row of mishaps does not make him give up.
I haven't heard much about the inner team atmosphere but besides Ross every one else might see in him the old rival.

Edited by glorius&victorius, 04 April 2010 - 19:49.

I'm surprised that none of the Schumacher fans have picked up on one of the few positives. It's two races in a row that Schumacher has picked up positions on the start while Rosberg has lost position due to excess wheel spin. If Schumacher can improve his qualifying, he might be close enough to Rosberg to pip him at the start.

Rosberg is whipping Schumacher 35 to 10 and is only four points from leading the championship. Schumacher just needs to get lucky.

To me the dry FP3 gives the most telling indication of speed



1 M. Webber Red Bull 1:33.542 17

2 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:33.559 14

3 S. Vettel Red Bull 1:33.587 17

4 F. Alonso Ferrari 1:33.751 19

5 M. Schumacher Mercedes Grand Prix 1:33.992 15

6 N. Rosberg Mercedes Grand Prix 1:34.090 13

7 J. Button McLaren 1:34.113 16

8 F. Massa Ferrari 1:34.174 15

Why? Because it's the one session so far that Rosberg wasn't faster in?

at Ferrari MS had everything going for him:
- car built for him (...not for his team mate)
- team mate driving for him (see austria debacle)
- team strategies for him (with his team mate being the guinea pig)
- team built around him (...not around the team mate)
- exclusive reliability (... consistent reliability glitches for his team mates)

Really a position of supreme luxury... that probably to this extend was never granted to any other driver in F1 history.
However, he was also worth every dollar... I think never has there been a race driver that drove so many KMs, stayed for days at Maranello.
Schumacher-Ferrari was the perfect symbiosis

So this whole Mercedes experience is quite a change for MS... and maybe we'll see the best of MS again when all these things are back in place.


* btw: I guess that that's why Montezemolo is so pissed.... thinking "we gave him everything...EVERYTHING!!! Things that other teams would never give him....and then he turns his back on us to start promoting Mercedes sports cars... Mammamia!". And to make it even more insulting the car is red.

at Ferrari MS had everything going for him:
- car built for him (...not for his team mate)
- team mate driving for him (see austria debacle)
- team strategies for him (with his team mate being the guinea pig)
- team built around him (...not around the team mate)
- exclusive reliability (... consistent reliability glitches for his team mates)

Really a position of supreme luxury... that probably to this extend was never granted to any other driver in F1 history.
However, he was also worth every dollar... I think never has there been a race driver that drove so many KMs, stayed for days at Maranello.
Schumacher-Ferrari was the perfect symbiosis

So this whole Mercedes experience is quite a change for MS... and maybe we'll see the best of MS again when all these things are back in place.


* btw: I guess that that's why Montezemolo is so pissed.... thinking "we gave him everything...EVERYTHING!!! Things that other teams would never give him....and then he turns his back on us to start promoting Mercedes sports cars... Mammamia!". And to make it even more insulting the car is red.

The Guy is not slow he has just been unlucky. If his races had gone to plan he wold be around Hamilton in the champinship standing no doubt about it.