Michael Schumacher says he is feeling like he is making his Formula 1 debut again after returning to testing action in current GP machinery at the Valencia circuit on Monday.

He never conducted winter testing in 1991. Now thats true history revisionism at work

Michael Schumacher says he is feeling like he is making his Formula 1 debut again after returning to testing action in current GP machinery at the Valencia circuit on Monday.

He never conducted winter testing in 1991. Now thats true history revisionism at work

Q: Ross said that he hopes Michael will help you to mature. Is that realistic? His long-time Ferrari team mate Rubens Barrichello has made some comments suggesting otherwise…
NR: I have to say that so far I have not seen anything negative. You need to make your own experiences and not listen to what other people say. I think it is a completely different situation. What I have heard from people who know him is that he is very fair. He’s just somebody who pushes very hard to be one step ahead, but still in fairness. That’s what I’ve heard.

http://www.formula1.com/news/interviews/2010/2/10399.html

Rubens never proved consistently faster than Michael in first few races in year 2000 so that Ferrari could grant him No. 1 status. Remember Rubens was an excellent driver who was hided by Ferrari in 1999 to give Michael a run for his money. But it turned out that Michael dominated Rubens in year 2000. In years when Ferrari was not too dominant (like ones except 2002 and 2004), Rubens was rarely right behind Michael when Michael won.

The situation will be the same this year as last years. whoever accumulates 20 more points at some point of the year would become No. 1.

Lol
Rubens was not signed to give Michael a run for his money!
Ferrari applied teamorders in Canada 2000 that Rubens shouldn´t overtake Michael.

he has to prove himself


people say massa will be alonso's no2..clearly
but massa will (again..) prove to be on par with his team mate

the same thing rosberg has got to do. first, there should be no pressure on him
if he fails, well, everybody will say ms won because of his status. actually no matter what ms does it will be because of that. nobody will believe anything else
if he succeds, then great...
nothing to lose

Lol
Rubens was not signed to give Michael a run for his money!
Ferrari applied teamorders in Canada 2000 that Rubens shouldn´t overtake Michael.
You don´t hire a driver to challenge the other one and then tell them to stay behind.
Rubens was signed because there was a empty seat after Irvine signed to be #1 driver
at Jaguar.

I am no MS fan far from it but this is getting ridiculous. Why do people even compare Rosberg to Schumacher in the first place?? These 2 are worlds apart. There is a 7 time WDC with 94 wins to his name and what has Rosberg achieved so far??

Brundle is a very good driver, probabley didn't achieve what his talent deserved, if I remember he once beat Senna when he was younger before f1 and went head to head with him, he raced with both, that' s a achievement in it's own right. I would of rather have seen Martin Brundle in a Williams in 94 after Senna died then David Couthard making a debut in a top team, Brundle deserved it more, but he fel into the old trap in being in wrong teams at the wrong time, and I think he knows he didn't achieve enough in f1 before he left.

In Canada 2000, MS was 20s ahead of Rubens, before having brakes problems.

Holy Toledo Batman, check this out ....

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&new...mp;aqi=&oq=

Holy Toledo Batman, check this out ....

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&new...mp;aqi=&oq=

So I see Rosberg still couldn't get within 3 tenths after 100 laps the next day, same car probably with mild improvements.

And yes I would agree different days do bring different times, I don't know if the track was slower on the second day - or possibly faster.

Did anyone really imagine that Rosberg would match Schumi?

Well I'm going to wait until the racing starts first. Pretty foolish to write anyone off based on a couple of days of testing.

Did anyone really imagine that Rosberg would match Schumi?

rosberg was faster than schumacher on long runs .....by Ross Brown
I am not sure that rosberg did some media laps like Shumacher did in Valencia....

Orly? Source?

How do you know if they were running on the same program?
Just look at Button whom was 0.7 seconds slower than Lewis

err because MS ran 80 laps and Rosberg 100 - are you telling me theres no cross over where the cars are not identical in that amount of laps? Not to mention Rosbergs bunch of laps before MS's as well.


Rosberg did the initial installation laps and his best long run was at the end of his time in the car and his laps mainly in the high 1m 13s and low 1m 14s. Schumacher was on that pace straight away and in his final long run he was lapping in the low 1m13s and high 1m12s.

Keke Rosberg was one of my favorites, trust me, I want Nico to be good - but facts are facts.

This was a hot moving thread until the real times starting rolling in now it's on page 3.

Just imagine how fast the pages would be flowing if Rosberg was showing greater speed at testing than MS

But he's not.

Lol
Rubens was not signed to give Michael a run for his money!
Ferrari applied teamorders in Canada 2000 that Rubens shouldn´t overtake Michael.
You don´t hire a driver to challenge the other one and then tell them to stay behind.
Rubens was signed because there was a empty seat after Irvine signed to be #1 driver
at Jaguar.

No new posts from you in this thread?!

From http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81620

Pos Driver Team Best Laps 17th 18th 19th 20th
1. Button McLaren 1:18.871 209 - - 1:20.394 1:18.871
2. Kubica Renault 1:19.114 217 - - 1:21.916 1:19.114
3. Kobayashi Sauber 1:19.188 145 - - 1:22.228 1:19.188
4. Webber Red Bull 1:19.299 202 - - 1:19.299 1:21.194
5. Liuzzi Force India 1:19.650 151 - 1:30.666 - 1:19.650
6. Rosberg Mercedes 1:20.061 187 - 1:28.515 - 1:20.061
7. Alonso Ferrari 1:20.115 269 - - 1:20.115 1:20.436
8. Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1:21.053 259 - - 1:22.564 1:21.053
9. Hulkenberg Williams 1:21.432 275 - - 1:21.432 1:21.919
10. M.Schumacher Mercedes 1:21.437 190 1:23.803 - 1:21.437 -

Laugh at much as you want if you feel happy by that. But if you watched F1 before 2000, you can see a lot of opinions from F1 VIPs who commented on how Rubens would give MS a run for his money because Rubens was highly appreciated by them at that time. Rubens just became bad by some people because he was beaten badly by MS who is never rated highly by them no matter how great he do in F1.

i know what you want to prove, but i would advice you to wait till 3 to 4 GPs to come to a conclusion
Till then

I have always liked Rosberg and I am excited to see him in a car that might end up being really good (it is consistent even without the 2010 bits). But, MS seems to just have that feel for an F1 car that some people are just gifted, and IMO he will be quicker than Rosberg with the rare cases of Nico having the upper hand.

My only fear is that he won´t be allowed to fully benefit from a good car.
It all depends on the teams policy, if they are going to be a one mans team or
if they are going to support their drivers equally.

You don´t need to give me advice, but thank you anyway.
I know this is testing so I know the times are not important
Cheapracer was just too quick to point out that Schumacher
was faster in testing. We don´t know this and the lastest
(test)times proves the opposite

My only fear is that he won´t be allowed to fully benefit from a good car.
It all depends on the teams policy, if they are going to be a one mans team or
if they are going to support their drivers equally.

I too am surprised that barbie was faster than Schumacher. Even with the increased track speed (lolButton going 1:18) a 14 second difference is a lot. Ofcourse if look at the combined times from the 19th and 20th the picture is more in Schumi's favour.

On the other hand its not like Schumacher will get psyched out. Worse for rosberg, if the past is any indication he can't make a midfield car - what the W01 looks to be - fight for the championship and Schumacher can.

I predict Schumacher will beat Rosberg by over 50 points this year.

Someone somewhere posted that Rosberg was 1.4 faster than Schumi. The reality is Schumi was 1.1s off FTD on the fri, Rosberg was 1.2 off FTD on the next day.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81620

The reality is Schumi was 1.1s off FTD on the fri, Rosberg was 1.2 off FTD on the next day.

That proves what, exactly?

That given the track conditions on their respective final days Schumacher and Rosberg are very close assuming they ran similar programmes.

Aside from the obvious talent one sees on TV when he is behind the wheel and his excellent health and fitness, what exactly are his great skills? What does the camera miss? Well, prior to any Grand Prix, when the team was busy testing and developing cars, Michael always wanted to be there whenever possible. During his time with us his commitment to constantly try to improve the car was so intense and his feedback so useful to any development work that the engineers were just as keen to have him there too. In fact his input was so beneficial that it finally became pointless for the team to offer a third driver a permanent testing contract.

Schumacher has the ability to memorize the handling of his chassis through the entry, the apex and the exit of each corner of every lap. He can recall each detail of the car's behaviour, however minute or insignificant it might have appeared at the time. He complemented this ability with a sound mechanical understanding of the car, and was aware of exactly what needed attention in order to cure any problems. In discussion with his engineers, when his comments on the handling of the chassis and any changes that had been made to the car were cross-referenced with the telemetry data, it was possible for the team to make very quick and accurate progress.

Schumacher possesses a deep, multi-layered character and his abilities in a car are the rsult of an exotic compound of many different skills. The fact that his character is so complex makes it nigh on impossible to pinpoint one particular aspect and say, "That's it, that's it right there. That is what makes him so bloody good. Copy that trait and you can beat him." Unfortunately, and all his Benetton partners will agree, his talent just isn't that straightforward or easily defined. Certainly a lot of his strength is drawn from his natural confidence (some say arrogance, but they would be wrong) and his remarkable attention to detail. Attention to detail in all things. For example, many drivers are capable of delivering impressive lap times -- Frentzen or Irvine for instance; some are gifted with exceptional speed -- Alesi or Coulthard -- some have good race craft (the ability to look after their cars, take care of their tyres and pace their race) -- Martin Brundle is a master of this. Occasionally a few drivers possess more than one of these essential attributes -- Hakkinen and Berger. A very, very few drivers display all of these and many more.

Michael's crusade isn't stimulated in the same way that Senna's was. Ayrton felt he was driven to win, that he must win, and that nothing else would suffice. He was, of course, absolutely thrilled when he did finish first, but as he waved to the crowd, one could sense in Ayrton's eyes that he thought the only true, honorable result had just occurred. Michael's motivation is slightly different: he has a deep, concentrated passion to win every motor race he enters, it's as simple as that. He recognizes that to consistently win is a very demanding challenge, but he loves to win; he lives to win and as a consequence he willing gives 110 percent to ensure that he does so. However, just like, Ayrton, when the race is over and the work is done he is, quite visibly, delighted with the achievement of it all.

Michael has a unique driving style too; he likes the car to be built with a very stiff suspension, a set-up which reduces chassis roll to the absolute minimum. This is fine providing the driver is capable of handling the car in such a knife-edge condition; the problem is that reducing the roll produces a car which is constantly trying to break free and slide across the tarmac as the tires lose adhesion with the track. Forever playing with the steering wheel to catch and correct the oversteer, and constantly feathering the throttle to persuade the near-on 800 horsepower to relent for a split second and allow the tires to grip the track again is physically very demanding and requires great strength of mind. Nevertheless, that is how Michael chose to driver and in his hands at least, the results of such a set-up speak for themselves.