And as I said before, Herbert's assessment is asinine: Originally Posted by Ferraripilot He's not going anywhere. What his former teammate (Herbert) stated regarding Schu still having his previous ability but the younger drivers are better is utter crap as many of the drivers on the field were drivers Schu was demolishing in his day. Webber, Button, Barich, Massa, Alonso were all on the field. Something has his stumped about current F1 though, for sure. We see glimpes of him here and there but no solidity. This last race was the first race where his car has been 100%, and he looked great.....until qualifying. During the race he had some great moments, but other times we all knew there was something off.
It's either: 1.) He can't come to grips with the new tires. 2.) His reflexes are shot. 3.) 1 and 2. He has shown that he has the raw speed, but he overdrives the tires which they simply can't take. He needs to smoothen out his driving style (if he can at all) before he can turn speed into race pace.
As a (former) MS fan it bothers me when people don't accept that he is now simply too old. Because if you don't accept that fact, then you are basically saying the guy has less talent than e.g. Rosberg. Last year we heard the excuse that the car was not made for him but Button. I already didn't buy that since the MS of the nineties simply drove around a problem if there was one. He mastered cars in much worse shape. But that was last year. Anybody who still thinks MS' age and the accompanied loss of neural ability has nothing to do with his current results (and how he gets outdriven by Rosberg) basically states that the guy is of average F1 talent. And that feeds exactly into the many hateful blogs I'm reading these days in Europe: People saying he only won 7 titles because he had the best car, the best engine, his own test track, the best tires and no valid #2 driver. While all those things contributed to his success it is my strong belief that MS was the most talented driver of his time and that's why he won 7 titles (plus some luck and some really hard work). So please: Don't say that MS of today is still the same driver as he was 10 years ago. He isn't and even he acknowledges that. Because if you do, you're also implying that e.g. a Rosberg would have beaten him to every one of his 7 titles. And that is simply not true.
I think I have pretty good reflexes (used to be a goal keeper in my "soccer youth") and I don't feel that they diminished any but I'm pretty sure if measured against men 20 years younger (or myself 20 years ago) it wouldn't be the same.
I completely agree with you. We are seeing glimpses of the real Michael here and there with no consistency is the issue. His reflexes are great, when they're working or when he doesn't freeze. Heartbreaking really, but that's nature. Yes, I also think he is having issues coming to grips with these F1 cars, but that combined with his half and half reflexes makes me personally want to push for him all the more. Just my 2 EUro
I am 32 so I can't quite give any adequate commentary regarding this. My students are college students or younger. I can say this though, my music professors in Boston were all in the 50s+ and their reflexes and technique are something only years of practice can yield was and is remarkably greater than that of any younger person. That being said, that is not F1 and is of course far less physically demanding.
Not if you race against guys your age or older. Seriously age is not a big deal in racing unless you do it at the highest level of F1. Regarding MS' potential withdrawal: I'm sure the organizers of the German GP are having some sleepless nights now
MS is past his prime. Of that there can be no doubt. Whether or not that means he shouldn't be driving an F1 car is another matter completely. If we assume he really was brilliant, then that just means now he's less brilliant I would be very surprised if he's the worst driver on the grid, but I don't know of any real way to measure that.
The post-Turkey buzz in the European media suggests the Mercedes-Benz GP management and the M-B Board of Directors are growing impatient. Expectations are not being met by Schumacher and if results (meaning a top six finish) are not achieved at Barcelona, di Resta (who is high on M-B's and Haug's list) could be ushered in. The European media have had the knives out for Schumacher for some time now and the term being thrown around time and again is "arrogant". Schumacher, however, labelled himself as "exceptional" in a recent interview. But, notice since the completion of the M-B buyout of the team, Schumavher is no longer criticising the car and taking responsibility for his lack of results. Haug then replied to Schumacher's "exceptional" quote by praising di Resta in an interview calling him "exceptonal and remarkable". Age may be against Schumacher but if anyone could pull off a come back at this age, it's him. But, unfortunately, the reports that are surfacing have it at Schumacher is arrogantly and subbornly holding on to the style and techniques which landed him seven World Championships. But, with thus new generatation of cars, tires and stratigies, these old techniques simply are not working. This was a nothing to gain and everything to lose proposition from the beginning. http://m.bleacherreport.com/articles/694009-turkish-gp-mercedes-michael-schumacher-too-old-for-f1 BHW
This last race was literally the first race he had where something has not been completely wrong with the car, and he was very fast in practice. The media is having a feeding frenzy on this garbage and anyone who matters or sees through the media glitz is paying zero attention to it.
Was just reading that Schu's biggest issue is that he is on the accelerator too early when exiting slow corners which causes unecessary wheelspin. Tracion control can't help him! His Q3 lap in Turkey finally comes to light that he went off the clean line due to braking too late into the first corner which carried too much speed and made him go wide! Talk about ambitious braking though.
I agree. Plenty of drivers have a race when everything just falls apart. I just hope that soon we can have more races of him how he drove in Japan 2010... Anyone remember Hakinen's 'comeback' when he tested for a couple of days at Barcelona in a new Mclaren? He was apparently 3-4 seconds (!) of the pace, that was also after a 3 or 4 year break.
When was Mika planning on coming back? I thought he did one test a Barcelona in 2006 just for the hell of it.
You might be right. I forgot the timeline but it was miserable as they all were: Jones, Mansell and even Lauda when trying the Jaguar as team boss and looking like a fool
According to the Italian press, Mercedes GP will have heavily modified sidepods and front exhausts (similar to Renault's solution) at Barcelona. Rumor has it that the car will be 0.5 seconds faster per lap and the changes are substantial enough that new side-impact tests are needed. http://www.omnicorse.it/magazine/8750/f ... us-renault It looks like they are the only ones on the web reporting this, so I have no idea if it is true or not. Let's see how much speed this stuff really brings. MB owned up well with their last major update during practice so let's see how this one goes. Half a second would certainly get them right up there though.
Or he simply missed his braking point ... Mate I'm the same age as MS and I'm not the same driver that I was when I was 20. He should retire because the most dangerous person on a race track is a driver that is not 150% fully committed to racing, if you are having doubts, get out of the car. You can't race at this level just for fun ... that is what historic racing is for. Pete
Great points, but this was pretty much his only mistake up until then. He looked great otherwise and everyone makes the occasional mistake. Schu just happened to make one at the most inopportune time possible.
I think he'll stick around next year as well. The car just wasn't right for MS ... as the rest just walked by him. Having said that, we did manage to see the old MS, overtaking Buemi i think, on the outside. Then, he did demonstrate that he's not done, by actually defending his position, not by parking his car in the garage and giving up. I remember China last year when he had his worst race and everyone said he's gonna retire and all. Well he's still here today. Just a few weeks ago, he said he could go on and on, something Haug even quoted. Well, it happens, ups and downs. If he wins the next race, people will soon say he'll be champion this season.
