Flavio Briatore Labels Michael Schumacher Comeback A "Mistake"

Let the man have his fun but that S%$^ he pulled in Hungary is inexcusable.

 

Beating a dead horse...................................

Again, it's too early call his comeback a mistake. Race 15 of a possible 58 if he does all three years? So, this year, I, like some others, expected a bit more from him even though he is driving a car opposite his driving style. And yes, the car's behavior makes a difference on a driver.

That being said, Brawn has already said he is not building a MS car, he is building a car that will go fast, no matter which driving style it suits. Should be interesting....

It's been said by others, the biggest thing that is killing MS and Brawn is the testing ban. That is how they made the teams at Benetton and Ferrari what they were.

Alex

 

All this: "Why is Schumacher still racing?", makes Me laugh!.

How many people spend hours of their life racing F1 games on their PC's, Playstations and Xboxes?, and for what?, fun, that's what.

Schumacher gets to do the exact same thing but for real!.

It's got to be the ultimate boys toy and how many on here would love the chance to race F1 in something like a Hispania or Virgin F1, let alone a mid-field car like the Mercedes?, quite a few I suspect!.

To be fair to Schumacher, he never once said he was going to come back into F1 and dominate lit like he used to. From day one he's said he's come back to have some fun and to see how he compares to the new generation of drivers.
As it turns out it's been tougher than he maybe thought it would be but he's still enjoying himself!.
It seems like it's everyone bar Schumacher (and his team), who has a problem with his comeback!.

 

Not sure his team doesn't have a problem with it either: They have to answer to shareholders and to Unions and justify the millions they pay MS as salary and for putting that car onto the grid every race. There are lots of disenchanted fans in Germany who have given up on Schumacher and who would rather see somebody like Sutil in that seat.

Not bashing the guy, just saying that "a pleasure drive" is not without criticism.

 

I doubt Mercedes is paying him as much as they are for him to simply fart around and have a jolly old time.

 

The shareholders can all suck a fat one IMO. THEY put in the money, if they don't like what's going on they should take their money out and be miserable somewhere else.

 

And yet I haven't read a single report anywhere stating that the team is questioning his performances or considering replacing him anytime soon!, quite the opposite in fact so far.

His Salary?, I'm sure if it came to that he would quite happily either drive for nothing or even pay the team to drive. Besides which, I suspect he more than covers that for them in the sponsors he attracts plus the merchandising.

The problem for the fans who are now questioning his comeback is mainly of their own making. Despite everything Schumacher himself has said, they had excessively raised their expectations of what he was going to do and achieve, as if he was some sort of Messiah who was going to come back and instantly carry on from where he left off.
Now they're disappointed to find out that he's not super human after all and he's not instantly back to his old winning ways.

Look at it this way, forget the fact that he's a seven times World Champion, forget all of his past success and F1 history. If you compare him to any other driver in F1 at the moment, from Alonso to Bruno Senna, is he not good enough to race in F1?. Is he now worse than Heidfeld, Kubica, Barichello or any of the others?. If he's no worse than them, why should he give it up?. If he's at the same level as those drivers now, why are there no calls for them to quit F1 for not being good enough?.

He may have dropped from being the best of the best, but at worst, he's still as good as the rest!.

 

A bit of a loaded question there, so lets try to sort it out:

Worse than Heidfeld? Dunno. Probably about the same.
Worse than Kubica? Absolutely.
Worse than Barrichello? Probably.
Worse than Senna? Nope.

So it all boils down to what the expectations are for the second MB driver: If a journeyman is all they want at this point, then he can stay. If they want somebody who can actually challenge Rosberg, they need a different driver.

Not that I really care who MB hires. I'm fine with Schumacher in that seat. It is more fun to watch and talk about him than e.g. Sutil who has been rumored to take over next year.

 

Something else to ponder:

How much valuable development information has Schumacher provided the team this year in comparison to Rosberg?. For all we know, Rosberg could be making the best use of information provided mainly from his team mate.
It may well be a case that Schumacher is far superior to Rosberg in explaining to the engineers exactly where the weaknesses of the car are (as was usually the case during his time at Ferrari). This can be just as important to the team as race results. There are plenty of drivers who can drive fast but have little idea how to fix a poor car.

 

Since we don't know what's going on behind the scenes I can't say whether you're right or wrong, but let me make two comments:

- Rosberg just happens to be one of the most (if not the most) technical F1 driver there is: When he took his technical entry exam at Williams, he scored the highest result according to the team (Sam Michael's?).

- There is only so much testing that can be done this year and according to some reports the most valuable person for development in any team has become the 3rd driver who does the endless runs in the simulator. Not sure how true that is, but something to ponder as well.

 

Tech entry exam? Never heard of that. I'd love to see a copy.

BTW I begrudge no man his fun but as the Turks say "May he be Caliph in Egypt" ie may he do very well, very far away.

 

From Wiki:

In late 2005, Rosberg was officially confirmed as a Williams driver for the 2006 season. In the Engineering Aptitude Test, administered to all new Williams drivers, Rosberg achieved the highest score in the team's history.

The test reference in Wiki coming from:
"The Talented Mr. Rosberg" Autosport.com. Retrieved 26 September 2006

 

You learn something new everyday above ground
I wonder if other teams have similar exams.

 

Even at Bennetton?

Michael had stout competition from the likes of Mika and Kimi, although McLaren had major reliability problem's during Kimi's day. There is no doubt Michael helped transform the initially weak Ferrari team into what it has been for the last decade---a top tier player. He did have the best car, but he was also in his prime and rarely made mistakes.

Regardless, it would look very bad if Michael still stinks next year. I would say he might as well hang it up if that's the case. What a shame that would be.

 

Sorry Andreas, I didn't mean to bail out of our conversation so abruptly, I lost track of time and received an urgent phone call inquiring why I was not present at a family meal already!.
(Sorry to everyone on here but you all have to play second fiddle when it comes to a Royal command from My mother! ).



You raise some very interesting points and as you say, we don't know what's going on behind the scenes.

It may be a case that both Schumacher and Mercedes are starting to think that they have both made a mistake and don't want to have to admit it.

It may be a case that both sides have accepted that this year has not gone as they had hoped and are expecting (or just hoping), that things go better next year.

It may be a case that Mercedes are quite happy to have Schumacher on board for as long as he likes, who knows?.


The point I was originally making is that Schumacher is coming in for a lot of criticism from a lot of quarters as though he has no right to be in F1 anymore due to not being good enough. To My mind though, I think people have either misunderstood Schumachers reason for coming back or have simply got their hopes up too high, based on his past records.

When he announced he was coming back, at no stage did he say he was going to be challenging for race wins immediately or for the WDC in his first year back (in fact he was very realistic about his chances and pretty much said the opposite), he has simply gone out and enjoyed his racing (allegedly!).
Whilst it may not have been as easy coming back as he may have hoped, unlike some people, I simply don't see a need to demand he gives up the sport he obviously loves so much.

 

My take on that is:

- Schumacher is still undecided on what he wants to do and probably tries to hang in there at least to see how the 2011 cars feels.
- MB (and who is that really? Brawn? Haug? the board of directors?) probably would like to get rid of him because at this point the novelty has worn off and they see that he doesn't deliver the results, but they're confined to a 3 year contract. Also Haug and Brawn are personal friends, so they don't want to send him packing, but the board probably would prefer to sign a new driver for 2011 at this point. Which is also why Brawn builds a "generic" car and not a MS car.

So it sounds a lot like 2006 with LdM again. But MS has probably the better cards since he has a 3 year contract.

- Eventually MS will be testing the 2011 car and still be beaten by Nico. At that point he'll throw in the towel and the musical chairs for the midfielders begin.
- MB will never win a WDC and eventually call it quits and return to being an engine supplier.

All this just pure speculation. Nothing to back it up. Call it my personal hogwash.

 

Whats worse than a Schumacher come back?

Flavio returning...

 

I'm happy with both of them making a comeback. They're both great names in F1 and guarantee headlines.

 

Sometimes not for the right reasons

 

True. It is F1 after all.

Biggest soap opera in racing

 

I'd like to see the Flavster come back. The announcers certainly enjoy talking about him.

He reminds me of a James Bond villian.

 

Very good comparison. I never thought of it but you are right. His behavior, his power, his arrogance, his girls, his money and yachts. It's all there.

<cue in the white cat and the shark tank>

 

Since when do we listen and discuss anything this moran sais?


MS rejoined F1 and took the biggest risk in his carreer ever with that. That's worth a reward on it's own.
Secondly he joined Merc. which is even more daring.

It's not about the money, yu simply can't buy an F1 world championship anymore, but about the people. At Merc. a team principal will never get the true power and support needed to make a winnig F1 team like Jean Todt reached at Ferrari. To much politics in a huge firm like Mercedes. To many non technicians and financial people involved.

Put MS in a car designed for him and run by a team made of REAL F1 inclined and he will teach all others how to drive again.

 

I keep saying this since day 1 of the Merc takeover.

 

And if you keep repeating it often enough someday Michael will become a real boy.
Oh right. That's a different fairy tale.

We shall see. Until then it is all speculation