If You Were Ross Brawn What Would You Do?

[maure 1]

I would keep him, unless his salary is way too high. Either he goes back tio the old Schumi self and thus trashing everybody aroun, or you get the best, most experienced number 2 driver a team could ask for. A win win situation for Brawn

Even "losing" MSC bringss publicity fudors to t.e team.

Thst said, it is not a GIID point to fire anyway half way tHrogh the season. Why bother? It would only amount to poor publicity.

MSC could leave on this own. There is his ego on the line but, I bet, there are those close to him that keep making xerox of MCS's back accounts and posting them around the house. All is prespective, dear MSC. Take stock. Move on to where you aint' working if it doesn't please you. Take gardening,m oil painting build, yourselve a castel or a dam, travel the planet most remote places or buit yorself an exlcusive toy, in other words, get a life, man.

[Quiet One 15]

@George: my sentiments. Exactly.

@Maure: Maybe he is happy now. Not as happy as when he was winning everything, but happier than his times at the Ferrari pitwall, posing for the sponsors and media. If anything I bet he feels alive.

I say let the old git race. I don't think he is worth a tenth of what his fanboys think, but I am sure he at least deserves that much!

[AleHop 0]

If You Were Ross Brawn What Would You Do?

If I were Ross Braw, If I were Ross Brawn... I am not.

My POV is... If you care... 4 races so far and 3 of them have been a bit special mainly because of the weather. I think the best scenario for Schumacher would have been 4 dry problem-free races to start Eurpean races in a better form. It won't be easy for him, it could take half the championship before he feels good with the car but we knew that wouldn't be easy.

If he's beaten on and on and on half the season... Let's see what happens.

[JHS 1]

The problem is Schumacher was usually able to drive any car better than a team-mate, whether it was a slow car or a quick one. He was able to drive a car which wasn't completely perfect in handling terms. He is not like a Button or Raikkonen who struggle if conditions aren't perfect with the car, or at least, he wasn't. To me, it seems he's lost that ability to drive around a problem or a lack of grip, and tbh, I don't think the Merc is handling all that badly anyway if Rosberg can put it on the podium. Schumi looks like he's reacting to the car rather than bending it to his will.

Clearly then, Schumacher is not up to speed. I don't think there's much point denying that. Nobody but a small amount of fanboys and some of the media expected he would dominate Rosberg immediately, but I doubt anybody expected him to be trailing so miserably. Worse still, Schumi doesn't even seem to care that much. The competitive animal looks tamed in the interviews, applauding his team-mate's efforts with a relaxed smile. Button beats Hammy by one position in the GP and you can see Lewis is bothered; Michael doesn't look at all bothered when he's 5 places from Nico - and that's the most worrying part. Maybe Michael did return just to have some fun, as difficult as I find that to swallow.

Saying that, it still looks like he has his racecraft the way he drove against Hamilton (even if Hamilton seemed to be much more cautious against him). Perhaps it's expected that the speed would go before his racecraft though, considering the former is more subject to time and the latter is just a matter of experience and intelligence.

Anyhoo, if Merc do make the car better for Schumi maybe he can still drive on the limit and beat Rosberg. We'll probably find out in Barca (volcanic ash permitting) if MS is getting some upgrades.

You write off the WCC by not backing Rosberg, too, though, don't you? Rosberg and his team aren't winning races; if they keep helping Nico, he'll start to win. Winning races is best for their team, WCC or not, and Schumacher's not quite comfortable enough to be winning even if they design the car around him. You can say what you want about losing natural ability, but the fact is that the vast majority of the time, athletes get worse once they hit their peak. To say Schumacher hasn't peaked already is ridiculous. He's not truly hopeless; he's scoring points. He looks like a guy who is three years older than he was the last time he's done this. I know a lot of Michael fans want to re-live the past, but if they want Schumacher to be on top form, they'll have to patient and accept that it's really Michael, not the car.

From a future standpoint, Rosberg hasn't reached his peak. Building the team around him, if they really feel he can be a WDC (and I imagine they do) will be best for the future. Building the team around Michael, who will probably get a bit better with seat time and then start to go back down again as age catches up to him, would be really a joke. In the perfect world, they'd have two totally different cars, but that's a lot of effort and money I'd imagine. Micheal's a dependable number two, and he can get better, so the team shouldn't neglect him, but in doing so, they can't take away from Rosberg because he too can advance to the next level, and advancing Rosberg to wins is best for the team over advancing Michael to top fives.

Saying the car is slow is silly when Rosberg's on the podium. I'm not saying it's all Michael's fault, but I don't think he's the driver he once was (at least not yet), and it would be ridiculous to expect him to be, really. Just because he's a legend doesn't mean he'll always be as good as he once was, and that doesn't mean he can't be good enough again, but he'll never be the Michael he was. That's life, and if it were any different, no one would retire.

I'm not accusing you of bias, but I know you're a big Michael fan, and I know it's hard when your favorite isn't on the form they used to be. We'll see how the season progresses; I do think Michael will get better, but my point is that they can't take attention from Nico for Michael. When they do that, they would probably get two cars running P5 and P6 (18 points). If they work with Nico, they could get a car P1 and a car P8 (29 points). What's losing them the WCC, again?

Fair points, both of them. My real gripe being though from all this sort of talk is that he isn't awful, but you'd think he was currently. Awful would be back of the grid and 5 seconds off the pace. The fact of the matter is, by hook or by crook, Michael has scored in every race bar one where he DNFed. I think everyone's expectations have been way too high, expecting him to come out and blast everybody out of the water straight away. Unquestionably the competition is quite a bit stronger than when Michael was so dominant, but really, to win straight of the box after 3 years was too great an asking. I guess that sort of expaction does come when you are seven time world champion though, hey?

[MisterGaga X 0]

This is my FIRST post on this forum and I hope to have a great time debating with all of you's here ....

I am a die-hard , almost suicidal, Michael Schumacher fan. I started watching F1 in 94 and stopped at the end of 2006 .. What was the point ? Schumacher was the show all those years.And now that he's back, well Im back too. People have to realize that with Michael Schumacher's return the sport has had HUGE ratings and will continue to do so until he re-retires from the sport. In reality, the F1 world and it's fans want to see Schumacher winning than any other driver presently on the grid, be it Alonso,Hamilton,Button etc... In all honesty nobody cares about those drivers- it's schumacher there more interested in and that has been the case for the last 15 years or so .. How can you explain that a driver who has been out of the sport for 3 years still gets votes as the most Popular F1 driver on the grid? ( LG-F1 Racing Pole 2010)

His first 4 races has'nt been Schumacher-esque .TRUE ..But neither was Michael Jordan's return in 95 with the Chicago Bulls either. Those who watched Jordan's return in 95 were abit dissapointed too.Jordan came back after a 21 month retirement from basketball and in his first game he was'nt the Michael Jordan fans remembered him as. He and his team got eliminated in the second round of the playoffs and EVEYBODY were writing Jordan's obituary.But guess what happenned afterwards ? He trained hard during the off season and got back to basketball physique form, his legs got stronger and he improved his shot. He then went on to win 3 consecutive NBA championships ,cementing even more his status as the best basketball player in the world.

My point in all of this ? When your a genius, you stay a genius. And Schumacher is just that !

Like Schumacher has said recently :'' There are not more competetive drivers, there are just more competetive teams '' ,, The BS that today's generation is stronger than it was in Schumacher's heyday is all a load of bullcrap... So if that's the case than that means Hakkinen,Villenueve,Hill,Frentzen,Alesi,Montoya,Button,Raikkonen,Coulthard etc etc etc were all Sh#t drivers?

You take a 1998 version of Mika Hakkinen and put Alonso or Hamilton or Raikkonen next to him in the same car and Hakkinen would EAT all 3 of them alive anyday of the week and twice on sunday... The older generation were old school and today's drivers come from the Playstation generation. There is no comparison.

Schumacher might not maybe make a difference this year but he will next season. It's only normal. It does take time no matter who you are.

3 years is still 3 years.He even said it himself right at the beginning of the season that he did not believe this year was going to be his year, that's why he signed for 3 years !I'm not worried at all... It seems these days the whole world is out to get him and the press from all 4 corners of the earth are out to get him. The English press, Italian Press and Spanish Press are on his back.But that's okay as the saying goes: what does'nt kill you makes you stronger ...

Im happy very much for Rosberg so far. He's doing a fantastic job...However Nico is'nt any faster than Schumi's previous teamates , it's Schumacher who presently is'nt as fast as HE is supposed to be at the moment....That's the reality.

I bet if and when Schumacher pulls out a stunner performance this season the haters and bashers will crawl back under their rocks from where they came from. So enjoy while it lasts guys.

I really hope it's a question that Schumacher needs the car to handle how he wants it and if that's what Schumacher needs is a car to be built around him than the sooner he gets it by Brawn and mercedes the faster Schumacher is going to win his 8th title.

[yurp 0]

Wow - you had 2 firsts posts and they're exactly the same. Remarkable.

(I remarked.)

[Piotr 0]

Give him the whole 2010. Keep Heidfeld in 2011. If Old Shu doesn't improve in the first 3 races in 2011, have him retire due to health reasons and put the other Kra... errr... other German in. Keep the geezer around as an advisor for publicity sake.

[BradSpeedMan 6]

Wow - you had 2 firsts posts and they're exactly the same. Remarkable.

(I remarked.)

[Senna's Ghost 0]

Ole

After watching the Chinese GP you could see that Schumacher was not driving the car to the maximum for one reason or another. It certainly isn't because he has lost any skill or knowledge or driving ability; it just doesn't happen like that. There is something that he is not happy when driving the car compared to Rosberg. After the race when he was interviewed he made reference to being unable to get the power down exiting the corners. It certainly looked that way because he was a sitting duck on the long staight allowing the likes of Petrov to make an easy pass (and thus making Petrov the driver of the day if you read the other threads on this forum!!??).

I don't think the issue of getting the power on coming out of a corner was only a problem in the wet conditions of China. Even during the practice session and quali, which were held in the dry, he didn't look like he was 100% with the car. He looked like a driver who is waiting for the car to bite him and readying himself to react when it does. Unlike the aggresive, dominant car control that we remember seeing when he was driving the Ferrari and he could place the car anywhere, brake as late as he liked and the car wouldn't dare misbehave 'cause he would smack it back into place.

My theory is that the balance of the car is too far to the rear for Schumi's liking. We have all heard that he likes his cars set up similar to a go-kart with a very responsive, dart like front. With a smaller front tyre than last year the overall balance of the cars has shifted towards the rear. You would think then that the upshot of this change to the rear would be time consuming understeer that could be eventually engineered out of the car, but it looks more fundemental than that. He looks tentative compared to Rosberg.

Lets hope that a change of chasis for the next race does improve the situtation and make him more competitive than we have seen so far. He was and is a great driver. At the minute all he's doing is making Petrov look brilliant, in some peoples eyes, because he was overtaken by him.

Tchau.

[Insider 0]

As I have said elsewhere, I believe the MS problem is partly his status at MGP and partly, an inevitable loss of hunger. Pride is his only motivation now. I have always said Nico was a good driver waiting for a good car. He is the future of MGP - Haug and Brawn will not dump on him to make MS feel better. If MS continues to miss the chunky points, I'd use his dodgy neck as an issue and put Nick in the car - a proven points gatherer in every team he's driven for. It won't please the sponsors or the board but the real mistake was in choosing Michael in the first place. Vettel should certainly be the No.1 target for MGP next season with Sutil, the cheaper alternative.

[BradSpeedMan 6]

As I have said elsewhere, I believe the MS problem is partly his status at MGP and partly, an inevitable loss of hunger. Pride is his only motivation now.

Do you really think so? I think he's still hungry, whats why he came back. The car simply is'nt suited to his driving style, and unfortunately he had 3 years off. It's as simple as that to me.

[Jean Todt 4]

Do you really think so? I think he's still hungry, whats why he came back. The car simply is'nt suited to his driving style, and unfortunately he had 3 years off. It's as simple as that to me.

Thats a very valid point, but the young guys are a way too fast these days Brad....they only guy who can still come back and trash everyone to bits is Kimi, but unfortunately hes gone to WRC looking for his mojo..

[Insider 0]

Do you really think so? I think he's still hungry, whats why he came back. The car simply is'nt suited to his driving style, and unfortunately he had 3 years off. It's as simple as that to me.

There is MS 'hungry' and then there is Robert Kubica 'hungry'. The latter gets you another 4/10ths every time.

[JHS 1]

I disagree. To me, Michael seems hungry for success and to prove the doubters wrong. No doubt he is fired up again after 3 years away.

[Pucky the Whale 0]

There is MS 'hungry' and then there is Robert Kubica 'hungry'. The latter gets you another 4/10ths every time.

So if Alonso were as hungry as Kubica, he'd bring a full second to his team rather than his usual .600?

[teddydub 0]

I remember a comment made by this unsportsmanly german WDC after Alonso had passed him in japan using the exterior of a particular bend (180R I think?). The comment was that he admited he probably didn't have anymore what it took for that kind of manoeuvre. Probably another of the many reasons why he let himself be pushed out of F1.

I believe he's just back 'cause he's bored and saw the brazilian whiners' 2009 season. I agree he's probably motivated by ego alone. That's not enough considering the level of the guys he's up against.

You all talk about his commercial value but this one will only last if the comeback is a success. Otherwise to potential sponsor firms, the present noise around him is negative and there is no way they will accept this. It's not what they pay for.

I feel he should be given just as much time as guys like Bourdais, Grosjean and all. Wait 'til mid season then treat him with as much class as he has in general and give him a public beheading.

I've followed F1 since Canada 1973. He's probably the only driver I never appreciated in F1 since that time. Hill/Villeneuve title deciding moves, benetton cheating year with unauthorized software, unsportsmanlike manoeuvre for which rules had to be created and one could go on and on.

I hope his comeback fails. I simply can't understand why F1 would like to associate itself to the negative image he projects -not to mention how Sh#t his dressing taste is!

[Pucky the Whale 0]

You all talk about his commercial value but this one will only last if the comeback is a success. Otherwise to potential sponsor firms, the present noise around him is negative and there is no way they will accept this. It's not what they pay for.

I feel he should be given just as much time as guys like Bourdais, Grosjean and all. Wait 'til mid season then treat him with as much class as he has in general and give him a public beheading.

I hope his comeback fails. I simply can't understand why F1 would like to associate itself to the negative image he projects -not to mention how Sh#t his dressing taste is!

1. His fans, though, are fiercely loyal and, if Michael doesn't improve, they'll be in denial about it simply because he's their Mikey Wikey Dumpling Pie. He'll always have commercial value. Tiger Woods can sleep with half the United States and then not do that well in the Masters and still have commercial value. Danica Patrick can be one of the least-talented professional racing drivers in the world and still have commercial value. An off four races doesn't change an on fifteen years or whatever. He could lose fans at the rate IndyCar loses money and still be the most popular driver in F1.

2. But Bourdais and Grosjean don't offer their teams much in terms of feedback, commercial value, etc. Just two boring and not-that-impressive Frenchman who, being French, probably don't bathe as much as they should racing drivers that will be forgotten very quickly. Even if Michael fails, people still won't forget him. There's big hype around it, win or lose. Bourdais? Grosjean? Not so much. One's racing Superleague and the other's working at a bank in Switzerland. If Michael were doing either, it would be headline news.

3. Hoping for failure isn't a really nice thing to wish for. Michael is, without a doubt, my least favorite driver in Formula 1. I want him to succeed, though, because the more competitive drivers we have, the more exciting the races are. Why does F1 associate itself with him? Well, gosh, he takes three years off and he's still the most popular driver in F1! Those idiots

[Argento Reloaded 1]

Ole

After watching the Chinese GP you could see that Schumacher was not driving the car to the maximum for one reason or another. It certainly isn't because he has lost any skill or knowledge or driving ability; it just doesn't happen like that. There is something that he is not happy when driving the car compared to Rosberg. After the race when he was interviewed he made reference to being unable to get the power down exiting the corners. It certainly looked that way because he was a sitting duck on the long staight allowing the likes of Petrov to make an easy pass (and thus making Petrov the driver of the day if you read the other threads on this forum!!??).

I don't think the issue of getting the power on coming out of a corner was only a problem in the wet conditions of China. Even during the practice session and quali, which were held in the dry, he didn't look like he was 100% with the car. He looked like a driver who is waiting for the car to bite him and readying himself to react when it does. Unlike the aggresive, dominant car control that we remember seeing when he was driving the Ferrari and he could place the car anywhere, brake as late as he liked and the car wouldn't dare misbehave 'cause he would smack it back into place.

My theory is that the balance of the car is too far to the rear for Schumi's liking. We have all heard that he likes his cars set up similar to a go-kart with a very responsive, dart like front. With a smaller front tyre than last year the overall balance of the cars has shifted towards the rear. You would think then that the upshot of this change to the rear would be time consuming understeer that could be eventually engineered out of the car, but it looks more fundemental than that. He looks tentative compared to Rosberg.

Lets hope that a change of chasis for the next race does improve the situtation and make him more competitive than we have seen so far. He was and is a great driver. At the minute all he's doing is making Petrov look brilliant, in some peoples eyes, because he was overtaken by him.

Tchau.

Maybe he can convince Bernie to make the new "F1 Schumacher Formula" so he will be confortable. Whatever Nicas has 40 more points, the rest is pure bla,bla, bla...

[Argento Reloaded 1]

I remember a comment made by this unsportsmanly german WDC after Alonso had passed him in japan using the exterior of a particular bend (180R I think?). The comment was that he admited he probably didn't have anymore what it took for that kind of manoeuvre. Probably another of the many reasons why he let himself be pushed out of F1.

I believe he's just back 'cause he's bored and saw the brazilian whiners' 2009 season. I agree he's probably motivated by ego alone. That's not enough considering the level of the guys he's up against.

You all talk about his commercial value but this one will only last if the comeback is a success. Otherwise to potential sponsor firms, the present noise around him is negative and there is no way they will accept this. It's not what they pay for.

I feel he should be given just as much time as guys like Bourdais, Grosjean and all. Wait 'til mid season then treat him with as much class as he has in general and give him a public beheading.

I've followed F1 since Canada 1973. He's probably the only driver I never appreciated in F1 since that time. Hill/Villeneuve title deciding moves, benetton cheating year with unauthorized software, unsportsmanlike manoeuvre for which rules had to be created and one could go on and on.

I hope his comeback fails. I simply can't understand why F1 would like to associate itself to the negative image he projects -not to mention how Sh#t his dressing taste is!

Amen.

[Quiet One 15]

There is MS 'hungry' and then there is Robert Kubica 'hungry'. The latter gets you another 4/10ths every time.

...and then there's Monty hungry which bring us "We're gonna die! Oh my god we're all gonna die!!!"

[Autumnpuma 0]

Ole

After watching the Chinese GP you could see that Schumacher was not driving the car to the maximum for one reason or another. It certainly isn't because he has lost any skill or knowledge or driving ability; it just doesn't happen like that. There is something that he is not happy when driving the car compared to Rosberg. After the race when he was interviewed he made reference to being unable to get the power down exiting the corners. It certainly looked that way because he was a sitting duck on the long staight allowing the likes of Petrov to make an easy pass (and thus making Petrov the driver of the day if you read the other threads on this forum!!??).

I don't think the issue of getting the power on coming out of a corner was only a problem in the wet conditions of China. Even during the practice session and quali, which were held in the dry, he didn't look like he was 100% with the car. He looked like a driver who is waiting for the car to bite him and readying himself to react when it does. Unlike the aggresive, dominant car control that we remember seeing when he was driving the Ferrari and he could place the car anywhere, brake as late as he liked and the car wouldn't dare misbehave 'cause he would smack it back into place.

My theory is that the balance of the car is too far to the rear for Schumi's liking. We have all heard that he likes his cars set up similar to a go-kart with a very responsive, dart like front. With a smaller front tyre than last year the overall balance of the cars has shifted towards the rear. You would think then that the upshot of this change to the rear would be time consuming understeer that could be eventually engineered out of the car, but it looks more fundemental than that. He looks tentative compared to Rosberg.

Lets hope that a change of chasis for the next race does improve the situtation and make him more competitive than we have seen so far. He was and is a great driver. At the minute all he's doing is making Petrov look brilliant, in some peoples eyes, because he was overtaken by him.

Tchau.

Perfect analysis of Mikey's problems with the car. The car is understeering on entry and getting snap oversteer on exit. As Ross Brawn said in China, Mikey is faster with a heavier car. This probably means that he's suffering from the lack of downforce with a lighter car. Also, a heavier car will throw it's mass forward on entry and give more grip to the fronts. A lighter car will give him just what he's experiencing...understeer on entry and oversteer on exit. Nico's solution is obviously superior, and Mikey is finally realizing this when he said something to the effect of 'Nico and I tried different rear set-ups and his [choice] was apparently better than mine'. I wonder what prevents Mikey from effectively using Nico's set-ups? Pride or driving style?

As I have said before the season started, the defining factors of this season will be understeer and ride height. Whomever comes to grips with those, will dominate.

To answer this thread's question, I would keep Mikey for at least 2 seasons. Dropping a driver mid-season upsets more in a team than it solves and dropping a driver after one year prevents that driver from reaping the benefits of a car that he's helped to refine.

[JHS 1]

I hope his comeback fails. I simply can't understand why F1 would like to associate itself to the negative image he projects -not to mention how Sh#t his dressing taste is!

Well, simple thing is, those "negative images" you speak of have massively increased the interest for Formula One in numerous parts of the world. I can't understand it either, I mean, what possible benefit would that have to the sport?

Yes, I don't like the Mercedes team shirts either. I don't think he has much of a choice on that one though.

[Insider 0]

I disagree. To me, Michael seems hungry for success and to prove the doubters wrong. No doubt he is fired up again after 3 years away.

I have no doubt he wishes to succeed, his ego demands it but is his skill set up to the job. A lot of things have changed in F1 engineering, in the past three years. Is he capable of change too? Seems to me, a customised chassis is an expensive piece of pandering for someone who is clearly way outside his comfort zone, in a car Rosberg has adapted to quickly. Jenson was massively unhappy with the MP-25 in testing and at Bahrain but he's won two out of four in it. My point about Kubica was that if he was in a Hispania, he'd be wringing the neck off it. So would've Schumi ten years ago.

[stopkidding 0]

I think Schumacher is doing a good job. As he said, he feels like he is rookie after being away for a 3 years. And as a rookie, he is doing pretty fine. He is clearly not comfortable with the car, sort of like 2005 when the Ferrari was a dog. I think he is doing as good a job that can be done, for someone of his age, and someone who has been away for 3 years. It is quite normal in my opinion. Give it till the middle of the season, and he will be very competitive compared to Nico

[Argento Reloaded 1]

I think Schumacher is doing a good job. As he said, he feels like he is rookie after being away for a 3 years. And as a rookie, he is doing pretty fine. He is clearly not comfortable with the car, sort of like 2005 when the Ferrari was a dog. I think he is doing as good a job that can be done, for someone of his age, and someone who has been away for 3 years. It is quite normal in my opinion. Give it till the middle of the season, and he will be very competitive compared to Nico

Agree. The only problem is Nico´s job is fa better...