Is Mercedes Pushing Schumacher Out ?

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f1freak
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Is Mercedes Pushing Schumacher Out ?

Post by f1freak » 22 May 2012, 11:58

Amid recent speculations & below par performances from Michael Schumacher is Mercedes trying to put pressure on Schumacher to leave the team once his contract expires at the end of this year. In my opinion he was on par with Rosberg but lady luck is not on his side & with a 5 place grid penalty at the Monaco GP things aren't looking any better for the German Ace.

He has cursed the Pirellis after the Bahrain Race & now Mercedes has started the speculation by eyeing Di Resta for the next season & even Mercedes CEO Nick Fry adding fuel to the fire that Schumi might hang up after this season.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/99742
http://www.f1zone.net/news/poor-form-ma ... fry/14063/

The last 4 races I don't see a problem with Schumi but relaiability with Schumi's Car:

Australia- Qualified 4 /Retired Gear Box Problems
Malaysia- Qualified 3 /Finished 10th thanks to the spin on lap 1 courtesy Mr.Romain
China- Qualified 2 /Retired becuase of Pit Crew Problems (Not Fitting the Wheel Nut Properly)
Bahrain- Qualified 17 / Was dropped 5 places to 22 because of a Gearbox change. Still Finished 10th.

Spain- Yes there was a driving error.

But looking at his qauli form and race pace I still think he should have placed much higher in the Drivers Champinship with a decent haul of points in his bag. I know the tyre situation is the same for everyone but his frustration is justified. I still remember Kimi's 2006 Bahrain GP where he qualified 22 & finished in 3rd whereas in 2005 Japanese GP he qualified 17 & finished 1st.

Had these tyres been there at that time we could have never witnessed such great drives & results.

So come on guys share your opinion.

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Re: Is Mercedes Pushing Schumacher Out ?

Post by François » 22 May 2012, 12:43

My opinion: Schumacher - and Mercedes - need the results. Not the excuses.

In that respect, the team's maiden "modern era" victory may have had some unpleasant side effects: they will now be considered by the press and public as genuine frontrunners, and the expectations and pressure to deliver will have dramatically increased: for example, a botched pit stop in a midfield team won't be judged the same way as if it were, say, at McLaren... in other words, Mercedes need to follow up with more front row qualifyings, podiums and good results.

Instead of that, two pretty average qualifying sessions (not to mention Schumi's ridiculous Q1 exit in Bahrain), and two races where Nico spent more time worrying about keeping other cars behind him than chasing those in front, while Schumacher fought back to a solitary point in Bahrain before messing up in Spain. Pretty poor from a now-certified winning team.

The thing is, Rosberg has proved more than once that when an opportunity arises, you can count on him to grab it with both hands and deliver - three podiums in 2010, and now his maiden victory. On the other hand, Schumacher's topsy-turvy performances since the beginning of his comeback mean he still has a point to prove. What "should" have been is of no consequence; no excuse can account for being beaten fair and square by your teammate three seasons in a row - especially if your name is Michael Schumacher. So get on with it, and let the results speak.


EDIT

Also: tyres.

China 2011: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Chine ... alifying_2

Webber: P18 to P3. On Pirelli tyres. On merit, without the help of a Safety Car to close the gaps.

Not to mention Schumacher himself at Spa: P24 to P5! With an SC period, but still on Pirelli tyres, and on a dry track.

So great comeback drives can still be done.
Image

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Re: Is Mercedes Pushing Schumacher Out ?

Post by f1freak » 28 May 2012, 08:13

Schumacher again unlucky. Qualified on pole demoted to 6th becuase of the penalty & just after 6 rounds the press has been talking about team orders. Rosberg is trailing the championship leader by 17 points. Still 14 Rounds to go and I feel its too early to get into such talks.

I hope Michael can get some good results. Becuase Mercedes has given another un-reliable performance & a retirement for Schumi with Fuel Pressure Problems. So for me Mercedes as to be blamed 5/6 times.

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Re: Is Mercedes Pushing Schumacher Out ?

Post by Ali » 28 May 2012, 08:31

I think this question beggers an answer:

Would you like to see, as a Mercedes GP senior, successful Schumacher strories circling around the world creating both buzz and a PR that would have never ever achieved by di Resta who is sure fast, but not a proved material yet? All lost championship points that would have been gold importance at the end of the year, all lost opportunities, all wasted money: is it worthed just to get rid of him for di Resta?

I don't think so.

I don't think it is the case. I don't think a company as professional as Mercedes would care such a cheap tactic. That's not the game, in my opinion. He's just unlucky. Yes, too unlucky at that but it's motor racing. It can happen.

I believe lady luck would make a visit or two to Michael's garage until the fat one sings her last song :p
"I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it by not dying" -Woody Allen

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Re: Is Mercedes Pushing Schumacher Out ?

Post by mikhailv » 29 May 2012, 11:03

Schumacher is pushing himself out to be honest. He's been unlucky this year, but he shouldnt have come back in the first place. He isnt at the forefront and is getting tangled in things. He got tangles in things when the F2005 and the F248 wasnt at its best. Half wasn't his fault, but Australia and Hungary 2006 come to mind as a shocking performance from supposedly the rain meister and the best driver in the world (which i disgree with).

He is being beaten by an average driver which is Rosberg. He should just quit now, enjoy retirement and just do some fun things like competative karting, maybe some appearances in other formulae/principles that arent two wheels, and maybe get into guidance or helping younger drivers.

Its not the F1 he used to know. He couldnt bully or intimidate anyone to move out of the way as opposed to racing with him, his superiority is gone and he had become a human driver in 2005, when people harshly raced him instead of fearing repercussions. He did great in Monaco this year, he has done great things this year, but its all gone tits up and you have to question what the point of him being in F1 is.

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Re: Is Mercedes Pushing Schumacher Out ?

Post by phil1993 » 29 May 2012, 19:59

There's an irony in that for much of his career, Schumacher was in astonishingly reliable machinery in an era of failures. Now his car keeps failing during an era of extraordinary reliability :lol:

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Re: Is Mercedes Pushing Schumacher Out ?

Post by f1freak » 31 May 2012, 06:28

phil1993 wrote:There's an irony in that for much of his career, Schumacher was in astonishingly reliable machinery in an era of failures. Now his car keeps failing during an era of extraordinary reliability :lol:
But what makes me suspicious is that why his car is having all the mechanical failures whereas Nico's car is very reliable ? Ross Brawn & his team has to get to the core of it to iron these problems out. Maybe it will be highly impossible for him to close the gap to the top guys & come into championship contention but Mercedes will be losing out in the constructors at the end of the year which will cost them hell lot of money from Mr.Ecclestone.

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Re: Is Mercedes Pushing Schumacher Out ?

Post by Zack » 31 May 2012, 09:18

^already out of WDC contention :| ... Without Reliability issues Schumacher would had more than 30-40 points.

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Re: Is Mercedes Pushing Schumacher Out ?

Post by f1freak » 31 May 2012, 13:16

Zack wrote:^already out of WDC contention :| ... Without Reliability issues Schumacher would had more than 30-40 points.
I am still hoping for some Miracles to happen. Not backing him for WDC but atleast he should be in the Top 5 by the end of the year.

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Re: Is Mercedes Pushing Schumacher Out ?

Post by mikhailv » 31 May 2012, 14:21

f1freak wrote:
phil1993 wrote:There's an irony in that for much of his career, Schumacher was in astonishingly reliable machinery in an era of failures. Now his car keeps failing during an era of extraordinary reliability :lol:
But what makes me suspicious is that why his car is having all the mechanical failures whereas Nico's car is very reliable ? Ross Brawn & his team has to get to the core of it to iron these problems out. Maybe it will be highly impossible for him to close the gap to the top guys & come into championship contention but Mercedes will be losing out in the constructors at the end of the year which will cost them hell lot of money from Mr.Ecclestone.
Barrichello had more mechanical failures than Schumacher. Fisichella had more mechanical failures than Alonso. Kovalainen had more mechanical failures than Hamilton.

It happens. Schumi has come back and he isn't good enough at 40 odd years old. Mechanical failures or not, when there haven't been mechanical failures, theres been driver errors and thats the crux of it.

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Re: Is Mercedes Pushing Schumacher Out ?

Post by Edi96 » 31 May 2012, 14:47

mikhailv wrote:
f1freak wrote:
phil1993 wrote:There's an irony in that for much of his career, Schumacher was in astonishingly reliable machinery in an era of failures. Now his car keeps failing during an era of extraordinary reliability :lol:
But what makes me suspicious is that why his car is having all the mechanical failures whereas Nico's car is very reliable ? Ross Brawn & his team has to get to the core of it to iron these problems out. Maybe it will be highly impossible for him to close the gap to the top guys & come into championship contention but Mercedes will be losing out in the constructors at the end of the year which will cost them hell lot of money from Mr.Ecclestone.
Barrichello had more mechanical failures than Schumacher. Fisichella had more mechanical failures than Alonso. Kovalainen had more mechanical failures than Hamilton.

It happens. Schumi has come back and he isn't good enough at 40 odd years old. Mechanical failures or not, when there haven't been mechanical failures, theres been driver errors and thats the crux of it.
He made just one mistake in 2012.
2010 & 2011 were pretty bad but I think some of his incidents were down on his frustration about the car and not having the chance to fight for the positions he wanted to. He's a new driver in 2012, confident in the car and quite fast. There's a lot more to come from him during this season.
Hard to say what 'll happen in 2013. Schumacher isn't getting younger and some parts of the time (Nick Fry in particular) seem to prefer a younger driver while Ross Brawn and Norbert Haug might be in favour of a new contract for Schumacher. I don't think that he 'll retire by himself as the team is obviously developing in the right direction.

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Re: Is Mercedes Pushing Schumacher Out ?

Post by mikhailv » 31 May 2012, 15:29

Edi96 wrote:
mikhailv wrote:
f1freak wrote:
phil1993 wrote:There's an irony in that for much of his career, Schumacher was in astonishingly reliable machinery in an era of failures. Now his car keeps failing during an era of extraordinary reliability :lol:
But what makes me suspicious is that why his car is having all the mechanical failures whereas Nico's car is very reliable ? Ross Brawn & his team has to get to the core of it to iron these problems out. Maybe it will be highly impossible for him to close the gap to the top guys & come into championship contention but Mercedes will be losing out in the constructors at the end of the year which will cost them hell lot of money from Mr.Ecclestone.
Barrichello had more mechanical failures than Schumacher. Fisichella had more mechanical failures than Alonso. Kovalainen had more mechanical failures than Hamilton.

It happens. Schumi has come back and he isn't good enough at 40 odd years old. Mechanical failures or not, when there haven't been mechanical failures, theres been driver errors and thats the crux of it.
He made just one mistake in 2012.
2010 & 2011 were pretty bad but I think some of his incidents were down on his frustration about the car and not having the chance to fight for the positions he wanted to. He's a new driver in 2012, confident in the car and quite fast. There's a lot more to come from him during this season.
Hard to say what 'll happen in 2013. Schumacher isn't getting younger and some parts of the time (Nick Fry in particular) seem to prefer a younger driver while Ross Brawn and Norbert Haug might be in favour of a new contract for Schumacher. I don't think that he 'll retire by himself as the team is obviously developing in the right direction.
But one mistake cost him two races and the pole though. Thats the problem. Hitting Senna took both of them out of the race, got schuey a penalty and a 1st turn accident.

So ontop of the mechanical fault in Monaco, he put himself further back and was nearly took out because of him crashing into Senna last race. So losing a wheel, his gearbox and then fuel pressure; he had a race in spain where he couldve got some points, but then the other 2 finishes were 10th place; Malaysia mash up and then he was pretty poor in Bahrain.

When his car hasn't failed him, he hasn't done much anyway. When the car does fail him, he couldve done something spectacular. Its unlucky really, but he needs to improve on Nico because, even with the retirements, he was still behind his teammate.

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Re: Is Mercedes Pushing Schumacher Out ?

Post by phil1993 » 31 May 2012, 15:47

It's not just mistakes, it's pace as well. He didn't make a great race in Bahrain and his pace compared to Rosberg in China was slow. 0.5s deficit in Q3, that's massive.

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Re: Is Mercedes Pushing Schumacher Out ?

Post by Zack » 31 May 2012, 18:24

phil1993 wrote:It's not just mistakes, it's pace as well. He didn't make a great race in Bahrain and his pace compared to Rosberg in China was slow. 0.5s deficit in Q3, that's massive.
Same argument goes for Rosberg in first / two race ... Jenson now ( darn .. looks so helpless :( ). Its pirelli and identical yet different Machinery.

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Re: Is Mercedes Pushing Schumacher Out ?

Post by Edi96 » 31 May 2012, 18:30

phil1993 wrote:It's not just mistakes, it's pace as well. He didn't make a great race in Bahrain and his pace compared to Rosberg in China was slow. 0.5s deficit in Q3, that's massive.
Bahrain: Rosberg started from 5th on the grid, Schumacher from 22nd. Rosberg finished 5th while Schumacher managed to fight his way up to 10th, just 16 seconds behind his teammate. If you look at the laptimes you 'll see that there was basically no difference.

Qualifying: Schumacher did beat Rosberg in Australia and Malaysia by three tenths. In China was Rosberg half a second faster. He didn't set a valid Q3-time in Bahrain and Spain. In Monaco Schumacher was again one tenth faster than Nico. Where is he lacking pace? They are both great drivers, sometimes Nico is faster, sometimes Michael.

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