It’s not what Formula One expected.
When seven-time F1 champion Michael Schumacher announced last year that he would come out of retirement and again drive in the international racing series, it seemed the ingredients were in place for the German to be a threat yet again.
Schumacher, who had retired after the 2006 season and was now 41, would drive for automotive giant Mercedes and again be teamed with Ross Brawn, Schumacher’s technical director when he was winning his championships, including five at Ferrari.
But as Formula One’s season ended last weekend with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Schumacher had become more footnote than formidable driver as 23-year-old Sebastian Vettel of the Red Bull team won the race to become the youngest champion in F1 history.
Schumacher, in contrast, finished a mediocre ninth in the standings for the season with 72 championship points compared with 256 amassed by Vettel.
Schumacher’s Mercedes teammate, 25-year-old Nico Rosberg, earned 142 points, or nearly twice as many as Schumacher, and finished seventh in the standings. Los Angeles Times
Holding his head high all season, responding lightly and assuredly to the media at the regular press briefings in the motor home of his Mercedes team, Schumacher hid his inevitable frustration. But it was not impossible to pierce the armor.
After Schumacher gave a flippant response at the penultimate race to a question about how he would sum up his year — “Good fun!” he said — he was asked what he could offer the team next year, considering that his teammate had been a little faster than him all season.
“First of all, this year is this year, and I don’t think it is true that he has always been quicker, but most of the time,” he said. “Sometimes I know the reasons, sometimes you have to say I have to raise the game.”
“For next year, naturally, the whole package I hope goes around my hands a little bit better,” he added, referring to the car the team will build for him.
Schumacher’s race craft, in short, was not what it used to be. He said he hoped that next year he would have returned to the rhythm of racing more.
“It is probably reasonable not to forget the three years that I have been out,” he said. “You need time, and I do appreciate that it took a little longer than I would have expected initially to get all these very fine and small details in your hands. But this process is activated, and so I’m looking forward to it.”
He said that in particular he has been having problems with qualifying sessions and when to use the right tires in preparation for that.
“It’s tough,” he said, “because there is hardly any routine you can build up, and this is what I am suffering — mainly in qualifying. On race pace, I am actually completely there.”
Schumacher’s hopes now rest entirely on the car next year.
“Next year is a completely different year,” he said. Then, putting his hopes on the team being able to build a winning car over the winter, he added: “You can’t expect miracles. To build up the strength that we had last year is a mountain that you have to climb, and you cannot jump through two steps at the same time. We really have to go through the process.
“We have to restructure, rebuild things,” Schumacher said. “We are pretty optimistic to be back on a pretty good route of success. Whether we can achieve all next year straight away, we’ll find out.” International Herald Tribune
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