As the 2010 season unwrapped for Mercedes GP (Part 3)
As the team returned after the summer break, the team boss was quick to announce that he had decided to halt all the development work on the 2010 car. The team was very realistic as it proclaimed that it was pretty obvious that both the drivers’ as well
as the constructors’ championship were already out of its hands. At Spa, Brawn revealed that the team’s factory will be spending most of its time and budget on its next season’s car and will try to regain the reputation in 2011 that it lost this season.
At the same time all the analysts and race gurus, started to criticise Schumacher immensely and condemned his decision of returning back to the sport. Many very vividly announced that his re-entering the sport had only damaged his reputation and staying
in the sport for another season would ruin his legacy.
During his glorious days, nobody could have said a word to Schumacher and go away with it. The drivers, the teams and all the race analysts thought twice before dealing with the iconic racer. However, now he has been unable to maintain his dominance on the
track and at many occasions appeared very passive behind his wheel. There have even been speculations that the driver no more shows his famous hunger for race wins and championships that he was famous for.
However, just at the moment when many believed that the old passionate racer had died within him, Schumacher put all the speculations to bed at the Hungarian Grand Prix. All the bitterness and rivalry of the driver was at show as he came within inches of
putting his former Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello into the pit wall. To prevent the over take move of Barrichello he came so close to the latter that he very narrowly missed a fatal accident.
However, this Hungarian round saw him finish at 11th place while Rosberg once again retired. Still, Rosberg was able to bounce back next week as he wrapped the Belgian GP at 6th place while this time the super star was also able to
finish at 7th.
The following Italian Grand Prix was another average race for the team but still it was a satisfactory performance for seeing both the drivers finish in points. The Singapore weekend brought yet further troubles and criticism for the driver. At the time
when his young teammate easily made his way behind the race leaders at 5th place, the great champ struggled hard but finished disappointingly at 13th place after tangling with both the Saubers.
Now, as all started believing that it is time for the driver to say a final good bye to the sport forever, suddenly a glimpse of the ‘old Schumi’ returned at the Japanese round. A clean sixth place finish was witnessed by the driver while this time his teammate
ended at 17th place. The glorious finish was further followed by a clean driving show at the newly built Korean track, where the magical driver once again gave a shadow of his past. This time he ended decently at 4th place, the highest
of the season while Rosberg had to retire. He was going fairly well, and another podium of the season was certain for him but Mark Webber’s Red Bull went out-of-control and slammed him off the circuit.
Another average Brazilian Grand Prix embraced the team at the start of November before heading for the last round of the season, The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, where the team bagged last 12 points as Rosberg again ended at 4th while the last round
brought the final dose of hard luck for Schumacher who retired right at the first lap.
Now, as the season has wrapped up, the young German has 142 points under his belt while the racing icon has almost half to him, 72 points.
On the other hand, the team finished at 4th place behind McLaren with its 214 points, and is adamant to return next season with a renewed strength and pace.
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