Michael Schumacher doubts Mercedes GP’s title chances
Seven-time Formula One champion Michael Schumacher says his current Mercedes GP car is capable of winning some races, but it doesn’t look like a championship winning car.
A lot of criticism followed Schumacher’s return to the sport in 2010, but the legendary German was confident of winning a championship within his three-year contract with Mercedes. However, things don’t look too promising for Mercedes after the pre-season
tests and the car doesn’t seem to have the race pace.
Mercedes was below par at Valencia as the team ended up last in terms of lap times. Although most of the teams claimed that testing would not give a clear indication of where the teams stood, Schumacher claimed that teams like Ferrari, Mclaren-Mercedes and
Red Bull were ahead of the German side.
However, the former champion said that his team could win races. He further stated, “That's probably the maximum we can talk about, but it is very difficult to judge our performance at the moment against the others because obviously we will improve the car
a little bit further to the Bahrain race.”
Jerez proved to be a much better place for Mercedes, as Schumacher was amongst the front-runners at the venue. However, the German doubted the pace of his car in longer stints.
Schumacher finished day-one of testing at Barcelona as eighth fastest overall but he was happy with the reliability of his car. He claimed that the team wasn’t looking for quicker lap times and they were judging their performance in terms of completing a
race distance.
After a low key comeback to Formula One, Schumacher seems to be on the back-foot. Perhaps the veteran driver doesn’t want too many expectations associated with him, like the 2010 season.
Unlike Schumacher, his team is confident of being amongst the title contenders for the 2011 season. Nico Rosberg has claimed several times that Mercedes will be completely upgraded ahead of the first race at Bahrain, which starts on 13thMarch.
Although the young German didn’t have the best of times during testing, he wasn’t worried by Mercedes’ lack of pace. Rosberg had a relatively strong 2010 season and ended-up with 142 points overall in the driver’s championship.
Team principal Ross Brawn was also bullish about his chances and predicted a strong comeback by Schumacher. Brawn vowed to provide a strong car to his drivers for the upcoming season and was confident that everything was working to plan for the German giants.
It will be interesting to see what upgrade is brought in by Mercedes for the first race at Bahrain. There are some doubts over the performance of the team following mixed reactions from Schumacher.
However, the first race will make things clear for everyone. Schumacher’s fans will be hoping to see the same old “Michael Magic", which they have been used to see throughout the German’s illustrious career.
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