Motivation at its peak - Ross Brawn and Michael Schumacher (Part 2)
Mercedes seems confident about the 2011 season as the team decided to shift its focus from the 2010 car to next season entirely. The team has decided to hold its expenses for this year’s performance upgrades as they think that it will be a waste of money
since Pirelli will supply the tyres for next season.
Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn stated that he is not aware about the characteristics of Pirelli’s tyres for next year but he believes that Pirelli will not be as disappointing as Bridgestone has been this year. “There has even been a change for the worse
from 2009 to 2010 - something that we had not anticipated and thus had not considered for our weight distribution”, said Brawn while talking about Bridgestone.
Brawn thinks that if Schumacher returned in the year 2009, the tyres would have definitely suited his driving style more but it is not possible to give a statement without any tests. Every driver will start from scratch in the 2011 season with respect to
tyres so any disadvantage Michael might have will disappear.
This year, the car and Michael were simply running on the front tyre and the team will not make major changes to the chassis for the 2011 car. The major difference between the top running teams and Mercedes according to Ross is that they have found a way to
utilize the front tyre’s full power while Mercedes has not.
Michael Schumacher is not happy with his performance of course but he is still enjoying the challenge. He does not wish for anything besides racing and hopes to find better solution while working with the engineers. Michael is determined and his starts are
still fantastic. However, the seven-time world champion is frustrated at the same time since his performance is not improving but due to Schumacher’s ambitious personality, it will not be hard for the German.
Team principal believes that Michael has become more relaxed now than he was five years ago. He would have had a tough time to handle such a situation back then but he is much cooler and mature now. This does not mean that he is less ambitious or committed
though and Brawn was really impressed with the German’s calmness.
There is no difference in fast corners or his reaction time when the car slows down but Schumacher is struggling in slow corners vitally as he cannot utilize the front tyre’s power at its full. His teammate Nico Rosberg on the other hand is getting a hang
of the front tyres more comfortably and has set a very high bar for the German in this respect. The team principal predicted that the Formula 1 universe will see the true Michael Schumacher in 2011 again when the team provides him with a better car.
Michael is not used to losing to his teammate as he has always been the benchmark. The 41-year old is naturally not happy about it. However, Schumacher hopes to change that very soon as he is enjoying this challenge.
Ross Brawn and Michael Schumacher talk a lot about the 2011 car but the German is talking to the engineers and the aerodynamics to support the team and check how their progress. The team principal stated that if it were someone other than Michael Schumacher,
the seven-time world champion, he would not be in this car. The world is aware of how Michael is and the team is aware that this is not the end and there is a lot to come, as the German is more talented in many fields than the other drivers. The team is extremely
happy with Schumacher’s contribution and if he were a rookie, the team surely would have considered replacing him with someone else.
This cleared the reports relating rumours that someone might replace Michael Schumacher to race for Mercedes GP.
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