Good point, they have however shown year on year improvement.. Agreed that 2014 they should be in with a shout, think Hamilton will win a race or two next year but agree with most, I doubt he'll contended for the title.
Really? I'd say they've got worse year on year, 4th with 200+ points in 2010, 4th with 165 points in 2011 and this year struggling to hold on to 5th. Brawn once again put all his faith on his interpretation of a rule, and it has failed, miserably and they still havn't got on top of the tyres. The DDRS has saved them a bit in qualifying this year, as without it I feel they would be lucky to get in Q3 at all, which really shows how bad a shape they are in, and Brawns seeming inability to develop a car will hurt them next year, will the Merc even get on the podium?
I can't disagree with what you write but I think there are other factors at play. For example, we've been told that Mercedes were on the verge of pulling out of F1: that can't have been good for morale within the team nor for them receiving the necessary resources to develop properly over the course of the season. Having Schumacher at the tail-end of his career can't have been a psychologically positive factor either, hardly forward-looking. He was undoubtedly good for Mercedes brand marketing purposes and one would presume for technical feedback too, although if his skills on the track were lacking, maybe not.
The arsey radio message to Michael said a lot between the relationship of him and Mercedes. Michael helped Mercedes a lot in the way you mentioned. It is a shame they couldn't tough it out until 2013 together.
It's funny but we've been speculating wildly for a while now about this move but now that we know it has only thrown up more questions than it has answered, not just for Mercedes, McLaren and their new drivers but we still don't know Michael's fate.
I think he will call it quits personally. Although as much as I loathed him at Ferrari I'd like for him to have his final season there.
Don't think we'll hear from him for a while TBH. Lots of people putting two and two together to get five, contracts don't just appear out of thin air, there'll need to be some serious negotiations first. Sauber are, lest we forget, a privateer team (unlike Williams, who are now on the stock exchange) so there's no guarantees that even if Peter wants Michael there he'll be able to afford him - Schumacher's annual salary at Mercedes was £21m, which is more than Hamilton will earn per annum if what I've read is to be believed.
I'm not sure if anyone mentioned this, but Perez leaving Sauber leaves them in a financial pickle. His Telmex (Carlos Slim) sponsorship apparently contributed a lot towards the operational budget of the team. Would they now be looking for a pay driver to partner Kamui, or would they drop Kamui, sign Schumacher and a pay driver? I'd be pissed if Kamui lost his seat so Schumacher could continue his failed comeback tour.
Current Sauber test driver Esteban Gutierrez has been linked with Perez's seat at Sauber, he is also Mexican and I believe sponsored by some of Carlos Slim's companies so I think that shortfall should be filled quite nicely. The current expectation is for a Sauber pairing of Alguersuari (bringing Pirelli data and replacing the underwhelming Kobayashi) and Gutierrez (bringing sponsorship and 3rd place in GP2) I think... Schumacher is something of the spanner in the works there.
Good call on JA, he nearly blurted something out in friday practice. He did sound very pleased that the sauber was a good car, as he's obviously not going to FI now that they have nobody leaving.
What is the big deal about Kobayashi? Perez is a FAR better qualifier and race driver. Apart from his very few very good qualy performances in China and Spa and that wonderful array of overtakes in Japan in 10, I don't get the hype over Kobayashi. Back on topic though I hope Michael calls it a day to be honest going to Sauber to have another 2 years or 3 what's that really going to achieve? I'm not his biggest fan but then I again I'm not his biggest hater, he's done a lot for F1 and in my opinion is arguably the greatest ever for sure in the top 3.
The car doesn't suit Kobayashi, he's already said he has no faith in it, which implies it was designed around the mexican oil well. Look at pasts easons, and he's always been a reliable point scorer, like an exciting Nick Heidfeld.
Kobayashi partly struggles at Sauber because their design philosophy has, for the last two seasons, been "go easy on the tyres". When it works, it works. Then, other times, you beat your team-mate in qualifying and he ends up on a completely different strategy as a result, takes 2nd place and watches you crawl home in 9th.
