Historically, schumacher is a far better racer than he is a qualifier. He's had about 30 more wins than pole positions. His strength was always car setup and racecraft. With the rumours of in season testing returning, we could see him return to the front next season.
I would like to see schumacher win a race in his second career, but i can't see it happening unless testing is allowed.
I started wtaching F1 around when Schumi was battling in his ferrari against the superiors Williams' of Hill then Villeneuve, then against the superior McLaren of Hakinen. It was a joy to watch him apply his own skill, tenacity, cunning, and skuldugerry to try and bridge that gap. My interest waned during his dominant years as it was too easy for him, and of course the shambles at the A1 ring when Baricello was ordered to let him win. I haven't wacthed much F1 last 4-5 years because teh current crop of drivers I find remarkably unlikeable. Schumi's return to F1 has resparked some of my interest, but it saddens me to see him unable to impose his qualities on the track. I would like to see him win or at least put on a decent show every now and then, much like Damon Hill did for Arrows (nearly won in Hungary) and then Jordan, just to underline his standing as a driver.
That's the point I have been trying to make in previous threads. I think Schumacher still has the pace but he is hindered with an uncompetitive car. I still maintain that if he was behind the wheel of one of the top cars he would regularly be on the podium, so would Rosberg for that matter.
For a 40+ year old man to have been out of the sport for 3 seasons (3 seasons with significant rule changes) then it's always going to be tough against a still relatively young, very good driver in Nico Rosberg. That said I've found his race pace in Canada, Britain and Germany, 3 of the last 4 races, has been very very competitive. Barring incidents in Britain and Germany he would have finished very high up in the points like in Canada. Yes, he isn't as quick a driver as he was and never will be as quick again but there's still a very very good driver in that car who on his day, as shown in Canada, is still up there with the best. A lot have overreacted and have been overly critical of his return and the lack of success it has brought but they are failing to look at it relatively.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Big-joy-hunting/Article1-727569.aspx This article sums up his season the best so far.
