Well at the moment it seems Rosberg is beating Schumacher in the Qualifying battle and the WDC standings, but is this all we can fathom from the season so far? If we delve deeper we can see some interesting things. Schumacher has gained multiple positions on his first lap (probably the most in the F1 2011 season), he has gained the highest result for Mercedes Benz Grand Prix so far, Schumacher tends to finish ahead of his starting position whereas Rosberg tends to finish below his starting position. Is Schumacher's season really as bad as it looks from the outside. It seems as though he has progressed from the 2010 season. The Qualifying battle is in Rosberg's hands, but isn't that because Rosberg is half Schumacher's age, and with old age comes longer reaction times and eventually less speed? He has got a tendancy to overdrive his car and drive more agressive than usual, leading to little mistakes...this may be a sign of frustration... I believe his racecraft is better than Rosberg, I will say that straight forward... but will Michael catch his younger countryman before the end of his second season in his comeback? Maybe if he eradicates the little problems in the Race and Qualifying, things may turn around.. Lets have nice discussions unlike the other threads in the past few days.. Thankyou. please log in to view this image
Yes - he has had to push harder than he should. The car is NOT that competitive, so he is trying to use his experience to advance where the risks are high. Rather like Button, I suspect he is looking for the sweet setup for the race, and Rosberg is going for it on Qualy. Its far from over.
There is not much between them. A *** paper but Rosberg seems to always be in front and calmly finishes in respectable points. Schumacher on the other hand has to make up from not so good qualifying and take some Dan Dare moves to get his points.
I think that the reason Schumacher goes forwards more in a race while Rosberg does not as much is because Rosberg qualifies well and a lot of the time higher than the natural place of the Mercedes so come race day it is very hard to make progress up the field or even to hold the position. Schumacher does not quali that well so again the Mercedes is out of position but this time lower down than it should be which gives Schumacher the opportunity to move forwards in the race. If you look at Rosberg's last few results; 7, 6, 7, is the Mercedes really capable in normal conditions of finishing higher than that? I would say not.
Hi Manny. You've made some interesting points which I feel are worth following up⦠Schumacher's starts are evidence that his reactions are at least on a par with Rosberg. This is pretty well the only occasion reaction times really make a difference. Once underway, a driver's reactions are more accurately described as 'predictions', since there is an instinctive knowledge of grip levels and therefore most 'reactions' can actually be planned! Rosberg is a smoother driver altogether and is more capable of extracting performance from the car whilst not pushing beyond its limits. In a sense, there is a similarity between these two and the McLaren drivers, although this is not entirely accurate. It would be wrong to suggest that Schumacher is finding concentration difficult - although this is what it sometimes looks like - but he has been making the types of errors which look as if he is over-estimating his own ability. Rosberg stays out of trouble so much it is a fault: he capitulates far too easily when threatened with a fight and does not seem comfortable with the prospect of having to challenge someone ahead. Of course, occasionally he gets it done, but it is relatively rare when compared with most of the other drivers. Schumacher is happy to mix it: he is a fighter. But he keeps getting it wrong and when in clean air, he is, on average, simply too slow⦠This is the biggest difference: Schumacher is a fighter; Rosberg is not.
You make some good points but I don't agree with this one Mifune! My belief is that apart from Massa, many if not all of the other top drivers would place the Mercedes as high as Rosberg, and several of them would place it even higher. I agree that Rosberg is a quick driver on his day but I firmly believe, as I have done from the outset, that he is doing a good solid job and nothing special; and that he is placing the car pretty well exactly where it is justified. More often than not, Schumacher just cannot keep up and is regularly placing the Mercedes lower than it should be, often back in 10th. And in my opinion, no way is the Mercedes the fifth fastest package. It's better than that!
To be a multi WDC champion only to get beaten by average-good driver has got to do something to your head. I'm sure on his day Schumacher could pull out something special, but he never looks likely to at the moment.
Schumachers best race has to be Canada so far. If it didnt dry up He could of won as he was catching Vettel up like nothing.
He nearly made a double overtake to take Rosberg yesterday at one point. That would have been epic if it had come off
Cosicave - so assuming you place RB, Ferrari & McL as first three ? - then you insist Merc are next. Neither of their drivers are getting the cars into the reckoning then. Both drivers at risk for next season?
Was ****ting it then though. He was going left-right-left before Rosberg got away, real possibility that overtake could have happened
you refer to Schuey getting set for overtake on Rosberg? It looked to me as if there was about to be a major 'coming together'. -hence death or glory.
Felt both, shows he has the aggression and the balls of steel to even think of getting one over on his teammate.
I think a polite message of status quo may have been sent out as there objective of being ahead of renault was complete after that move
Showing that their main objective is now not Renault. Petrov had it hard though, surprised he didn't defend harder.
they are different types of driver, Rosberg is a speedster, Schumacher is a racer. Rosberg is fast on an empty track but not so great on a full one, Schumacher is not as fast on an empty track but faster on a full one. His trouble is he's pushing his car over it's limits, and although he's had a few mares this season, he's been far better than last season. If Mercedes were to win this season it will be Schumacher that does it, if he hadn't spun yesterday I think he would've got past Rosberg and then who knows, he was great apart from that.
I think it's been really interesting watching Schumacher this season. OK he hasn't always got it right but he has proved that he still has the skill and aggression needed. Yesterday he made it look easy getting past Petrov but Button really struggled to pass Petrov in the early stages of the race. It's a shame Schumacher made the same mistake as Vettel. Had he not done so I think he would have got past Rosberg and probably gone on to finish 6th or 7th. A lot of people on here seem to be suggesting that Rosberg is an average driver but I would disagree. It's the car that is average, not the drivers. I hope Schumacher fulfils his contract and continues for next season as I think it would be good for the sport.
Michael is making too many erros of judgement. Whether this is because he is having to push teh car to the edge or becuase he has lost his touch is questionable. The fact he is generally a couple of tenths slower than Rosberg suggests the latter and he is having to try and make up the speed to his team-mate, rather than the car.
