Loyalty with Mercedes - Mercedes was his feeder team into F1 in the beginning. Overtaking Talent (Canada -Spa) Starting Talent (Nurburgring - Spain - Spa) Defending Talent (Monza) Race pace up to scratch (India - Monza) Racing experience is invaluable Development experience is invaluable (Benetton and Ferrari) He can race drivers half is age as if he is still in his 20's. Talent in adverse weather conditions Does not complain to the team when there is a problem Does not mix bring his personal life and work life together
Pretty much this. It is annoying that up and coming drivers with potential struggle to get drives while Schumacher relies on past glories to take up a precious seat on the grid.
Have it your way and we would see another different person win a GP every other week. Continuity, hard work and development out does relying on chance and inconsistency.
That's a nice little story and all but it doesn't explain why Mercedes would want to keep him on. There are plenty of drivers who also possess these qualities and in greater abundance than Schumacher. His team mate being an obvious example given he's beaten him both seasons, and there are several other drivers who do as well. Two races out of 18 isn't an example of race pace being up to scratch, I don't think anyone else would be getting a two year extension in similar circumstances. Very few drivers do. Very admirable still being semi-competitive at his age, but again I fail to see of what importance it is to Mercedes. And he certainly isn't able to race as he did in his 20's. The only thing I'll give you is his technical knowledge, but it's no good developing a car if you can't drive the thing. Mercedes get to hire hundreds of engineers to handle the technical side, but only two drivers to race.
Why? Really don't get this at all. He doesn't offer much any more and there are good drivers struggling to get a drive.
Swift Modding work AG, nice one! Oh, and feel free to delete my post from the Testing thread, it isn't needed now and just looks out of place. I won't get upset
Sutil, Hamilton, Massa, Raikkonen and Barichello have all been guilty of one or the other in the recent past. I'd add Webber and Kubica to the list if avoidable, non-F1 injuries can be considered "personal life".
He has a bond with Mercedes, he knows the ins and outs of the team, which is a very strong advantage to any driver during a development process. Overtaking is mainly what happens in a race, so if he is up to scratch with it, what is the problem? Same with his race pace, in any race in the 2011 season where is the evidence that his race pace was not up to scratch? I can tell you a very well known driver who does let personal issues get entangled, a driver who does not allow this to happen is a very professional one at that, another admiral quality. In what way have I expressed he is semi-competitive? it is not noticeable that he is a very feisty driver because the car he is sat in is not of the top 3 teams, yet. It is a sad thing that plagues quite a lot of F1 fans, that competitiveness is correlated against team quality. Driver quality can be separable from the standings of the teams. And of course development would not take place with just a handful of engineers, the drivers put in the laps and give back the feedback, Schumacher is still top class at both of these things, expressed in his 10x decrease in the points difference between his teammate and him, even after more DNF's. What I mean by complaining, is the issue of bellowing down the radio that the car is not up to scratch for the driver at hand, and at times this is sadly apparent with many of the inexperienced top drivers, a lesson learnt by working intensively with the team, like a family if you will, to extract the best possible relationships for the future. I have mentioned all I needed to, I keep repeating myself when this stupid debate arises. Simply put, if all the drivers had to retire at the point Michael is at, there would be no-one left on the grid. Fin.
Well Schumacher had a neck injury which prevented him racing for Ferrari in 2009. Do the drivers mentioned really complain more than Schumacher? He regularly states the car isn't good enough, despite not deserving it on the performances he delivers. The car allows him to consistently challenge for 7th place, which isn't a fair reflection of his talent compared to the rest of the grid in my opinion.
Do we really need another 'Schumacher's future' thread? Can't this just be merged with the last one? They crop up every few weeks and we all say the same things we've all said before. As I said before, I can only think that, if true, this is because of his relationship with Ross Brawn and with the effect he has on the wider team behind the scenes, perhaps coupled with where Mercedes are at right now. My guess is that because Schumacher is such a peculiar driver they've designed a car completely based on his feedback and preferences and are therefore being held over a barrel in terms of where they'd be if they replaced him. Either that or they're just lolling at him being soundly thrashed year after year in his own car by, of all people, Nico Rosberg. Regarding drivers mixing business with pleasure - do they, or are the media responsible for that?
Lets look at the other front-ish-runners then. Red Bull drivers have little to complain about, yet Webber manages it. The McLaren and Ferrari drivers are the worst offenders. Schumacher comes across as a little bit more critical than Rosberg, but there's little in it, and I put the difference largely down to the extra attention the media give to the seven-time champion Raikkonen oozes negativity. Further down the grid most drivers know that if they upset the team they'll be replaced regardless of how they perform.
Please read my portrayal of "complaining" in my other comment. There is positive criticism, and there is anger.
And if we're talking about the latter, Schumacher simply doesn't register. From what appear to be the top five teams, the two Ferrari drivers, the two McLaren drivers, Webber and Raikkonen are the ones most prone to unconstructive whinging.
I don't think this is 100% official yet. It appeared in the "gossip" column on BBC today. If it is true, it is completely illogical at the moment. He would be damn near 46 by the end of it and it is decades and decades and decades since someone that old has raced in F1. There's no way of guaranteeing he'll still be competitive in almost 3 years time.
