Mercedes: Rosberg comes out ahead after first-lap scrap

2011 Abu Dhabi GP team review

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The finely-poised championship battle between Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher produced a hard-fought scrap on the first lap of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Michael SchumacherNico Rosberg
Qualifying position87
Qualifying time comparison (Q3)1’40.662 (+0.889)1’39.773
Race position76
Laps55/5555/55
Pit stops22

Mercedes drivers’ lap times throughout the race (in seconds):

https://www.racefans.net/charts/2011drivercolours.csv

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849505152535455
Michael Schumacher116.95109.414108.933108.286108.344108.171108.075107.933108.012107.848107.905107.893107.671108.427108.62111.719127.215106.543107.737106.654106.098106.091106.191105.8105.689106.111105.844106.002105.646105.872105.511105.456105.321105.37105.564106.095105.565105.221105.571105.577105.498106.948126.889105.782105.137105.278104.964104.916105.025105.177105.197105.1104.991104.935105.068
Nico Rosberg116.239109.142108.61107.99108.03107.887107.602107.415107.476107.446107.168107.059107.376107.366107.48107.443109.186125.34106.722106.333106.104106.241106.072106.129106.142105.767106.18105.381105.499105.558105.34105.531105.353105.012105.289105.132104.976104.831105.11105.674105.056104.795104.696104.697106.362105.042104.6106.884124.803105.11104.613104.345104.428104.148103.993

Michael Schumacher

Start tyreSoft
Pit stop 1Soft 19.66s
Pit stop 2Medium 20.638s

Schumacher seemed to have an unhealthy predilection for Yas Marina’s many run-off areas during practice, often ducking out of the braking zones and scurrying across the wide expanses of tarmac between the track’s chicanes.

He lined up eighth on the grid, the best part of a second slower than his team mate. He’d had to do an extra run in Q1 – using an extra set of softs – as he briefly came under threat of elimination from Heikki Kovalainen.

Schumacher got ahead of Rosberg on the run to turn two but was held up by Felipe Massa at the hairpin, allowing Rosberg to get a run on him going into turn eight.

He defended hard from his team mate, squeezing him to the very inside of the corner, and briefly succeeded in holding the place.

But Rosberg came back at him on the following straight, got down the inside, and gave Schumacher a taste of his own tactics by pushing him wide at the exit of turn 11.

Schumacher slipped from his team mate during the race, partly because he lacked the benefit of a new set of soft tyres for his middle stint.

He lost part of his front wing later on which cost him some downforce, and he began to develop a slow puncture in the final laps. He was able to fend off Adrian Sutil but pulled over after taking the chequered flag.

Michael Schumacher 2011 form guide

Nico Rosberg

Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, Abu Dhabi, 2011
Start tyreSoft
Pit stop 1Soft 19.785s
Pit stop 2Medium 19.907s

Rosberg took up his customary seventh place on the grid, where he has started half of this year’s races from.

He was pushed onto the run-off at turn one by Massa, which caused him to drop behind Schumacher, though he fought back strongly to reclaim the position.

He ran long in his second stint in an effort to close on Massa. This became a serious possibility when the Ferrari driver had his spin, and the pair ended the race less than two seconds apart with Rosberg closing in.

Nico Rosberg 2011 form guide

2011 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

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    48 comments on “Mercedes: Rosberg comes out ahead after first-lap scrap”

    1. It’s not often we get to see a clear cut fight between these two, and in a way it was nice seeing Rosberg come out on top. Not only because Schumi’s been better in the races since about Spa, but also because it meant Nico finally finished ahead of his qualifying position.

      1. I found this Mark Hughes analyses on that battle quite interesting @electrolite, and reading it makes me think all the higher of Nico for finding his way to fend of that cunning team mate of his!

        1. Nice one, thanks for the link @BasCB

          1. Very interesting…didn’t know that Jock Clear was working with MS…MS is lucky to have him…JC is a friend of JV’s to this day and was instrumental in helping JV win his WDC in 97 and went on to engineer JV at BAR.

            1. Another thing I took from that article is something I had pointed out too…MS’s much lower quali spots would have bitten him on the butt much harder if Renault, or another team, were a closer placing in the Constructors, but the fact that Merc is a distant 4th and then Renault is a distant 5th, far from Mercedes, means that on average MS has been able to get his car back up around NR at some point in the race. Many other seasons, and without DRS, those kind of quali spots would have MS having a much harder time keeping up with NR.

              So if next year Merc is a much closer 4th or even a weak 3rd on average, and Renault is in there too, MS will not be as lucky with his lower quali spots. He needs to sort that out. More likely I think is that the Merc will be stronger vs the competition and MS will not have the luxury of appearing to pass a lot of cars, cars that he should have put behind him on Saturday.

              Example, this past weekend MS qualified 8th and didn’t move up the grid other than because of SV going off.

    2. Both Nico and Michael finished exactly as they qualified, the only difference was that Sebastian was out so they advanced one position.

      It was a perfect race for Nico with a great pace and a good battle with Michael.

      For Michael it has been absolutely the opposite, a tricky weekend with so many problems to find a balance in the car and on saturday he had a problem of top-speed. Yesterday the team changed the rear wing, in the race he destroyed the tyres in the first stint, he lost parts of his front wing and then, finallly, he had a puncture. What the hell happens with his car????

      It seems that someone inside the team hates the german. :(

      1. “It seems that someone inside the team hates the german.”

        Strange comment given that it is likely the exact opposite, and given that most around here have been applauding MS for ‘progress’ while ignoring NR’s consistancy and vast number of higher quali positions vs. MS.

        Much of MS’s undoing this season has been of his own accord. Hitting other cars and costing himself points. Qualifying low enough that he has had to mess with traffic that he should have put behind him on Saturday. ie. playing catchup to NR virtually every weekend this season.

        And given that DC said during the coverage that NR was not impressed at all with the team’s tactics in India which saw MS pip NR due to the teams decision to see it so, makes me wonder where your comment comes from.

        NR had a fantastic day and imho should be one of the drivers of the weekend top-3. He truly held his own vs. MS, this time literally in hand to hand combat as opposed to starting much further ahead than him and them meeting at some point in the race or having pit strategy determine their placings. I think NR must be looking at this weekend’s results as a victory in amongst itself, and he has thanked the team for the contract extension, and shown MS who the future of the team is, all in answer to what happened in India. Fantastic. Way to go NR. This has to be one of NR’s best and most memorable weekends so far. I’m excited for him for the future.

        1. Ok, forget the mistakes that Schumacher has committed, those mistakes are his own responsibility and there is nothing more to add about it.

          But what about the problems with Kers, drs and set-up? take your time and you will see that Michael has had a lot of problems with this car, I am not giving excuses to explain why Nico is faster on qualy, but all these problems are important, specially when you try to find the correct balance of the car. It’s quite notorious to see all the amount of technical problems that Schumacher has had this season, specially this year where reliability has been so high in my teams. At least it is strange, don’t you think so??

          And I repeat it, its not about who is faster (Nico is incredibly faster and yesterday did a great race), but it surprises me to see how Michael is struggling with his car when traditionally he has been incredibly good finding the perfect set-up and not having so many technical failures, and this not about pace, he can be slower because of his age but this is completely different.

          1. Ross Brawn runs that team. I think any conspiracy theories are unlikely to say the least.

            He’s had a few issued but Schumi is just too old now, and no amount of hours in the gym is going to change that.

            1. Age has nothing to do with anything.

          2. It may be that MS was good at finding the perfect setup when he had unlimited testing, but isn’t doing so well now that he only has three free practise sessions.

        2. I think one of the things that excited me the most is that we actually saw a teammate of MS’s fight him and I think this is one of the main issues (problems) for MS these past two seasons. He has a teammate that is allowed to compete against him which is almost unprecedented when you look at MS’s F1 career. By the time he got to Ferrari contracts eliminated any challenge from EI or RB. Prior to that and just as one example, Johnny Herbert said he was treated like a second class citizen at Benetton with MS as a teammate. Fast forward to MS’s return with Mercedes and finally MS has a challenger on a team, and we now see the results. I think that is what I cherish the most about Abu Dhabi, especially after they just finished favouring MS at India, shades of what he got accustomed to for years at Ferrari. I think it looks good on him to have to actually compete against a teammate first and foremost before he begins thinking about fighting with the ones ahead of them.

          And even if something happens and in the last race MS somehow finds 7+ points and finds himself ahead of NR in the points standings, NR has done enough to show why he deserved that contract extension and why he is the team’s future. If it wasn’t MS, the much lower quali positions alone would have them thinking twice about who they should have partnering NR. Let alone the number of front wings MS has cost himself and the team in terms of how many points were lost with him overdriving the car.

          Kudos to NR.

          1. @Alain…I think the difference from then to now is that MS is not enjoying a car designed for himself on a team with a bottomless pit of money and testing galore, and there is now a bonafide teammate allowed to compete. Technical issues are always going to happen, and often one driver has a few more throughout a season than his teammate. But I don’t think MS has had so many issues out of his control that it can explain his relatively poor quali spots so often. And in more recent races he has been applauded for his progress, sometimes being quite faster than NR if only for a stint. The rest is setup and that is up to MS and his side of the garage to sort out. We also know the car is not a race winner, but for this discussion we are talking about the relativity between two drivers, not how the Merc stands amongst the grid.

            1. Robby, ” a few more” its not very accurate, he has had a lot more problems, and as I have mentioned its not very normal. Anyway dont take too seriously my last sentence, I dont think in any conspiration but I want only to remark this negative aspect. I would like to read some explanations from the team.

              Anyway, its a pleasure to have this interesting discussion with you. :)

          2. Ok, Nico is the future of Mercedes, where are the news? he is young and fast, so its quite logic why Mercedes wants him. But Michael still can be the present and win races, I think you intentionally forget when Michael has overtaken Nico, I dont know why.

            And you compare the old and young Michael with the present one, are you kidding me? Michael fought against Senna,Hill, Villenueve, Hakkinen, Coulthard, Montoya and many others and he won(and sometime lost too, as I have said no one is unbeatable). So it seems that you try show us that Michael cant win against his teammate is they fight, please, Barrichelo or Irvine, can be compared with the drivers I have mentioned??

            Schumacher is one of the toughest driver to overtake, and he overtakes as the best, all the drivers and many F1 fans know this, perhaps you are the exception.

            1. @Alain…I don’t forget when MS has overtaken NR, I just perfer to defend NR given that I think he has done a stellar job given that MS is his teammate, and NR has never come close to being a top -3 driver of the weekend because he has just quitely and consistantly gone about his business. So I like to promote him while others prefer to find any glimmer of hope for MS, a driver I have never respected.

              Btw, I’m not taking your words too seriously in terms of conspiracy talk, and I am enjoying this discussion too, but for now I have to go.

          3. @Robbie And you totally forget Michael is at his 40s(i’m quite sure that shed a little bit of his ability) and 3 years off from driving F1 car since his comeback last year but slowly he starting to gain his confidence back. I don’t think Rosberg could be that good when years off from F1 and when in his 40s. I don’t know if you ever seen Schumacher driving when he in his 20s that making him one of the legend in F1. And imho Rosberg of now not as good as 20s Michael. Rosberg is good but so far personally i think he just drive consistent fast not spectacular and the top teams(Ferrari,Mclaren, RB) not really seriously eyeing for him as a driver. Untill Rosberg wins or fighting for championship and win it, i still put him below Alonso, Vettel, Hamilton, Button. Maybe next year we will the real fight between both since Schumacher getting better and better. For last year for me personaly Rosberg didn’t really defeat Schumacher.

            1. @NFS…MS’s age is not an excuse…if it is, he shouldn’t be in F1…the 3 years off thing is also old news…he has been back for 2 seasons now and any driver in F1 should not need 2 years to acclimatize or even ‘slowly gain his confidence’…F1 is not about slowly doing anything…and if NR had top 3 cars for his whole career in F1 it would be a whole different picture for him so your comparison is not workable…

            2. To me yes age and years off from F1 shed a little bit. “any driver F1” show me any F1 driver in modern F1 car could perform that well like Michael in that age and years off from F1. Nico doesn’t have top 3 car till now quite because he just not really a top level driver(Alonso, Hamilton, Vettel, Button) at least what from my point of view at the moment. And Rosberg never had a real teammate before, last year just way off the real Schumacher now slowly Michael getting his confidence back. Seeing from your posts quite on hatred not really work for me either.

        3. Geoffrey Jeffrey
          14th November 2011, 16:34

          ‘This has to be one of NR’s best and most memorable weekends so far. I’m excited for him for the future’

          Ah yes, consistency, the archetypal Rosberg quality. In other words, trundling round anonymously and finishing between 6th and 8th. Keep hitting those heights, Nico!

          1. Consistantly putting the car as high up as it belongs given it’s abilities (distant 4th in the constructors) vs. the top 3…sometimes even fighting with FM in a Ferrari and finishing ahead of a Ferrari (as MS has done too)…that is not trundling along my friend…that is extracting the maximum that the car will allow. All the while having the psychological game of having MS as a teammate to deal with? You are highly underrating NR’s ‘anonymous’ season.

            1. Well said, Robbie! He’s doing what Alonso is doing with the F150. I really hope he gets that elusive win next season.

          2. That’s not entirely fair on Rosberg given that it doesn’t look like he’s ever been in a car capable of much more than what he’s done with them. The only realistic chance he’s had to win, was in Singapore if I recall with Williams and he held his hands up to the mistake he’d made that cost him that chance.

            In all, I think all we as outsiders can say about Rosberg’s performances, is that as far as we can tell, it looks like he’s extracted the most or near enough the most from the cars that he’s been in. Especially so this year, consistently finishing 7th in the 4th fastest car on the grid. Surely that’s all a team can ask of their drivers?

          3. Geoffrey Jeffrey
            14th November 2011, 17:19

            @ Robbie and Ral

            Sure, but my point, actually, is that we should treat NR and MS equally. These Mercedes discussions always end with people taking sides, as if one driver is amazing and the other a hopeless loser. I made a sarcastic remark about NR and you leapt to his defence (‘it’s the car’). But why not say the same about MS?

            NR and MS are in the same car and have a similar number of points. So if NR has had a ‘fantastic’ season, it’s ludicrous to claim that MS’s has been a failure. Similarly, if MS has been a massive disappointment, so too has NR. Actually, both are performing pretty well in a car nowhere near the front.

            For the record, I think MS is still a good driver (esp. for someone in his 40s), but is obviously worse than at his peak. NR is also good, but not quite as amazing as some seem to think. It’s just that this issue gets cloaded by extreme views, the key one seemingly how much you love/hate MS

            1. @Geoffrey Jeffrey +1

            2. 100% agree.

              Without Michael and Nico perhaps Mercedes would be struggling much more to defeat Force India. They are doing a great job.

              With 42 I couldnt imagine Sebastian, Fernando or Lewis doing what Michael is doing, at least for this I think he deserves some recognition.

            3. @Geoffrey Jeffrey…I agree we should treat NR and MS equally, but that has not happened…NR’s season has been swept under the carpet just because MS has had to pass cars in the races that he should have put behind him on Saturday. And therefore no driver of the weekend nominations for NR, several for MS, yet NR leads MS by 7 points with one race to go.

              And the fact is, Brawn had MS as 2010 WDC, not NR, so even RB was not treating both drivers equally at least in the media at the start of the 2010 season. So NR has had that psychological hill to climb. At least MS has finally had a pschological hill to climb as well, namely a teammate allowed to compete against him, and doing very well at it.

            4. well put! :)

      2. Eh, which German? Both have the German nationality, as far as I know :-)

        Earlier this season, for example in the tactics of last race, you could say the same with respect to Rosberg. I don’t think there’s any truth in it.

        Right now they are, during races, in a spot of their own, fighting each other unless someone has a problem. One or the other will win.

        In the last half of the season MSC has come out on top most often on the Sunday, it seems. He has often had issues getting quali done well, so maybe he doesn’t focus on it much any more.

    3. yep….could not agree more!! MSc finally had a fair race to battle with….and lost big time!! yes , he lost a camera,..no big deal! it is not that his aero was destroyed as he makes it to sound… no vibration from tyres either…just slow!!

      1. In Canada they fought each other and Michael overtook Nico quite easly, he has been faster than Nico when his car doesnt have any technical problem, this is the reality. Anyway, Nico is very fast and he obviously can beat Michael in some races, no one is unbeatable, and Michael with 42 years, even less.

        1. I tend to throw out Canada in terms of looking at comparisons…rain, safety cars, red flags, multiple stoppages…that weekend was a crapshoot and I don’t look to it for any reliable info as to driver comparisons. What I do remember is that MS found himself in 3rd with 10 laps to go, looking to podium, except that the Merc is not a 3rd place car and soon enough DRS took care of his position, him having used DRS earlier in the race to help him get to where he was to begin with.

          I also throw out the age thing…nobody put a gun to MS’s head to come back to F1 and I will assume that he came back with full expectation that he could compete in the pinnacle of racing. Brawn had him as 2010 WDC, so let’s forget the age thing as an excuse. If it is a reason for him lagging behind NR, then he should leave F1 before he kills himself or someone else. But obviously he can compete at times, so age is not an issue to be considered here, imho.

          NR has had his technical issues too…tires degrading prematurely, and several times he was told to back off to conserve fuel, and one weekend he started from 23rd due to a technical issue on Saturday. ie. NR has not been immune to technical headaches.

          My main underlying point here is that if one is to put MS on such a pedestal, as many do, then one must also acknowledge the incredible job NR has done being that his teammate by most accounts is a ‘giant.’

          1. Wow you are highly underrating Schumacher drive in Canada yourself. How the driver ability to drive well in that “crapshoot” really underlining his driving, Schumacher charged to the field even before the DRS enable and he defended well from faster cars DRS he just has the confidence to drive in that changeable condition since the nickname is Rainmaster.

            He comeback jst because he love the sport he don’t need people to put a gun this is not a cowboy movies man. And Mercedes just need the big name of Schumacher to attracted sponsors and for their name since it was Merc first comeback since decades. Age certainly play important part as well in most sports you could’t say Ronaldo in his 40s as good as his 20s. That’s my opinion

            Nico not immune to technical headaches so did Michael and as i know 3 DNF that wasn’t his fault at all.

            Don’t you think the “acknowledge theincredible job” should be to Michael too ?? Since you are the one that placing his well effort example Canada,Monza, Spa down just based on your baseless theory(bias)?

          2. Age must be considered as a issue. What Michael has done coming back to F1 its not very logic and its very risky. Its obviously that he has lot some pace and capacities, he still can be fast man, but hey, with 30 years he was amazingly fast.

            Fighting with people who are 16 years younger its something amazing and admirable. I hate when some people say “now we can see that Schumacher was not that good”, a person who says this must be completely retard and ignorant of what F1 is.

            Just imagine how good Michael was and how good he still is if such a fast driver as Nico has to do everything perfect to beat him being 15 years older. And this is what Nico has said about Michael. Nothing more to add.

          3. Wow you are highly underrating Schumacher drive in Canada yourself. How the driver ability to drive well in that “crapshoot” really underlining his driving, Schumacher charged to the field even before the DRS enable and he defended well from faster cars DRS he just has the confidence to drive in that changeable condition since the nickname is Rainmaster.

            He comeback just because he love the sport he don’t need people to put a gun this is not a cowboy movies man. And Mercedes just need the big name of Schumacher to attracted sponsors and for their name since it was Merc first comeback since decades. Age certainly play important part as well in most sports you could’t say Ronaldo in his 40s as good as his 20s. That’s my opinion

            Nico not immune to technical headaches so did Michael and as i know 3 DNF that wasn’t his fault at all.

            Don’t you think the “acknowledge the incredible job” should be to Michael too ?? Since you are the one that placing his well effort example Canada,Monza, Spa down just based on your ‘theory’

    4. Rosberg is less talked about this year because last year he was beating a 7-time World Champion who we thought would’ve had the upper hand at Mercedes, but whilst Schumacher’s improved this year, Rosberg has remained the same, as he was already good last year, and now the two are evenly matched and their battles are very interesting to watch.

      1. And of course, neither of them as been able to get a podium this year, unlike Rosberg last year – that looks more impressive, but last years car was less consistently far behind the top three/saw more irregular races where Rosberg made a good call.

    5. Both Nico and Michael are good drivers who are fairly evenly matched at the moment. Can we move on please.

        1. Except that for most of the season MS has gotten the accolades for starting further back and passing cars on Sunday that he should have put behind him on Saturday, while NR has never even made the top 3 of driver of the weekend yet leads MS by 7 points going into the last race. So I have made it a bit of a mission to defend NR this year.

          Shall we just say JB and LH are fairly evenly matched, SV has dominated MW, FA has dominated FM, and wrap this blog up and go home then?

          Or is it that now that MS has shown himself to not be the be all and end all without his designer car and contracted non-competing teammate, we are supposed to shut up about it? Or that now that a teammate of MS’s is allowed to compete against him, sort of, if you throw out India, we are supposed to just quietly acknowledge that NR has held his own against someone who everyone assumed would be a formidable opponent, even 2010 WDC, and shut up about it?

          1. I wonder if u have hard prove of non competitive teammates contract?? or is it just from your basely theory, from my point of views he just better than his past teammates, i think not entirely on speed itself but other aspect too. As i know the perfect car was mostly part of his effort from his excellent work ethic. I think most of people that said one of Mercedes GP driver would win or win WDC(yes there were also people assuming Nico Rosberg going to win in 2010 not just Michael) partly because of the expectation from how well Brawn 2009 perform and won WDC if they would know that 2010 Merc is that bad they wouldn’t put that assumption. And in 2010 i still hold that Rosberg didn’t really defeat Schumacher since he was years off and far from his peak that’s my opinion.

            1. “I wonder if u have hard prove of non competitive teammates contract??”

              No more proof than you have hard info to disprove it. But I take it not only from watching F1 since 79 and therefore having the armchair experience to be able to see from race after race certain patterns develop, as well as comments from the likes of Barrichello himself who said, after letting MS take the win in Austria 02 with metres to go, that he was just obeying his contract.

              The year prior to that, again in Austria, RB had to let MS get by for 2nd place. After that race a storm or outrage occurred even in Italy, Ferrari being accused of making a mockery of fair play, cheating the public.

              A quote from JV at the time: “The team has always been built around Michael. It is in Barrichello’s contract to let him win. Everybody knows that. Barrichello knows, Michael knows, the fans know, the media know. Why is anybody surprised?”

              JV is the one of course who had to suffer from MS’s rear gunner EI who’s mission on the team was not to get pole and try to win races, but to disrupt MS’s competitors from qualifying well and to try to hold them up in races to help MS form a gap to them.

              Also, ” As i know the perfect car was mostly part of his effort from his excellent work ethic.” You have proof of that, or was it a fact that MS had more resources poured into his car than any other driver ever had in the history of F1.

              Of course MS looked to have the best work ethic when the team gave him a contracted subservient for a teammate which gave them the go ahead to build the car for MS, coupled with an extra 100 mill above and beyond what any other team got from FIA/F1 just because they were Ferrari, the ability and the resources (their own tracks with Bridgestone having a setup right there) to give MS unlimited testing, the designer tires….all I’m saying is that you make it sound, like many MS fans, like he did it single-handedly, when in fact the opposite is the truth, no driver has had more effort put into winning WDC’s than for MS at Ferrari.

            2. No hard prove then.
              You may missed one thing in Rubens interview for the Brazilian TV if i not mistaken around 1-2 years ago he said there were no contracts telling him to be Michael no 2 driver. Now i got to question Rubens interview consistency. As i know Jordan also applied the team order before the Ferrari and all the fans know that team order was permitted before 2003.
              Do you have any link or something about Irvine mission on the team or is it just your own theory? As i know Schumacher in 1999 was the one trying to help Irvine winning the championship.
              And from what i read from more trusted sources rather than your armchair theory: Autosport, F1 Racing, from posters from this site or other sites many aknowledge Schumacher cridibility from his driving style to his excellent work ethic that got Ferrari and his carreer into one of successfull in F1 And not to mention his teammates that giving him praise and put his controversy aside.
              I found this interesting quotes:
              “I would have loved Michael to be in my team” says Sir Frank Williams.” I did try once at the end of 1995.The desire was serious,but we never paid a driver the sums of money they were asking”.It’s nice to dream.Michael is an absolutely fantastic driver,up there with the best”- Frank Williams

              “No-one else can do what Schumacher does.Michael is the best not just in the way he drives but the way he humiliates his victims.His principles are simple: possession is nine-tenths of the law,let me first win the championship then we’ll talk about whether i deserved it or not”-
              Damon Hill praising Michael just before the 1998 Canadian Grands Prix-

              “”Michael is one of my heroes because he has this unbelievable ability,It came home to me in 1997 at the Nurburburg weekend he took us all to the kart track he owns in Kerpen .We all had a go,then at the end of the night he jumped into this 125cc thing and spent 5 minutes giving a demonstration,it was just incredable because the thing was never pointing straight,it was at an angle the whole time” Ross Brawn

              He’s pretty specialand it’s such a tragedy that he is so misunderstood in the way he is.I won’t argue that there are some things he does which don’t help out you will always have the group who have a go at him.They should balence that against the entertainment he gives us when he gets it right.He has made some great races in 97 and 98,Imagine how tedious it would have been without Michael around”….Ross Brawn-

              “I remember when Ricardo Patrese was with us in 93,we were testing in Estoril and a good time around there in those days was 1m.12.On his first lapst day Michael did a 1m.11.9,Patrese had just come in from doing his time of 1m.13.
              When he saw michael’s time he said
              “What the hell does this guy eat for breakfast”…Pat Symonds-

              Luca di Montezemolo said about the 1997 Jerez inncident between Michael and Villeneuve,,I’ve always liked Michael,but i find that after this accident i like him even more.Michael explained to me what happened and i understand his motives”.-

              Sorry man i’m not buying your armchair ‘theory’, i got my right :D i’m not really a Schumacher fan in his Ferrari days but since his comeback and what all he is done in F1 one word from me to Schumacher: RESPECT

            3. Guess it’s time to agree to disagree. For every quote you can provide I can provide others that counter what you say. But moreso, I take the very actions of EI and RB as my proof. Austria 02 was the glaring example. His actions showed where the team was at, after which he told the world he was just obeying his contract. And there was outrage, not just in the stands, but in the German and Italian media. Those actions, and RB’s words are strong enough for me.

              Btw, it’s not like I don’t understand that MS is a good driver. I just think he has also been the most highly advantaged as a result of the FIA wanting to see the Ferrari WDC drought ended, and coupled with that massive move to see him win a WDC and the fact that he is a dirty player on the track equates to me never being able to respect the guy. If you can respect a driver who wins only with massive advantages and still needs to be the dirty player he has been, knock yourself out…I can’t go there. And without all the massive advantages, where is he? He can’t beat a teammate that has never won a race without a tire advantage or the team ensuring he pits only once his gap is big enough to NR like in India.

            4. Then i disagree and not buying your armchair ‘theory’ i stand on my opinion and what i read from trusted sources(you want to throw it out lets do it i got many credibility sources) that at least knowing Schumacher inside out rather than sorry your pointless and basless no strong prove theory or to me that’s my opinion more of anti Schumacher post and from my point of view can’t really take seriously what an anti comments :D.

            5. It’s nice to dream.Michael is an absolutely fantastic driver,up there with the best”- Frank Williams that words from the man like Sir Frank Williams said it all to me. still one word for Schumacher from me: RESPECT

    6. A pretty solid result for Mercedes. A job well done.

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