A recent column on the BBC website by Andrew Benson suggests that Michael Schumacher is past it due to the crash he had in Spain with Bruno Senna, and seems to suggest that people will start to call into question his past achievements.
This will be a brief riposte to that column as I believe it to be a bit early in the season to be questioning his place in the sport especially when all evidence is to the contrary.
First of all, I acknowledge an admiration of Schumacher, but I also am not blind to the faults that lay within his make up and have often criticised him in this blog.
The crash in Spain was probably more Schumacher’s responsibility as he was the car behind but Senna did move around in the braking area, it was a racing incident more than anything and certainly not indicative of someone who can’t take the pace anymore.
Michael Schumacher has had a terrible start to the year, his worst ever. He has suffered from pit and mechanical failures and a crash that have resulted in three retirements so far. He was also tagged by Romain Grosjean's Lotus in Malaysia that spun him down the field while lying third.
A failed DRS wing stymied his Bahrain race resulting in a charge from the back. So all in all he’s not had the luck going with him, but despite all this he’s actually been very fast. He’s qualified in the top four three times already this year, and lost a lot of points through no fault of his own.
He started so brightly and had the upper hand over Nico Rosberg over the first two races continuing the form of last year where he was often the faster driver on race day.
This is not the sign of someone who is over the hill at all, in fact despite acknowledging he doesn’t like the tyres, this is the best he’s been in terms of pace since his return, something only 2 points on the board obviously doesn’t show, but I think there’s still hope for a win this year and certainly a podium or two, providing the tyres work of course.
I’ve been saying for a while that apart from a slight lack of pace that he once had, the other major thing he hasn’t brought with him from his first career is good luck. It’s not gone right for him at all, he probably should have had a couple of podiums already, but that can all turn around.
There is certainly no need to for Mercedes to consider someone else as Schumacher is matching Rosberg for pace, someone they rate very highly.
Finally, what concerns me is that anyone should call into question his achievements. He was a seven time world champion for a reason, he ran rings around the opposition as he became a double champion at Benetton, many a time driving the second best car, dragged Ferrari back to the top over five years, and if he ended up with the best car and designer tyres it’s because he’d put himself in that situation that anyone would want and he reaped the rewards.
No driver would turn down the opportunities he had, and lest we forget, opportunities that he helped to generate for himself. People like Fernando Alonso, the acknowledged best at the moment, enjoy team preference and have often complained about it in the past when it hasn’t been forthcoming. Many other drivers in the past enjoyed number one status, it certainly wasn’t a Schumacher exclusive thing.
Just because he has at times struggled since his return, his achievements before should never be called into question. He is obviously not as good as before, but that means he's still very good.
I believe he returned to racing for the love and enjoyment of it and a desire to compete and ultimately to win again. He's done it with some humility at times but always with a dollop of supreme confidence behind that.
It's been harder than perhaps he thought, but he's still trying when he doesn't really need to, what does he have to prove; this is something he should be credited for. So if anyone can turn this situation around it's Michael Schumacher.
all photo's from autosport.com
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