Schumacher !!! Should he call it quits

Funny that just when Heidfeld has left Mercedes, suddenly rumours have risen about Sutil. Just amazing, how Nick always manages to be at the wrong place, especially if the movement of Sutil materializes.

why nick is not signed for next year - he is available

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Originally Posted by skc

Sorry mate but he's just too slow.

Nothing to do with age or his bike injury or his knowledge of the track or the team. He is just slow when he's not automatic #1 and the best car.

Time to let Sutil see what he can do.

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This is a very foolish post. It is obvious that Michael has made an unsuccessful comeback, like many other sportsmen, including Michael Jordan. But to deny his success in the past is petty and immature.
I am happy that he is in the Top 10 and I hope that he will have a good race tomorrow.

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Originally Posted by F1boat

This is a very foolish post. It is obvious that Michael has made an unsuccessful comeback, like many other sportsmen, including Michael Jordan. But to deny his success in the past is petty and immature.
I am happy that he is in the Top 10 and I hope that he will have a good race tomorrow.

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I agree

Also Michael won 2 titles for Benetton with probably not the best car at the time. Look at Michael v his Benetton team mates in 94 & 95, he was dominating races, while Lehto, Verstappen and Herbert often ran 10th to 15th in races.

I know these 3 drivers were not the best but he was finishing a few positions ahead, he was 10 positions and 1 or 2 laps ahead of them. He clearly got way more out of the Benetton than most others could have.

Also the early Ferrari years Mclaren had the best car but Schumacher still matched them.

So to say he only won while in the best car is wrong.

He is struggling this year but I hope he gets one more year.

One final point. I know Nakajima was poor, but Rosberg beat him hands down last year by miles, where as Michael is at least in sight of Rosberg.
So he is hardly the worst driver around.

The problem is people are only seeing him compared to his glory years, but if you look at him as another driver he is where a lot of team mates are a few tenths behind their team mate.

He is only driving now for the fun of it, so as long as he is doing that, and Mercedes are happy to keep him, and he's not a danger then, why are people jumping down his throat.

Enjoy the racing.

(Except for the move on Rubens. I am aware that was stupid and a serious mistake, but besides that my point I feel stands)

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Originally Posted by aki13

He is only driving now for the fun of it, so as long as he is doing that, and Mercedes are happy to keep him, and he's not a danger then, why are people jumping down his throat.

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F1 is not meant to be "just for fun" - he ought to opt for Superleague Formula or something like that if this is the argument. F1 is serious business. :)

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Originally Posted by jens

F1 is not meant to be "just for fun" - he ought to opt for Superleague Formula or something like that if this is the argument. F1 is serious business. :)

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You take life to seriously. If not for fun, then for what?? Fair point if you say replace Schumacher because he is always 3tenth and 4 places slower/lower than Rosberg. But it is rather invalid argument to say that Schumacher should leave because he is having fun despite the bad results.

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Originally Posted by aki13

I agree

Also Michael won 2 titles for Benetton with probably not the best car at the time. Look at Michael v his Benetton team mates in 94 & 95, he was dominating races, while Lehto, Verstappen and Herbert often ran 10th to 15th in races.

I know these 3 drivers were not the best but he was finishing a few positions ahead, he was 10 positions and 1 or 2 laps ahead of them. He clearly got way more out of the Benetton than most others could have.

Also the early Ferrari years Mclaren had the best car but Schumacher still matched them.

So to say he only won while in the best car is wrong.

He is struggling this year but I hope he gets one more year.

One final point. I know Nakajima was poor, but Rosberg beat him hands down last year by miles, where as Michael is at least in sight of Rosberg.
So he is hardly the worst driver around.

The problem is people are only seeing him compared to his glory years, but if you look at him as another driver he is where a lot of team mates are a few tenths behind their team mate.

He is only driving now for the fun of it, so as long as he is doing that, and Mercedes are happy to keep him, and he's not a danger then, why are people jumping down his throat.

Enjoy the racing.

(Except for the move on Rubens. I am aware that was stupid and a serious mistake, but besides that my point I feel stands)

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Very good post and I think that even in the case of Rubens there war much noise because of the drivers involved. We saw, I think in LMS, a similar accident and nobody was whining. Still, jens might have a point, I think that Mike would have made a better impression in a Le Mans series championship.

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Originally Posted by Daika

You take life to seriously. If not for fun, then for what?? Fair point if you say replace Schumacher because he is always 3tenth and 4 places slower/lower than Rosberg. But it is rather invalid argument to say that Schumacher should leave because he is having fun despite the bad results.

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I assume my point was misunderstood. I don't mean that a driver shouldn't have fun as such in F1, but it shouldn't be an argument for a team to hire a driver. "Oh he wants to have fun, so let's sign him." That's a non-argument. What is an argument for a team to hire a driver, is that he should first and foremost be highly competitive.

I don't know, how much pressure he had from the owners of Mercedes, but I suspect in late-2009 Ross Brawn for a moment lost a bit of his usual highly rational attitude and let the feelings interfere with his decisions: "It would be just so great to work and have fun with my old colleague Schumacher again," leaving the possible performance factors aside.

Well

I think it was a few things.

Schumacher wanted another crack after recharging his batteries, so agreed to drive for Mercedes.

As for Mercedes, they get the Publicity of Schumi's return, (pre Season) the chance of schumi and Brawn combination working and the hope Schumi would be competative.

All in all I am sure Mercedes must have wanted to sign him, they weren't forced too.

They obivously found some common ground, which let Schumi race again with less pressure than at Ferrari and in return Mercedes get what they wanted, otherwise why sign him? and why not let him go now if they are not happy.,

Maybe it is because they believe he is doing OK in not a great car against a good team mate who is in good form, and maybe with a different car next year they still think he made be a good bet.

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Originally Posted by jens

I assume my point was misunderstood. I don't mean that a driver shouldn't have fun as such in F1, but it shouldn't be an argument for a team to hire a driver. "Oh he wants to have fun, so let's sign him." That's a non-argument. What is an argument for a team to hire a driver, is that he should first and foremost be highly competitive.

I don't know, how much pressure he had from the owners of Mercedes, but I suspect in late-2009 Ross Brawn for a moment lost a bit of his usual highly rational attitude and let the feelings interfere with his decisions: "It would be just so great to work and have fun with my old colleague Schumacher again," leaving the possible performance factors aside.

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I got your point from a teammanager point of view. Having fun is ofcourse no reason for Ross Brawn to hire Schumacher. But i think this will be at least a 2 year project.