Will SchM succeed in his comeback?

[Mia 01]

It will be tough for him. I wonder what another driver in that seat could have done with the car.

Nico is beating him with a margin. The tense in the team will soon get immense.

Let's get back on topic, eh.

About half a sec slower than Rosberg in practice, only 0.3 sec in qualy. To me that's an indication that the come-back will be successful. I think he'll match Nico no later than in China. And then...

Quite.

As I recall, he was outqualified on his Ferrari debut too....a clear indicator of things to come that turned out to be.

The info I heard (on the BBC practice commentary) was that the Mercedes is prone to understeer, which is not how Schumi has liked his cars to be and that it suits Rosberg's style more.

Once that is dialled out/cured/car-totally-changed-by-evil-forces-intent-on-not-giving-Nico-a-fair-chance (Delete according to degree of lunacy), then 3/10ths isn't that big a gap at all to bridge.

Plus, it is only qualifying. 49 laps await us tomorrow.

3 2 United Kingdom Eddie Irvine Ferrari 1:32.889 +0.518
4 1 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:33.125 +0.754

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Australian_Grand_Prix

Blimey, Nico is as good as Eddie Irvine.

[ioan]

It will be tough for him. I wonder what another driver in that seat could have done with the car.

Nico is beating him with a margin. The tense in the team will soon get immense.

What a load of rubbish.
Just take a look to the margin that Vettel, Massa and Hamilton got over their team mates, it's much more than what Rosberg managed over a 15+ years older MS, still the detractors are only pointing to MS being slow.

[ioan]

Quite.

As I recall, he was outqualified on his Ferrari debut too....a clear indicator of things to come that turned out to be.

The info I heard (on the BBC practice commentary) was that the Mercedes is prone to understeer, which is not how Schumi has liked his cars to be and that it suits Rosberg's style more.

Once that is dialled out/cured/car-totally-changed-by-evil-forces-intent-on-not-giving-Nico-a-fair-chance (Delete according to degree of lunacy), then 3/10ths isn't that big a gap at all to bridge.

Plus, it is only qualifying. 49 laps await us tomorrow.

Exactly.

[Sonic]

Tamb! LOL I was just about to post that 1996 data too.

Schuey has been beaten, and whilst as a Nico fan I'm thrilled, I have to expect this situation will not continue.

I pedicted on another thread than MS would win at Malaysia, and whilst that seems unlikely with the pace of the car atm it could be that race that he starts to feel at home again.

[Mia 01]

What a load of rubbish.
Just take a look to the margin that Vettel, Massa and Hamilton got over their team mates, it's much more than what Rosberg managed over a 15+ years older MS, still the detractors are only pointing to MS being slow.

I didn´t say that MS is slow. But it seems as Nico is a bit faster, anytime!

[ioan]

I didn´t say that MS is slow. But it seems as Nico is a bit faster, anytime!

You implied that he is slow:

It will be tough for him. I wonder what another driver in that seat could have done with the car.

Nico is beating him with a margin. The tense in the team will soon get immense.

[Dzeidzei]

What a load of rubbish.
Just take a look to the margin that Vettel, Massa and Hamilton got over their team mates, it's much more than what Rosberg managed over a 15+ years older MS, still the detractors are only pointing to MS being slow.

Just a simple question, Ioan:

did you honestly even consider that Nico would be faster?

I think he´s up for a rough ride and simply because he doesn´t have that 4-days-of-testing in Fiorano every week.

And thats not taking anything from him. He is and will forever be the most successful f1 driver.

[F1boat]

For me the problem is not Nico, unless he is rusty as the old Transformer in the 2nd movie he will school him sooner or later. But the car seems to be much slower and usually the top 2 teams in the beginning of the season fight for the championship. And the top 2 are Red Bull and Ferrari. So to the casual fans he will fail, even if he beats Nico and the McLarens.