For more than a decade, Michael Schumacher drove like a metronome, stacking up 91 Formula One victories and seven world titles. No other driver had ever achieved anything like it. But like so many record-breaking sportsmen, Schumacher came across looking like a cold, calculating, ruthless, armor-skinned robot — with more than a dash of arrogance.
So bored and disgusted did many fans of auto racing become with Schumacher’s domination that they greeted the German’s retirement at the end of 2006 with a sigh of relief. So when at the age of 41 and after three years away from the sport he announced that he would return this year to drive for the Mercedes team — which bought the reigning champion Brawn team — many fans said, “Oh no, not again!”
But there was also curiosity. Could the aging champion who had spent 16 years of racing at the top return to win again? As Formula One prepares for the German Grand Prix this weekend at Hockenheim and the season enters its second half, the answer so far is, “No.” Schumacher has not only not won a race, but for the first time in his career he has been outperformed by his teammate.
The unexpected story is that Schumacher has never looked less like a robot, never looked quite so human. His true character is shining through, the one that members of his teams always saw, but the public and media rarely perceived.
Through a barrage of questioning of his motivation and level of satisfaction despite his disappointing results, he has held his head high. Still, he has recently appeared to be somewhat tired of the same questions.
“Yep,” he answered after a bad qualifying at the British Grand Prix on July 11 when asked whether he was still enjoying his return to Formula One. Asked to elaborate, he said that he found pleasure in “driving the car, working with the team, it’s the same principle.”
Schumacher finished ninth at that race, while his teammate and fellow German Nico Rosberg, 16 years younger, finished third. Rosberg, son of the former world champion Keke Rosberg, lies sixth in the series with 90 points, while Schumacher is ninth with 36 points.
But Schumacher, who holds more records than any other Formula One driver, was never one for statistics, and these numbers do not tell the true story of his return so far. Not only have many of his bad results been due to factors beyond his control — mechanical and sporting — but his results under the circumstances are exceptional. He has finished nine of the 10 races and he has scored points in six. He has twice finished fourth, and his lag behind Rosberg is measurable in tenths of a second.
Physically, he is in as good or better shape than most drivers on the grid, thanks to a grueling training program that he never stopped after retiring.
Back to the human side. In Hockenheim on Thursday he said he was not entirely happy with his performance so far, but added: “I was away for three years and to come back and start exactly where I finished with maybe a car that doesn’t allow me to right now, is probably unrealistic. I am not a magician.”
He signed a three-year contract with Mercedes, and he said that he would fulfill it and aim for results in the long term. Norbert Haug, the Mercedes motorsport director, agreed.
“For the rest of the year, Michael will concentrate on achieving the absolute best results, and next year he will go for the title,” he said this week in the German magazine Kicker.
A driver who can understand Schumacher’s situation probably better than anyone else is Pedro de la Rosa, who at 39 and after several years away from racing, returned this season as the second-oldest driver in the series.
“For me to come back hasn’t been that difficult,” said de la Rosa, who drives for the Sauber team. “However, to get to the peak level you need consistency — one race after the other — and I think that comes after a year of racing. At the moment I am at a good level, but I think there is more to come if I have more consistency, because we are talking about a world championship: You are fighting against the best teams, the best drivers, the best everything.”
Frank Williams, owner of the Williams team, has said that a team will pay a fortune for the best drivers because when it has a car that is among the fastest, the top drivers will make up the extra .20 seconds necessary to take the victory. At Mercedes these days, that precious time is coming from Rosberg.
Schumacher has returned to Formula One at a time when both the levels of the drivers and of the cars has never been closer. Speed, in any case, was never Schumacher’s only gift. He gave more technical input, knowledge and skill to a team than any other driver. His team-building skills remain exceptional, and that can help to improve the car, which in turn can help his teammate to win.
Nick Heidfeld, a test and reserve driver at Schumacher’s team, has raced in Formula One for a decade but never worked with Schumacher until now.
“There is not one thing that stands out, where you say, ‘Wow, he is completely different there’ — it’s like he is very good in many aspects, in every area,” he said of Schumacher. “What I think he does very well is the way he communicates with the team. And how he brings the problems across and how he tries to improve things.”
Rosberg is more guarded about his relationship with his teammate.
“I’m very pleased that I’m ahead of my teammate, for sure,” Rosberg said. “But the more important thing is that I am not where I want to be in the championship standings.”
Ross Brawn, the Mercedes team director, who also worked with Schumacher at Benetton and Ferrari for all of his seven titles, has never publicly lost hope.
And no wonder. Compared to Schumacher and his 91 victories, Alain Prost is the second-closest in the record books with 51, followed by Ayrton Senna with 41 and then Nigel Mansell with 31. Schumacher’s seven titles are untouchable, too, the closest drivers being Juan Manuel Fangio with five, Prost with four and several drivers with three.
Mansell won the title in 1992 at the age of 39, and he then left Formula One, but returned two years later and went on to win another race, his last — at the age of 41, like Schumacher.
“If someone keeps themselves extremely fit, and they have the willingness to do the job, and the determination, they will be able to do it,” Mansell said. “Michael is an extraordinary winning champion, he is a class act, all he needs is the car beneath him to do the job. He is settling himself in, and I think he has done a great job in some of the races. He has struggled in a few, too, but let’s just give him a bit of time.”
In the closing laps of the British Grand Prix, Schumacher was passed by his fellow German Sebastian Vettel for eighth position and then by another German, Adrian Sutil. And in the last lap he was under extreme pressure from yet another compatriot, Nico Hulkenberg, but held him off.
Of all these drivers — there are six Germans in the series — Red Bull’s Vettel represents the best new hope for a German champion. He has won two races this season and lies fourth in the series. His nickname is Baby Schumi.
He spoke long and large on the greatness of his older countryman and said he could not write him off. His highest compliment came from the feeling of wheel-to-wheel racing with him.
“I did race a couple of times with him this year, and you know, from the inside sometimes it’s quite funny the impression you get, because you can feel that it’s not just anybody driving or racing you,” Vettel said. “You realize that whoever this guy is, he knows how to defend well and he knows how to kill your run and defend his position well — better than most — and some other actions you see in free practice, or movements, it shows you that there’s something special going on. The results are not the best he has had so far, but I think it will change.”
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