Michael Schumacher continues to play down expectations of his performance in the 2012 season, as he assesses his team’s chances against their strong rivals. His supporters will continue to hope for the success that Schumacher’s return from retirement was aiming to achieve, but the disappointing results in the previous two seasons cannot be easily ignored.
“Victory to me is unlikely, I see Red Bull in front,” Schumacher said. “Behind them it will be tight, and you can be either hero or zero very quickly. It will come down a lot to the ability of how well you will be setting up your car to the respective track.”
The 2011 season saw Mercedes struggling to challenge the top three teams, and a large part of the reason for this must lie with the underwhelming pace of their car. The new model, called the W03, has to give Mercedes’ drivers more pace in the races if the team is to achieve the podiums that it is aiming for in 2012, and Schumacher seems cautiously optimistic. “There is potential,” said the German. “I do not have a clear picture yet. What we can say though is that the gap between several teams will not be as big as it was last year.”
If the 7-time world champion does not improve this year, and fails to make the podium yet again, his critics will not let the subject of retirement drop as easily as at the end of the 2011 season. So many young talented drivers like Sebastian Vettel are making a name for themselves at the big teams that Schumacher will not be able to rest on his laurels again. Michael will be putting all his energy into maximising the potential of the new car and improving his chances for the much sought after first podium since his return and was understandably eager to avoid the topic of retirement.
“That’s just totally unimportant at the moment, I don’t even think about it now,” Schumacher said. “Now, it is all about focusing and concentrating on understanding our car, so that we will have a positive season. I will certainly not be nailed down now.”
Schumacher’s performance in the Australian Grand Prix will come as some reassurance for his fans, though its tough to judge his overall position in the 10 laps before a gearbox failure forced him to retire. However, he qualified admirably in 4th, and looked sharp for the first part of the race. He will be hoping for more success in Malaysia, which he says will be “the first clue to the real relative strengths of all the cars.”
