Haug: Schumacher as good as always

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By Jonathan Noble    Tuesday, March 30th 2010, 11:18 GMT

Michael SchumacherMercedes GP is adamant that Michael Schumacher continues to be as good as he always was - despite a less than stellar return to Formula 1 so far.

Schumacher has been outqualified and outraced by team-mate Nico Rosberg in the first two races of the year – and spent much of last weekend's Australian Grand Prix fighting near the back of the field with youngster Jaime Alguersuari.

But despite on paper having not delivered the kind of results that some expected, Mercedes-Benz motorsport boss Norbert Haug is sure that Schumacher retains the same magic that drove him to seven world titles.

"Absolutely," Haug told AUTOSPORT when asked if he believed Schumacher was as good as ever. "He has got it. And we have one of the strongest driver pairings in the field.

"It is up to us to improve the package further. It is fair to say we improved it on this track compared to Bahrain, which was a completely different story."

Haug thinks that the results so far have not shown the true picture of how Schumacher is comparing to Rosberg – especially after he was baulked by Alonso in qualifying in Melbourne, and his performance in the race in Australia was compromised by car damage that was only discovered after the event.

Haug also believes that Schumacher's critics should get off his back – because he took on the challenge of returning to F1 rather than shying away from it for fear of failure.

"If you look Saturday morning, if you look at the times, if you look at qualifying Michael was handicapped behind Alonso, and it is fair to say it was a very comparable lap to Nico," explained Haug. "And I think Nico is one of the highest rated guys of the current generation, with four years experience.

"Michael is missing three years of these fours years, but he is here to be competitive. And he could sit on his sofa saying, 'nobody won more than I did', but this is his passion.

"He is a more relaxed guy than ever, he has fun, he is a very good team member, team player – the two guys, you see it in press conferences, they have fun with each other and make jokes with each – but still very focused."

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Schumacher remains positive

By Matt Beer    Monday, March 29th 2010, 20:54 GMT

Michael Schumacher, Mercedes, Melbourne 2010Michael Schumacher insists the Australian Grand Prix marked a step forward in his Formula 1 comeback, even though he only finished 10th.

The seven times champion qualified seventh in Melbourne but fell to the back at the start when his front wing was broken as contact between Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso sent the Ferrari spinning into the Mercedes.

Schumacher struggled to get through the field thereafter, spending most of the race stuck behind Jaime Alguersuari's Toro Rosso. He eventually got through to 10th thanks to late moves on Alguersuari and Pedro de la Rosa, and remained upbeat.

"I know that might sound awkward but I take a lot of good aspects from the race weekend in Melbourne," Schumacher said in a column on his personal website.

"Of course that does not show at first sight but looking into our weekend more deeply, I find we did improve quite well and have a good reason to be quite satisfied - just not from the pure result obviously."

He is confident that Mercedes is significantly faster than it was able to show in Australia.

"Analysing qualifying I think both Nico [Rosberg] and me could have been ranked two or three positions better," said Schumacher.

"I had a too conservative set-up in the end which was too much concentrated towards the race, plus I had a tear-off strip stuck in my front wing which too cost me some time. And going into the race from those better positions would have meant fighting for the podium.

"All that means that we are not too far away, and I am quite confident there will be more to come. So going to Malaysia we know that clearly we improved our pace since Bahrain, which is a good feeling.

"It was a lot of fun fighting in Melbourne even if it was just for one point, and I will enjoy fighting again in Sepang."