Schu says Merc upgrade only first step

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Michael Schumacher is not expecting Mercedes’s big Barcelona upgrade to suddenly catapult the team to the front of the field – but the German is confident the upgrade will lay a baseline from which it can make continued progress.

The Brackley-based squad found itself adrift of its three main title rivals on pace during the four flyaway rounds and has targeted the Spanish Grand Prix as the race to start edging itself back into race-winning contention.

In addition to a raft of aerodynamic upgrades all teams’ traditionally make to their cars for the first European round, the W01 will also feature a longer wheelbase in a bid to cure the problems Mercedes has encountered with weight distribution which have contributed to its car’s tendency to understeer.

Schumacher in particular has struggled in this area and Mercedes is hopeful the changes to the car’s front-end, as well as a switch of chassis for the German, will help him turn around his so far disappointing comeback season.

The seven-time-champion himself is hoping the changes help bring Mercedes closer to the ultimate pace, but he stresses the Barcelona upgrade is only the first step down a longer development road.

"The European season is about to kick off and now we will see how our developments look in relation to those of the other teams,” Schumacher said.

“Every team will come to Barcelona with a revised car and so of course do we. I see a lot of potential here especially as our team has been reacting very well over the past four races.

“We have worked on general improvements to the car, as well as specific developments in downforce and efficiency, and I am confident that we have room to make further progress in the future.

“Our step forward in Barcelona will be bigger than you can make at each race during the flyaways but it would not be realistic to expect us to suddenly be competing right at the front.

Schumacher’s lacklustre performance at the last round in China –  when he finished 10th in wet conditions while team-mate Nico Rosberg claimed his second successive podium finish – has seen him come under increasingly criticism by the media and a host of high-profile former drivers, many of whom have suggested his once peerless powers have waned.

The 41-year-old insists he determined to start achieving better results and hopes an upward trend starts next weekend at an event he has won a record six times and never finished outside the top six in.

“I am hoping for a better race in Barcelona than I had in China and of course I would not mind having had better results so far,” he said.

“However the good news is that after three years away, I am feeling extremely motivated. So I am clearly ready to take this challenge."

Team boss Ross Brawn admits he is curious to see just how much Mercedes has managed to improve the W01 in relation to its rivals’, although the experienced Briton is also wise enough to know this one upgrade is unlikely to prove to be a silver development bullet.

"The start of the European season is the first opportunity to make significant changes to the car and the Spanish Grand Prix will see the first step in our development programme for the MGP W01,” he said.

“In addition to a major aerodynamic and bodywork package, we have made changes to the wheelbase of the car which will help the overall handling and weight distribution.

“We look forward to evaluating the impact on our pace whilst remaining conscious that this is very much a first step in improving our competitiveness."

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Michael Schumacher says he felt much more comfortable with the Mercedes W01 following the upgrades introduced to it following the most competitive day of his comeback year so far on Friday in Spain.

This weekend’s race has been seen as a crucial one for the seven-time champion’s fortunes on the back of the lacklustre start to the season with Mercedes having introduced key changes to its car – in particular a longer wheelbase – in a bid to help Schumacher and improve its general pace.

Those alterations appeared to help the German legend on the opening day at Barcelona as he posted promising third-quickest times in both sessions, comprehensively outpacing team-mate Nico Rosberg on both occasions.

Schumacher, who endured a torrid Chinese round, has struggled to get the car’s front-end into the corners all season – but he says on Friday the W01 was responding as he liked.

“It’s certainly feeling a lot more a race car in my hands than at least in China,” he told reporters.

“Here I’m feeling comfortable with the car, it does do what I’m asking it to do and I worked very with my engineers and my team [through the sessions].

“Obviously the improvement to the car certainly helps all of us to start with.”

Asked to elaborate on what areas he felt more comfortable in, Schumacher insisted it wasn’t an issue of confidence, rather that the car was reacting immediately to his steering inputs

“It’s not about confidence; it’s simply the car goes where I want it to go,” he said.

“I don’t have to wait that long to move exactly to this point.”

He added: “Again, it sort of confirmed that China, whatever glitch it was, something didn’t work out for whatever reason and that [now] works out to a more normal situation.”

As well as helping to improve Schumacher’s fortunes, Mercedes is also hoping the big upgrade pushes it closer to the front of the field after trailing its three chief rivals on absolute pace in the flyaway rounds.

Schumacher didn’t want to be drawn on just how competitive the team now is following the revisions, but said it had certaintly managed to make clear progress.

“I don’t think we want to get into detailed analysis now,” he said.

“The clear trend is there; we have improved certainly, I have more ability to work my car to my needs – that’s what it is, that’s what I look for.

“The team has reacted very good and now we look forward to make the best out of this.”

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Formula One’s European season got underway today as the first two practice sessions for the Spanish Grand Prix took place at the Circuit de Catalunya just outside of Barcelona.

The focus for today’s running for the MERCEDES GP PETRONAS team was to evaluate the changes and upgrades made to the MGP W01 cars for this weekend. In addition to checking the aero balance and weight distribution with the new developments, the team worked through a number of set-up changes and tyre evaluations.

Michael and Nico completed 40 laps and 46 laps respectively over the course of the day with Michael finishing in third position in both sessions and Nico finishing in sixth place this morning and seventh position this afternoon.

 

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER

"Today I felt much more comfortable in the car and feel that it is behaving more consistently. In my view, our upgrade is a step forward but we have to wait and see how big the step is as the other teams have obviously improved as well. Now we have to deeply analyse the data to get a better overview on the actual situation and as usual after the Friday practice sessions, it is difficult to estimate where you actually are in comparison to our competitors. We will only have the real picture after qualifying tomorrow."

NICO ROSBERG

"It was a challenging day for me today and not where I usually end up after the Friday practice sessions. There are no obvious issues on the aero package but we went wrong on the set-up whilst trying something new. I am confident that we will make progress overnight and tomorrow we will be able to extract the full potential from the car."

ROSS BRAWN

"We had a reasonable day and covered a great deal of work to gather all of the set-up information that we needed with our upgrade package. Michael and Nico followed different programmes and therefore this evening we need to bring all of the data together and decide how we run the cars tomorrow. The new developments performed pretty much as we expected however all of the teams have moved forward here and the target is constantly moving. It looks like we have kept up but we still have to find more pace to compete right at the front."

NORBERT HAUG

"Our upgrade package for the start of the European season seems to work as anticipated and it was visible on track and on the timing sheets that Michael was quicker and felt more comfortable today than at the last race in China three weeks ago. Nico was less happy with his car today but the data after the session shows where we went in the wrong direction with the set-up so Nico should be back tomorrow to the strength that he showed in the previous four races. Our pace during the race simulations didn't look too bad but there is definitely still quite a gap to the quickest cars. We will work hard to make another step tomorrow. Today it is not possible to judge whether the competitive order has changed compared to the last races but everybody will find out tomorrow."