[sammyg2]

Uh huh. Righhhhhht. And i suppose that last years' champion has always been the world's best driver, even back when he went months without scoring a point.

Schumi's best strength has always been the development of a car he can be fast in. Faster than anyone else.
A car that will allow him to drive his style without eating up tires. Others may be easier on tires and faster with a bad car, but once he gets the car dialed in so that he can drive hard and make his tires last, he can't be beat.
That process doesn't happen overnight.

Mercedes GP aren't ready to give up on Michael Schumacher just yet, insisting it was tyres and not talent that let him down in China.

In the changing conditions, Schumacher showed some signs of the talent that carried him to seven World titles as well as making up positions in the pit stops.

But he also came up short when measured directly against the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, too often losing those positions he had gained when fighting with his rivals out on track.

In the final handful of laps alone Schumacher lost places to Mark Webber and Felipe Massa, eventually finishing the Chinese GP in tenth place, one position lower than where he had started.

However, Merc insist that the blame doesn't rest entirely with Schumacher.

"We have some issues that we need to understand as the deterioration of his tyres and therefore his pace is a problem that we need to resolve before the next race," said team boss Ross Brawn.

"We haven't quite got the car at the moment but when we do, we know that we can get the job done."

Brawn's thoughts were echoed by Merc motorsport boss Norbert Haug: "It was not a good race weekend for Michael unfortunately.

"We will investigate what the problems were and I am convinced we will all see much stronger results from him rather sooner than later.

"Give us a chance to look at that and we can come up with a good explanation."

Schumacher understandably just wanted to get out of Shanghai immediately after the race, although like many others in F1 may have had to wait a little longer to get home due to the volcanic ash cloud that has resulted in flight restrictions across much of Europe.

"In general I had some good and tight fights which was fun but with my last stop being probably too early, in the end I just couldn't do anything and my fights were quite hopeless then," he said.

Nico Rosberg refuted claims he is Mercedes' number one driver after he once again outperformed veteran Michael Schumacher at the Chinese GP.

The 24-year-old is second in the Drivers' Championship to Jenson Button after securing third for the second successive race in Shanghai.

Schumacher could only cross the line in 10th as he failed to get the better of his young team-mate for the fourth race in a row.


'From the beginning on we have been even in the team. Even before, when everybody saw Michael was number one and me number two, it was even'...
Nico Rosberg

But Rosberg was adamant both he and the seven-time World Champion are equals within the team.

"From the beginning on we have been even in the team," he said. "Even before, when everybody saw Michael was number one and me number two, it was even.

"Of course I'm very, very happy with the way it's going for me and I am really getting some consistent results and making the best of it, so I'm really pleased with my season so far.

"At the moment I'm in front, which is great, but I expect him to be right there again at the next race weekend of course, and to be fighting with him would be fantastic for the rest of the season and would be good for the team also.

"I'm very confident that I can do a great job all year."

Victory has so far eluded Rosberg in the 74 grands prix he has contested since he arrived on the scene four years ago.

But the German is happy the team appear to be moving forward with each race and is confident he can perform even better as the season progresses.

"We've made a step in the right direction this weekend," he added.

"There's more to come from the team so it's really good to be heading into the European season with some strong results and second place in the Drivers' Championship."

Schumacher, meanwhile, acknowledged he must perform better if he is to live up to the hype that surrounded his return to the sport at the start of the season.

"It was not good for me and not good from me," said the 41-year-old.

"You have to take it as another experience and accept it."

In other news, hambone escaped without penalty AGAIN for acting like a total tool in pit lane. A second warning in as many races seems to be sufficient for FIA.
Maybe when his stupidity wrecks an opponent AGAIN he'll actually get slapped for his immaturity and lack of self-control.

ham-tool:

"As far as I'm concerned, I thought it was okay," he said. "The team were waiting for quite some time and they waited until it was the right time; but as I came out I noticed Sebastian was there - he was pushing me a little bit to the right and we pushed wheels. Other than that, it was fair."

Vettel, meanwhile, was relieved he didn't puncture a wheel during the incident.

Vettel:

"I had battle with Lewis (Hamilton) in the pit lane," the German said. "At the stop I was ahead; I don't know why he pulled to the left and was keen to touch me. I hoped I didn't get a puncture from that - I don't really understand why he did that as I was a bit ahead of him and had the advantage anyway."