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Schumacher failed at Mercedes, says driver's former manager

Photo: © LAT Images

Schumacher failed at Mercedes, says driver's former manager

Schumacher's Formula 1 return was not a successful as had been hoped for

Michael Schumacher's former manager Willi Weber says that the German 'failed' in his 2010 return to grand prix racing with Mercedes.

John Barnard, a designer who worked with Schumacher at Ferrari, has previously aired his opinions on Schumacher's Mercedes stint, and Weber told the Kolner Express that he shares this view.

“I see it 100 percent the same way,” said Weber. “Michael had this special car setup for his style [at Ferrari] and didn’t get it from the Mercedes.

“The newer cars had developed in a different direction, and Michael couldn’t influence the technology as much as he could at Benetton and Ferrari.

“That is true, but after Ross [Brawn] could not improve the car much after 2009 and Rosberg was suddenly the faster one, Michael couldn’t compensate for that. It was a different technology and driver generation, even though Michael was as fit as ever."

Is this Michael Schumacher's best-ever F1 drive?Read more

Weber had advised Schumacher against returning to the sport in 2010 but, having experimented with racing motorcycles, it was clear that Schumacher still had the bug for racing.

The fact that Schumacher did not heed Weber's advice is still a clear point of contention.

“Michael failed at Mercedes. If only he had listened to me,” Weber added.

“He tried everything and together with Rosberg they made the car faster so that Mercedes could be world champion so many times. But it [returning] was still unnecessary.”

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