LONDON: Ramming into the back of Jean-Eric Vergne, totalling both their cars at the Singapore Grand Prix, handed ammunition to critics who say a 43-year-old Michael Schumacher is clearly not as sharp as he once was and shouldn’t be racing in Formula 1.
Still, this shouldn’t mean that Schumacher’s F1 career must end soon. His three-year Mercedes contract is almost up. He has said that by October should come news of whether he’ll renew it or retire again at the end of the season.
Here’s hoping Schumacher gives F1 at least one more year – if nothing else so that the serial winner he once was doesn’t finish on a low note.
His team mate Nico Rosberg, 16 years younger, has been better in eking performance out of cars that have never been quick enough to consistently challenge Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari.
But Schumacher has had some rotten luck, too, failing to finish nearly one-quarter of his races for Mercedes. Some of those were his fault; it was in Singapore on Sunday when he misjudged how much extra braking he required after a safety car period cooled his brakes.
He accepted the blame and will start the next race in Japan 10 places back from his qualifying position as a penalty.
But for many of the other times he didn’t get his car to the chequered flag, Schumacher was only partly responsible or blameless.
In 2012, a gearbox issue (Australia), a loose front wheel (China), a fuel pressure problem (Monaco), a hydraulic failure on his rear wing (Canada) and a puncture (Hungary) have prevented him from finishing.
Rosberg has 93 points in 2012 to Schumacher’s 43 – an unfavourable-looking comparison. But a closer analysis of their numbers suggests they aren’t, in fact, that far apart.
In six of the races Schumacher finished, he placed higher than Rosberg.
On average, Rosberg is scoring 6.6 points per race in 2012 (he finished in all of them), slightly better than Schumacher’s 6.1 average in the seven races he finished.
Even if he had a better car, Schumacher isn’t likely to be a world champion again, but he could at least win a race or two, perhaps ending his career on a higher note than now.
“Am I as good as I was? Undoubtedly not,” a magazine quoted Schumacher as saying in an interview this June. “Am I still good enough? Probably, yes.”
Good enough, certainly, to not have to give up trying. (AP)
