F1 News
Date: 21/July/2011
Mercedes and Michael Schumacher 'can make it' claimed the 'optimistic' German, ahead of his second home grand prix since his F1 comeback, at the Nurburgring this weekend.
The seven-time F1 world champion - twice with Benetton and then five times with Ferrari - ended a three-year retirement when he signed-up for a shock F1 return with Mercedes, the German marque that supported him early in his racing career.
But F1 is no fairytale and the Schumacher-Mercedes partnership is yet to yield even a podium.
The 42-year-old managed a best race finish of fourth on his way to ninth in last year's championship, and is currently tenth after nine rounds of this season.
"Yes, I am, absolutely," replied Schumacher, when asked if he was disappointed to have scored less points than at this time last year. "I think we all expected something different. We were very excited going to the first race in Australia, having had a good winter test and then it didn’t transform."
Despite his disappointment, Schumacher remains positive that the Mercedes team - which won the 2009 F1 title under its previous guise of Brawn GP - can reach the top.
Schumacher said: "As I so often mention, it’s a mission and the mission unfortunately doesn’t always go in one line upwards. It’s like a stock market: before it goes up, it falls down a couple of times.
"The general trend, what I can see in the factory and the progress we are making in terms of how the team is building up - I see very good signs that we can make it."
But exactly when Schumacher and Mercedes might stand on the top step of the F1 podium is far too early to say.
"I don’t think we are in a position yet to talk about winning races. We are on the way," said Schumacher, a winner of 91 F1 races.
"I am very optimistic to be quite honest. It wasn’t initially a long term project for me when I signed up, but after a while I understood it is going to be and there is nothing that you can rush through.
"You have to progressively step up and that’s what we are doing."
Despite his comeback troubles, countryman and reigning F1 world champion Sebastian Vettel - sometimes referred to as 'Baby Schumi' by the German media - paid tribute to Schumacher's achievements.
The Red Bull star said: "All of us will always be compared to Michael. His big shoes will be very, very difficult to fill. Everything he achieved is quite phenomenal. The question is not if there will ever be a German achieving that again, but if there will ever be a driver in Formula One achieving what he has done again."
Schumacher then indicated his own high opinion of Vettel, saying: "I think we both have similar sized shoes, so [his future] should be good."
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