According to Mercedes, Michael Schumacher is still the reason for the team's success
F1 News
- GPblog.com
After his five world titles with Ferrari (seven in total), Michael Schumacher decided to stop racing in Formula One in 2016. At the time, he was the most successful driver to ever step into a Formula 1 car. But blood was thicker than water, and so in 2010, the German made a surprising comeback at a new team with roots in his home country: Mercedes.
Comeback
The comeback, however, was not what Schumacher and his fans had imagined. Only once did the legendary man from Hürth reach the podium with his new team: a third place in Valencia, 2012.
Then Mercedes employees James Vowles and Ron Meadows are still employed by the team, and also worked with Schumacher. It still hurts the men that the team could not live up to expectations at the time. James Vowles says about it in the Beyond The Grid Podcast: "Michael Schumacher never got the results he deserved with us. Everyone at the factory wanted so badly for him to succeed. It was obvious to all of us how much time Michael had put into the team."
Sporting Director Ron Meadows said, "When I think about how involved he was in building the team, my biggest regret is that he never won for us. Michael just operated on a different level than any driver we had dealt with before him. We all wanted him to win, but he never did. A few years later we started winning, and he's one of the reasons we're still winning. He's done so much to make us a better racing team."
Respect
The respect for Schumacher, whose son Mick has been racing in Formula 1 since this year, is therefore still very thick at the team. James Vowles: "He was aware that he was getting older. But he never gave up. I just wish we could have given him that one victory. Or he could have driven the 2013 car that gave us three wins and eight pole positions."