Lewis Hamilton<\/a> when they tried to pass, showing just how determined he is to still get the job done.<\/p>\nThe bottom line is that Schumacher has been out-raced and out-qualified by team-mate Rosberg, who took two fifths and two thirds in the opening four races.<\/p>\n
Of course, history shows a similar pattern in qualifying, with the younger man often having the edge. Just as Alain Prost outpaced Niki Lauda, so Ayrton Senna more often than not later outran the Frenchman. <\/p>\n
The difference is in those days there was a much bigger spread down the field, and team-mates would still very often share the front row. This year there is a tighter pack at the front with some exceptional drivers in the mix. <\/p>\n
The Mercedes is clearly the fourth-best car at the moment and, with Robert Kubica also in the frame, Schumacher\u2019s performances have not been flattered. There is a back story, however. In wet qualifying in Malaysia Michael said his tyres went off, and in China he opted for a different rear wing.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, he has clearly struggled more than his team-mate to get to grips with a car that is not as good as last year\u2019s Brawn.<\/p>\n
\u201cQuite honestly, our set-ups are pretty much identical,\u201d said Schumacher in China. \u201cThere\u2019s not much of a difference between us. That\u2019s why we\u2019re looking at things, at why I\u2019m struggling and what I\u2019m struggling with.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ross Brawn, meanwhile, has been delighted with Rosberg\u2019s progress, which has perhaps been underestimated.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said before we went into this year that I felt it was a great combination, because Nico would learn a lot next to Michael,\u201d said Brawn. \u201cI think he\u2019d acknowledge that, because Nico\u2019s not had a partner of the calibre of Michael before, and I think he\u2019s finding it both a great challenge and a great help. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m delighted with Nico, he\u2019s incredibly quick. It\u2019s perfect for Michael to have such a strong challenge to match up [to]. Michael\u2019s got to meet these targets. I think he\u2019s relishing the challenge. He gets disappointed of course, but you can see the steeliness in his ambition, and it\u2019s great that we\u2019ve got two good drivers.\u201d <\/p>\n
Adam Cooper<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":745,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[],"tags":[34091,34090,167,39316,22396,115462,179,34092,34619,35729,34618,36061,34640],"issue_decade":[121600],"issue_year":[121601],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_content\/43351"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_content"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/issue_content"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/745"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43351"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_content\/43351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":711313,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_content\/43351\/revisions\/711313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43351"},{"taxonomy":"issue_decade","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_decade?post=43351"},{"taxonomy":"issue_year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_year?post=43351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}