“Was Nowhere Near as Quick as Rosberg” – Former Engineer Puts a Big Dent on Michael Schumacher’s Greatness

According to former F1 designer John Barnard, Michael Schumacher struggled in Mercedes due to his singular driving style. At the end of the 2009 season, Ross Brawn managed to coax Schumacher out of retirement and join Mercedes.

However, the seven-time world champion never returned to the top step of the podium during his three seasons with the team. Admittedly, there were a few moments of brilliance, like a pole in Monaco and a podium in Valencia.

Barnard was one of the architects behind a number of successful McLaren and Ferrari designs. He even worked alongside Michael Schumacher during his tenure with Scuderia Ferrari in 1996.

He admitted that he was not too fond of Schumacher’s manner of setting up the car. Barnard also confessed that he would love to have seen the Mercedes situation unfold during the Schumacher era.

How did Michael Schumacher set up his car?

As per Barnard’s observations, Schumacher preferred a car set up with a strong front end. The Briton didn’t like it, as it didn’t allow the German to extract the most from the car design.

He said, “He wanted a front end [where he could] absolutely just turn the wheel and bang, into the corner and he would kind of look after the back. All the other guys said: ‘we don’t like that, because when we do that the back end comes out’.”

Barnard alluded to Michael Schumacher only collecting a single podium during his three-year stint with Mercedes, as a prime example.

“He [Schumacher], quite often, was nowhere near as quick as Rosberg then and I thought: ‘This is strange, there’s something going on here'” Barnard said.

Barnard theorised that Nico Rosberg liked having a car with a nicely planted rear end. Once he has it, he finds a way to combat any understeer. However, Michael Schumacher was the complete opposite. So, when the team got the setup just right, Michael was quicker than Rosberg, though not by much.

Barnard concluded, “I just think Michael’s approach to it [was the issue]. It was good when he was young because his reactions were phenomenal but as he got a bit older, I’m not sure that that system worked so well.”