Hit the Floor

Race 3 : China (17 April 2011)

Setelah tampil cukup baik di GP Malaysia, di balapan selanjutnya yang berlangsung di Shanghai, Jepang, lagi-lagi Schumacher mengalami akhir minggu yang tak menentu. Di sepanjang sesi latihan bebas, catatan waktu Michael Schumacher kalah dari rekan setimnya dan puncaknya di sesi kualifikasi, untuk ketiga kalinya di awal musim 2011 Michael Schumacher kembali terhempas di Q2. Kali ini catatan waktu Schumacher bahkan hanya mampu menempatkannya di urutan ke-14 sementara rekan setimnya tampil cemerlang dan sukses merebut P4.

Saat start, kembali Schumacher menunjukkan kelasnya. Ia merangsek ke depan hingga menembus 10 besar, tapi aksi Schumacher ini tak terlalu mendapat perhatian terlebih rekan setimnya, Rosberg yang memulai balapan dari grid ke-4 lebih mencuri perhatian saat ia sempat memimpin balapan selama beberapa lap. Seolah menebus penampilan buruk mereka di dua balapan sebelumnya, kali ini kedua pebalap Mercedes ini sukses meraup poin. Schumacher berhasil finish ke-8 dari posisi startnya di P14 sementara rekan setimnya yang memulai balapan dari P4 sukses finish di urutan ke-5.

Akhir minggu yang tak terlalu buruk bagi kubu Mercedes. Namun tentu saja hasil yang diraih Schumacher di Shanghai ini tak terlalu mengesankan. Bagi pebalap biasa, mungkin hasil yang dicapai Schumi di Shanghai ini cukup luar biasa, tapi tidak bagi pebalap sekelas Michael Schumacher. Maka tak pelak berbagai kritik yang sudah mendera Schumi sejak kembalinya ia ke ajang balap Formula One pun kembali merebak.

Free Practice 1:

Schumacher          : 18th (1:42.301)

Rosberg                : 11th (1:41.361)

Free Practice 2:

Schumacher          : 5th (1:38.105)

Rosberg                : 4th (1:37.943)

Michael Schumacher’s Friday Quotes:

“We’ve had a good working day here during the first outings on the Shanghai track. We have changed our working approach this weekend, and I think this has paid off. We concentrated mainly on high fuel loads, and it seems we can find the set-up better than starting from low fuel. The long runs were good in my view which is clearly an improvement on the first two races. There is room for further improvement so I look forward to understanding what we can achieve in qualifying.”

Free Practice 3:

Schumacher          : 9th (1:36.141)

Rosberg                : 4th (1:35.667)

Qualifying:

Schumacher          : 14th (1:36.457)

Rosberg                : 4th   (1:34.070)

Michael Schumacher’s Saturday Quotes:

“What a shame for me today as we have clearly demonstrated this weekend that as a team we have improved a lot. Nico proved that strongly with his fourth place which was our realistic target. I didn’t quite get my lap together in Q2 and since then we have found out that my rear wing was not functioning correctly as I was braking into turn 14. I am obviously hoping to have a strong start and that we have good race pace tomorrow so I can hopefully make up some positions.”

Race:

Schumacher          : 8th

Rosberg                : 5th

Michael Schumacher’s Sunday Quotes:

“That was a lot of racing in one Grand Prix this afternoon and very exciting! I had a lot of fun this afternoon and I’m so pleased to see the hard work of our guys paid off this weekend. We have made a big step forward with our car and it worked very well. We are heading towards the first race in Europe now and will bring some upgrades to Istanbul which should help us to improve even more. It is good to leave Asia with a positive feeling.”