The survey was conducted by the Dortmund-based German market research company Promit, and its results were made public by Germany's SID news agency on Thursday. The official figures show that 63.3 percent of the respondents disagree with Schumacher's decision to come back to Formula One, while 33.5 percent of them are positive in the German's surge later in the season. 0.2 percent did not have an opinion on the topic.
Criticism against Schumacher's F1 return started earlier this year, following his disappointing “recovery race” in the Australian Grand Prix, but intensified last weekend during the Chinese Grand Prix. The 7-time world champion was passed by several drivers in the late laps of the race but, more importantly, failed to keep the pace with the front-runners on a wet track, where he usually “killed” the competition in the first few laps (before his retirement, that is).
“Maybe he has lost his feeling for driving during the three years of his retirement. What we are now seeing is that Schumacher is an ordinary man of flesh and blood and that even he cannot conduct magic,” said his former teammate from Benetton, Jos Verstappen, in a column for Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.
With the majority of the media mocking the 41-year old driver for his latest performances, some F1 pundits defended the German publicly, insisting that his poor form in the first few races is related to his long period of F1 inactivity. F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone was the first to hit back at critics, arguing that the German will show his true pace in two or three races time.
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