Natural for Alonso to Fear Me - Schumacher

When Fernando Alonso recently told the media that he looks at 7-time world champion Michael Schumacher as his main threat for the 2011 Formula 1 crown, people started laughing. And it's easy to assume why, as the German's return campaign last year was nothing short of a disaster.

Nevertheless, talking to the media last weekend, Schumacher insisted that his former F1 rival's comments were rather logical than comical. And that's because despite the struggles he went through last season, he will benefit from a much better prepared car in 2011.

“Fernando knows how to count and that things are going better and better, with the curve clearly on the up at the end of last season,” said Schumacher in a recent interview with Germany's Bild newspaper.

“He also knows that we have been working on our new car for a long time, so I think it's realistic for him to put Mercedes on the bill,” added the 42-year old racer.

This would be a good moment to remind you that team boss Ross Brawn and his team of engineers have been working on the new MGP W02 ever since midseason 2010, which means they had plenty of time to address the negative aspects showcased by the car's predecessor, the 2010-spec W01. The last time Brawn spent that much time on developing an F1 car he went on to win the title the next campaign (Brawn GP, back in 2009).

Meanwhile, Mercedes have given its fans a glimpse of how their car is going to look like next season through a computerized image of the MGP W02. Nico Rosberg will be the first driver to test it early tomorrow, on the Ricardo Tormo race track, before the W02 falls into the hands of Schumacher the next day.