And that's because the multitude of fans and media analysts that criticized him throughout the recently-ended season knew little about the true problems his Mercedes GP team was confronted with in 2010. And before turning the page on his worst ever F1 campaign, the 41-year old German wanted to set the record straight.
“In retrospect, there were things,” argued the German racer in a recent interview with Auto Motor und Sport. “My floor was burned because of the exhaust being too hot, or the F-duct working in places where it should not. There were many (issues), resulting from the fact that we are in a restructuring phase but we still wanted to go for the title.”
“At Spa my F-duct didn't work, but I didn't say anything. At Suzuka it happened again – again a problem with my car but not with Nico's. I said to Norbert (Haug) and Ross (Brawn) that it was time for an explanation of the reasons,” he added, while stressing the fact that he never went public with those struggles, in order to keep the pressure down on his team.
“I prefer to speak inside the team, and I am convinced that in 2011 the problems will exist no more,” concluded the German.
In late November, Schumacher told the media that he would be aiming for podiums, rather than wins, in the 2011 F1 championship. Apparently, the most successful man in the history of the sport needed only a few days to reflect on that, and then bring a few tweaks to those comments.
“We cannot presume to think that we will be fighting for the championship. We will make a big leap forward and, if all goes well, win races,” he insisted.
Needless to say, after the heavily criticized comeback experience he had this season, scoring podiums alone would be an important step forward for the German. And that's not only because the competition next year will be fierce – Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren will certainly not spend the entire off-season vacationing – but because Schu is yet to classify inside the Top 3 since he decided to return to F1.
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