Schumacher Will Aim for Podiums, Not F1 Title, in 2011

While some are looking at Michael Schumacher as a potential title contender in the 2011 Formula One championship, the man himself is short of making such predictions for next year. After a struggling first season with Mercedes in 2010, the 7-time world champion told the media that he expects to challenge for podiums during the upcoming campaign, rather than race wins.

“I believe next year I can be going for the podium in some races, but that it is still too early for the championship. Our technical differences to the top teams has been reduced, but not quite enough,” said Schumacher, according to Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat.

Schumacher's first impressions on the 2011 tires were mostly positive, which is a valuable piece of information considering that his main struggle back in 2010 was related to the characteristics of the new Bridgestone compound. However, gaining so much ground on rivals Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren in only a few months is highly unlikely, which makes Schu think twice about fighting for the title next year.

In related news, it seems that Mercedes GP is planning a major reshuffle of their organization for their 2011 campaign, with Schumacher's 2010 race engineer Andy Shovlin being promoted to the role of chief driver engineer for the entire squad next year. Shovlin's place in the Brackley-based team will likely be taken by Mark Slade, the former race engineer of Renault's Vitaly Petrov. However, that second appointment is yet to be confirmed by the team.

“We are changing the organisation in the same direction as Ferrari,” said Schu, pointing to Ferrari's Chris Dyer moving from race engineer to chief track engineer in recent years. “There will be a chief engineer responsible for both the drivers,” further confirmed the 7-time world champion.