Michael Schumacher said that although the Mercedes W03 has a better performance than last year´s racer, developing the car for future races is the focal point.
Nico Rosberg is so far sitting nicely in fifth place in the championship standings, after winning his first race of the career in Malaysia. Those 25 points were crucial for the team in terms of understanding the progress of the car since winter testing, but also to determine how close the Mercedes W03 is to it´s rivals. No doubt that Michael Schumacher could have put some more points on the board for the team, had he not retired twice in just four races, but with two tenth places to his name so far this season, Schumacher is maintaining a somewhat neutral stance when it comes to performance in Spain.
“After completing our testing programme in Mugello, we are now heading to the start of the European season in Barcelona next week,” Schumacher said. “The positive thing about the test was that we could really concentrate on the developments we were aiming to work on. This should give us a good basis for further developments, even if maybe not for the next race to come.
“Barcelona is a track we have driven extensively on and this is why we know that its characteristics do not exactly play fully into our hands. But then, we will definitely go there and try our best and at the same time keep on working for the things to come.”
It seems then, that the updates are not meant to be revolutionary for the next race, hoping to get podiums in Spain, but rather a beginning of the development race we´ll see from the teams over the next four-five races. The updates from Mugello, could play a decisive role in the near future.
Schumacher was very frustrated with the performance of the Pirelli tyres after Bahrain, saying that the drivers were not able to drive to their, or the car´s full capacity, saying the tyres should perhaps not play such a big role. And the tyre issue could be a deciding factor for the performance in the first four races.
“I question whether the tyres should play such a big role…or whether they should last longer. Then we would be able to drive at normal racing speeds and not cruise around as if we had a Safety Car,” Schumacher said after finishing tenth in Bahrain.
