As part of the brilliant VivaF1 Blogger's Swap Shop, Matt Bacon of the Final Sector asks if Schumacher will be a threat to Alonso and his other rivals.
Last week Alonso during a press event said that he fears Michael Schumacher this season, a lot of people were quick to write off Schumacher’s first season but there were some glimmers of his former self like the defensive moves coming into corners or the move on Barrichello in Hungary which was highly aggressive move pushing him painfully close to the barrier. I don’t think you can ever write off Michael Schumacher as a contender as he was not the 7 times world champion for nothing but Formula one has changed a lot since then there is no in season testing which Michael used to do a lot of for Ferrari as he has a good technical knowledge of the sport and the cars involved.
The whole discussion depends on the Mercedes GP W02 if it’s a decent car or not if it’s a bad car to begin with compared to the Ferrari then Alonso has nothing to worry about to begin with but we know that everything in F1 moves very fast so who knows what happen. there are so many variables going into the 2011 season for teams, Kers is back and you know have a moveable rear wing when your 1 second behind the car in front. So in conclusion I think there is loads of reasons for and against the statement but we wont know until the red lights go out in Bahrain. I think the 2011 car will be built around Michael Schumacher as they are paying him enough money to drive for them, a insider from the team said that the car is exceeding expectations on the grip and down force front.
By Matt Bacon
While Schumacher could be a threat IF he did get the car, I think it was just mind games - it's the drivers that he didn't name that this was really aimed at.
That's the ultimate question isn't it? I'd love to see Schumi aim for the title but somehow I don't see it, unless of course Ross Brawn comes up with an absolute cracker of a car. I fondly remember Alonso and Schumi's battles in 2005 and 2006 but F1 has moved on with no one team having a huge advantage over the other and that's as it should be. This is of course just the retoric that heralds the pre-season silliness where drivers aim to spook their competitors (or prepare their excuses in advance)... isn't it fu!
I just reckon Alonso didn't want to give a psychological boost to the drivers who he genuinely sees as rivals this year.