Michael Schumacher

What can be said about Michael Schumacher? He dominated F1 for five years taking the title from 2000-2004. Alsono only narrowly beat him to the 2005 & 2006 titles too. Add in the fact that he already had two world titles and that makes him a seven time champion, more titles than the rest of the grid combined – still after a three year break.

Michael Schumacher has a shot at the title this year in the unfamilier setting of the Mercedes team. He has returned to a team lead by Ross Brawn though and I suspect that is the only reason he’s on the grid this year, he trusts that Brawn will give him the car to win with.

With all this experience comes a great talent for racing and a competitive spirit that has crossed a few too many boundaries in it’s time but Schumacher learns fast and doesn’t repeat mistakes, he’ll be coming back to slick tyres and different regulations but he’s seen most of these before in various forms so I doubt it will trouble him.

Schumacher is also one of only two drivers on the grid that have raced when refueling wasn’t part of the race, is this another advantage or will those three years out ensure that he’s too rusty to take any benefit from them? It certainly seems from testing that the young Rosberg is pushing him hard but ultimately Schumacher will be on form for Bahrain – he wouldn’t be on the grid otherwise.

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