Brundle: Give Schumi respect and time
Former F1 driver turned commentator Martin Brundle says Michael Schumacher was unfairly criticised during his comeback season in 2010.
After three years away from the sport, the seven-time World Champion returned to the race-track with Mercedes GP last season. However, his comeback failed to produce the results that many expected of the German.
Instead of fighting for podiums, never mind race victories, Schumacher was battling for points and at times found himself in hot water with the race stewards. He eventually finished the season in ninth place, well behind team-mate Nico Rosberg.
Brundle, though, believes fans and pundits alike were too hard on the German in 2010 - although Schumacher may have brought some of that on himself by his early season predictions.
"I have no problem with him coming back. He was bouncing down the track after falling off his Superbike for the 12th time. What is the point of killing himself on a Superbike? You might as well go back (to F1)," Brundle said during the Autosport International Show.
"They were prepared to give him a drive. He loved doing it and I think we should give him a little bit more time.
"I respect him for coming back. He had the opportunity and that is what he wanted to do at the end of the day. It cannot be right or wrong - and people are too judgemental on that.
"The mistake I think Michael made was before the start of the season when he said, 'I only do winning World Championships, that is why I am here'. He set the bar too high for himself.
"He ought to have said, 'these are young chargers, I will do my best, we'll see how far I get and I will support Nico and the team (to) try and go win some races'. I think then he could have come at it from a different direction."
Brundle added that Schumacher also walked into a very different situation to what he had at Ferrari when he arrived at Mercedes GP as he was no longer the defacto number one.
"I think he is struggling a bit from not having all the deck of cards in his favour," he said.
"When he was at Ferrari he had the best people around him, and they had all sorts of support. He developed the Bridgestone tyres and he was king of the castle - his team-mate was there to support his efforts and would often be sent out to check a set of tyres which Michael didn't want to waste time doing.
"Michael had a lot of advantages - but that is quite clever. I would have done that if I could have. Niki Lauda did, Alain Prost did, Ayrton Senna did. All the great Champions are ruthless."
Credit: PlanetF1.com (www.planetf1.com)
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