Schumacher: “We want to win the titles”

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Michael Schumacher says he and the Mercedes Grand Prix team are aiming to win both championships this year.

In an interview on his official website Schumacher said:

The constellation we have here is pretty unique – with Ross and his world championship winning team, with the know-how of Mercedes, with the best engine at the moment and we want to use that. We have a clear aim: we want to win the championships. That’s what we will fight for from the beginning. That is my personal standard too.
Michael Schumacher

He denied the neck injury which kept him from returning to F1 last year was still a concern:

The after-effects of that accident are gone since long, that’s why I was sure that the neck would not cause any problems. This was one year ago, that’s over. No, I am practising since December physically very carefully and feel extremely fresh and fit. That was one of the reasons why I felt so good in the car in Jerez. But then, Formula 1 is another thing, the g-forces are higher, that’s not really comparable. That is why I look forward so much to testing in February. Only then the old feeling will be completely back. I can’t wait to be back there.
Michael Schumacher

Schumacher returned to the cockpit in a GP2 car last week and the used the opportunity to get used to slick tyres – which he last used in F1 in 1997 – and complete a race simulation:

The test was super, I can’t tell differently. We have been handicapped a bit because of the weather in the first two days but on the third day we could do a lot and even simulate a race on slicks. It went better than I had expected. I immediately felt well in the car, it was as if I never was gone.
Michael Schumacher

Mercedes will reveal the colour scheme of their 2010 F1 car in Germany on Monday, a week before testing begins at the Valencia circuit.

Read more: Michael Schumacher GP2 test pictures

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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12 comments on “Schumacher: “We want to win the titles””

  1. I am sure that many drivers and teams will be saying: “we want to win the championships” , so I think that is quite obvious, which is why its gonna be exciting. But certainly

    “I immediately felt well in the car, it was as if I never was gone.”

    is very interesting, and I guess good to hear. Rosberg has some hard work to do…

  2. Prisoner Monkeys
    20th January 2010, 8:42

    Bild is reporting that Schumacher wants to swap racing numbers with Rosberg. Not because he wants to be considered number one within the team, but because he’s superstitious. No driver carrying the number four has ever won a title, and because only seven races have been won by car number four in the past decade.

    Now, you can thumb your nose at that and write it off as Schumacher making up excuses, but I don’t think he’s an excuses kind of guy. Bear in mind that he is, by his own admission, agoraphobic: the seven time World Champion – the single most successful man in the sport – hates being out in a crowd, even after all his success. If he’s never gotten used to it, he can certainly be superstitious.

    Also, his helmet carries Chinese characters representing all the members of his family. As so many people know, four is commonly associated with death in China, which makes it quite unlucky (it’s always hilarious to see Chinese students call the Student Centre at university since the internal number is 4444 …).

    1. Thanks for that PM. I’d certainly believe it was because he was superstitious-having the odd number would just be a bonus too-these guys have to be exceptionally brave and lots of them have superstitions. I think Vettel has about 7 lucky things he carries or something but I can’t remember. I find this sort of thing highly interesting and it makes the drivers, particularly Schumacher, appear a lot more human.

    2. Give him number 13, then he has the number one as well.

      Sounds like he’s a details kind of guy, rather than excuses. There was a lovely quote from Martin Brundle in the Times around Christmas:

      I know, with fond amusement, that Schumacher is the sort who jumps into your car for a lift and adjusts the air conditioning and music volume to his liking.

      http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/formula_1/article6968386.ece

      1. Wow that was a nice comment from Martin Brundle. A very nice article too. Thanks @Bullfrog

    3. That is a great excuse for Schumi’s first psichological strike. He doesn’t want the number 4 because it’s unlucky? So why should Rosberg have it? Nico’s response will say a lot about the pecking order in the team. If he relinquishes the number 3, he’ll be losing ground to Shumacher from the start. If he insists on keeping it, he’ll seem unreasonable to us spectators and maybe lose support. Either way, Shumi wins.

      1. I love this. Maybe Nico should tell him that #28 is free. After all, it was fine for Ferraris for many years…

  3. Response from brawn/Mercedes: we won both titles last year so rather than continue the success we will just set about scoring the odd point or two!

    Honestly, off course they will go for wins, why would tristar buyout the team if this was not the case!

    As for numbers, mybey give Nico three to keep him happy, afterall schuey hardly needs luck!!!

  4. He is hungry for more,poor Nico!!

  5. As I’ve said in the forum, this is a load of nonsense. As Pedro says above, why should Rosberg have to put up with the “unlucky” #4? Besides, Schu shouldn’t need any more luck than Nico.
    You’ve gotta hand it to the guy tho, it’s a clever yet simple game he’s initiated!

  6. “Schumacher returned to the cockpit in a GP2 car last week and the used the opportunity to get used to slick tyres – which he last used in F1 in 1997”

    Not really, Keith. You forgot he already drove the slicks last year, and not in a GP2 car, but in the 2008 Formula 1 Ferrari.

  7. I can’t wait to the season opener anymore.

    Infact if anybody had doubts that Schu has toned down after his 3 years break and with his age it think it is bad news for them. To me he seems to be more aggressive than 2005/2006 when he was bored with WDC.

    Did anybody hear a name “Nico Rosberg”…. Maybe he was better off at the less competitive williams. No wonder Barichello made the switch from Brawn GP, he might have got some hint from Ross that his former teammate is going to be back.

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