Michael Schumacher‘s return to Formula 1 was “a failure”, according to his former manager Willi Weber.
The German spent his three year stint following his return to the sport with Mercedes-AMG Motorsport, finishing ninth, eighth and thirteenth in the respective championship standings.
Car designer John Barnard, who had previously worked with the German during his time at Scuderia Ferrari, explained that Schumacher wished for a car with a light rear end, to encourage oversteer, something which he was unable to get at Mercedes. Weber believes this is the reason he did not succeed in his time with the team.
“I see it 100 percent the same way,” said Weber, speaking to the Kolner Express newspaper. “Michael had this special car setup for his style and didn’t get it from the Mercedes.
“The newer cars had developed in a different direction, and Michael couldn’t influence the technology as much as he could at Benetton and Ferrari.”
He added: “That is true, but after Ross [Brawn] could not improve the car much after 2009 and Rosberg was suddenly the faster one, Michael couldn’t compensate for that. It was a different technology and driver generation, even though Michael was as fit as ever.
“Michael failed at Mercedes. If only he had listened to me.
“He tried everything and together with [Nico] Rosberg they made the car faster so that Mercedes could be world champion so many times. But it [returning] was still unnecessary,” he said.
