{"id":4696,"date":"2010-04-21T12:01:04","date_gmt":"2010-04-21T16:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/?p=4696"},"modified":"2010-04-21T12:01:04","modified_gmt":"2010-04-21T16:01:04","slug":"ecclestone-says-schumacher-criticism-not-fair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/formula-1\/ecclestone-says-schumacher-criticism-not-fair\/","title":{"rendered":"Ecclestone says Schumacher criticism not fair"},"content":{"rendered":"<h5><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Bernie Ecclestone has defended Michael Schumacher amid criticism of the seven time world champion&#8217;s lacklustre return to formula one.<\/span><\/h5>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The 41-year-old German&#8217;s comeback with a three-year deal at Mercedes was the talk of the pre-season.<\/p>\n<p>But his new form hit a low in China last weekend, when he was trounced by his teammate Nico Rosberg in qualifying before finishing a minute down at the finish in the sort of slippery conditions in which previously he would have thrived.<\/p>\n<p>F1 chief executive Ecclestone said the criticism of his performance so far is not justified.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Anybody who criticises Michael is wrong.\u00a0 He deserves better,&#8221; the Briton said in a joint interview with Mercedes&#8217; Norbert Haug.<\/p>\n<p>Haug agreed: &#8220;No, for sure he doesn&#8217;t deserve that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The German told F1&#8217;s official website that Schumacher&#8217;s effect at the Brackley based team is being tangibly felt behind the scenes.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He stimulates everybody, including Nico.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ecclestone said he is not surprised that 24-year-old Rosberg currently has the upper hand, and tips Schumacher to be back on top soon.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Nico is very talented and Michael was on holiday for three years.\u00a0 Ask me the same question after another two races,&#8221; said the 79-year-old.<\/p>\n<p>There have been theories that Schumacher will &#8211; or should &#8211; make a quick retreat in order to cease the humiliation and safeguard his legacy.<\/p>\n<p>It has also been suggested that his form reflects the fact that he has only returned to beat the boredom of retirement.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We all know that Michael would be his first and foremost critic if he realised that this job is not for him anymore.\u00a0 But that&#8217;s not the case,&#8221; said Haug.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Within the team, Michael is extremely constructive.\u00a0 This enthusiasm is firing up the whole team.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ecclestone agreed: &#8220;Michael would have never returned had he not been convinced that he can do the job.\u00a0 He is not a tourist in the paddock &#8212; he&#8217;s here to win.\u00a0 And he will win again.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">\u00a9 RIF|GMM<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bernie Ecclestone has defended Michael Schumacher amid criticism of the seven time world champion&#8217;s lacklustre return to formula one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,5262,5340,92,4,242],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4696"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4696"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4697,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4696\/revisions\/4697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}