Some senior officials from the Mercedes F1 team say they were devastated that Michael Schumacher never managed to win a race for Mercedes.
It is not the least who will tell their story in the podcast ‘Beyond The Grid’ this week because Simon Cole, Andrew Shovlin, James Vowles and Ron Meadows have held important positions at the Mercedes F1 team from the start.
When Mercedes bought the Brackley team from Ross Brawn, the biggest news was undoubtedly the fact that seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher would be behind the wheel of one of the ‘Silberpfeile’. Obviously, this creates a certain expectation, both for the driver and the team, and although the results were not bad, it took until 2012 before a race could be won and pole positions were secured.
That pole position came with Michael Schumacher in Monaco 2012, but the German had to start from sixth place due to a grid penalty he suffered in the previous race. James Vowles remembers that day as if it were yesterday.
“I was over the moon and I think it was one of the best laps he probably ever did in his life … but I was devastated, really devastated for him because this is someone we all wanted, around this table and within the factory that he would win a race. Because he deserved it, he put so much effort and so much of his life into the team that it was a reward for him and that was his chance during the year. ”
“And I was devastated that he dropped back in that one race. I felt for him, and I still feel now, that he wasn’t getting all the results he deserved, given the work he put into the team. ”
Meadows added: “When you see how he helped us get better, I think it was definitely my biggest regret that Michael didn’t win a race for us as he was a different level of rider where we were at the time. had ever cooperated. ”
“I really believe we all wanted him to win. It did not happen. A few years later, we couldn’t stop winning and that’s partly thanks to him, because the reason we win today is largely due to him, because he made us better. ”
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