Ross Brawn has clarified that when he attributed Michael Schumacher's paltry haul of points to errors from the Mercedes team, he was including Michael.
Mercs boss refuses to absolve Michael
Ross Brawn has clarified that when he attributed Michael Schumacher's paltry haul of two points to under-performance from the Mercedes team, he was including the seven-times World Champion in that damning critique.
Asked to explain what he meant in quotes attributed to him by a German newspaper in which the Mercedes Team Principal apparently excused Schumacher's poor set of results this season by citing mistakes made by the team, Brawn delivered something of a bombshell. Rather than making a robust defence of his driver, whose position is coming under increasing scrutiny, Brawn instead volunteered the admission that he also felt Schumacher's work this season had been 'not good enough'.
"When I talk about team, I talk about drivers as well - the drivers aren't outside the team," Brawn answered.
"So when I say the team hadn't done a good enough job with Michael, I mean collectively. So we, and that includes Michael, have not done a good enough job collectively in the first five races because Michael's got two points and that's not good enough.
"So my view is we always look at these things collectively, it's not the driver's made a mistake or the team's made a mistake, together we haven't done a good enough job and that's the situation with Michael.
"It's been a bit better with Nico; certainly the race win was great and I think in the last three races actually Nico's scored the second or third highest points of any driver. So for Nico, we are not doing too badly.
"But I think also the issue of Michael scoring two points is not just down to Michael, it's down to some of the technical problems we've had with the car, and that's what I was trying to explain."
Brawn's refusal to absolve Michael from blame follows the public admission of Nick Fry, Mercedes' Chief Executive Officer, that Force India driver Paul di Resta is "on our radar" and notably-lukewarm support for the troubled former champion.
"I am sure if we get to the end of this year and it is continues as it has done for the last few races I think he will probably be asking himself that question," added Fry.
Unfairly or not, Brawn's remarks are bound to be used for pouring more fuel on a fire that is beginning to burn brightly.
