Can it really be considered a failure, though? He was hired to develop the car and to create some positive buzz around the new team, no one really expected him to win races (OK, maybe some people did). He did his job just fine.

I think how successful Schumacher’s comeback is depends on how you look at it. Despite his occasional moments of brilliance, it was not what we expected from a sporting and results perspective, even if he never had the machinery. But from an influential perspective, it was a massive success as he gave Mercedes the knowledge and mentality that is needed to dominate F1. I personally think that his comeback was what was realistically possible given his age and machinery at the time. Regardless, keep fighting Michael 🐐❤️

In 2010 it was clear Rosberg had an advantage, 2011 they were pretty much equal, trading blows and finished very close in the WDC. In 2012 however, Schumacher was a clear step ahead of Rosberg, if not for all of his insane bad luck, he would have finished a good 40-50 points clear of him. Gearbox issue in Aus, Got Grosjeaned in Malaysia, DRS failure Canada, Pitstop issue China, Crash with Senna in Spain, Grid Penalty from POLE in Monaco, then an engine failure. If you look at the races where neither driver had an issue in 2012, Schumacher convincingly beats Rosberg 75% of the time, the guy who then went on to match Hamilton in 2013-2014. I'd consider Schumachers performance in 2012 a big success

He was hired to develop the car and Nico while being the German legend for the new "German" team. He did EXACTLY what he was hired to do and it hasnrt damaged his legacy one bit. If anything, it shows the depth of his knowledge and his ability to raise the potential for an entire "new" team through his effort.

Michael Schumacher was so good, his failures might be some midfield drivers dream years

Brawn didn’t recruit him from retirement to score wins and titles he was recruited to build up a dominating future champion team. He won his first Benetton title during his 4th year and he won his first Ferrari title during his 4th year at Maranello. Dominance and success doesn’t come overnight. His main job was to develop car and team, Rosberg‘s main job was to score podiums and points. Their responsibilities werde absolutely different. In addition he had much bad luck due to technical failures and didn’t get used to the overregulated penalty system. If those penalty regulations had existed back during the 90s half of the grid would have been given drive-thru penalties every race. In addition to all of that he was 41 years old, after so many years of setting-up new standards of ambition and self-sacrifice his family had a higher priority. During his Ferrari years he rarely got to see Mick because half of the race-free weekends he spent at Maranello with his engineers. It’s the same reason Vettel is far away from his former invincibility, family and environment nowadays having a much higher priority for him than F1. Sorry for that long text but this ignorant "just looking at the championship points“ makes me upset

Everyone can have their opinion on who’s the best between Lewis or Schumi but Michael passing the torch to Lewis is truly poetic

What you said in the end sums it up quite well. Lewis and Toto build their success on the foundation of Michael's time at developing the Merc team. Which makes it even more sad that he never got to see their success. He would be so proud of what this team became.

5:37 "Sebastian Vettel, Hamilton and Fernando Alonso.. they were in a different league" goosebumps

1. Just shows all the more respect Alonso deserves on his comeback. He hasn’t lost any of it and is becoming sharper by the second. He can easily challenge the best given the car. The same cannot be said about Schumacher on his return. 2. I can see a similar ending for Lewis as Schumacher had in his first career. Dominating till a bad 05 season with a bad car and final push for the title in 06 with a competitive car. I feel the same scenario playing out for Lewis. This year was his 05 and then next year one last push for the title with a more competitive car. Mark my words.

People who don’t fully understand just look at the points and don’t realise why the table looks that way. What’s impressive is how he got better as he got older in his 3 seasons. He was clearly the better Mercedes driver in 2012 but had far too many DNF’s and issues. Some his but most the car. He still had the speed that’s for sure.

He supported a new team with his expirience and knowledge. His team mate later became a word champion and the team became one of the most dominant teams in F1 history. So I wouldn't say it was a failure. Yes, Michael couldn't fight for race wins and podiums but he had massive share in developing the team.

Himself, yes that bike crash in 08,09(which i forgot which year) does injury his back,affect his performance especially when someone age late 30's was considering past prime in modern days F1. But for the Mercedes, no is not a failure and Micheal's knowledge about building a great car. It does lay great foundation for the team

His last lap pass on Alonso after the SC at Monaco was 🔥. Even though it was within the rules he got punished but showed how hungry he still was.

Such a great Video, thanks Aldas❤ imagine Schumi is still walking around in the starting grid with his sunglasses, chillin, an giving interviews, that would be epic 🥹

Cool, do one on how Mick is progressing better than K Mag and Ricciardo He is ahead of K Mag on net position finishes this season, by 1, but that is plenty to show he is equal at very least. And in the last 9 of 18 races he has scored 12 points to K Mag's 5. And finished ahead of him 5 of those times.

Michael developed a car with Rosberg which became the dominating car of the hybrid era and LH and Nico won championships with. I’d say that was a very successful come back for Michael.

Thank you very much for this awesome video. As a fellow German, it was actually great to see him coming back cause given my age, I narrowly missed out on his glory days contiguously. The three years have been, on a sporting site, a mixed bag, given the circumstances and the cars. But apart from that, there still was an aura about him. I mean, it was still the great Michael Schumacher who was battling with the young guns. His 2012 season is pretty underrated tbh. Especially his quali performances in the first half of the season have been suberb at times. Just seeing him in the top 3 press conference afterwards just gave us a warm feeling that the old man still got it. Unfortunately, the performance of that car tailed off by the end of the year. Up to this day, I still cannot comprehend how he was able to put that car in P5 at Austin

Aldas you're really crushing it. Your videos just keep getting better

Haven't watched the video, but MSCs style is similar to that of Verstappen, however he rotates the car even more, which was working with the Brigestone Tyres really well. However the Pirellis would get too much surface temperature on the rear, meaning he could never use his natural style in the Merc, even if the car was developed for that kind of driving.

How can you call Michael’s comeback a failure when he literally helped develop the most dominant winning machine between 2014-2021, Michael also helped Ferrari win 2 more consecutive World Constructors Championship titles between 2007-2008, so if you look at it all in all Michael has really won 17 World Championships 7 as a driver and 10 as a car developer, keep fighting 🏎️🏎️🏎️🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🐐🐐🐐

I love these videos, Aldas is a Genuine fan and has such style and respect for the Sport and its heritage

Schumacher's comeback left more of a legacy than most probably realise - yes he wasn't as competitive on track, probably due to the car not suiting his style (given how well he still preformed in the rain and around Monaco shows he still had the reflexes) But Toto Wolf has himself confirmed that Schumacher was instrumental in getting Mercedes to invest much heavier into the F1 team, that investment is what allowed Merc to develop the dominance they had in the sport from 2014-2020

“It’s good to say goodbye, and maybe this time it’ll be…forever.” Man, this quote is so depressing in hindsight given the unfortunate incident that followed shortly after his retirement. I don’t think Michael’s return should be viewed as a failure. Those Mercs he drove had pace but were clearly closer to the midfield than the front. He had spent three years away from the sport and was in his 40s. He had moments of absolute brilliance. It’s like Michael Jordan with the Washington Wizards, y’know? That run shouldn’t detract from his titanic legacy at all. Forever a legend

I never considered his comeback as a failure. At any rate I always thought that his new role was to develop a car, not so much to fight for wins and results. Thats why Rosberg was there, also I think probably people tended to understimate Nico's ability. And can we really call Michael's return a failure when the team he helped build those first rough years when that same team started to dominate almost right after he thought he had helped enough? I'd say hedis jsut what he wanted to achieve.

It wasn't a failure. Jock Clear (jacques Villeneuve track engineer) who didn't want to work with him at first explain that it was a pleasure to work with him and he was never frustrated, always pointing the team in the right direction. The team was growing with him. You explain well the problem with his driving style. The Mercedes over heat his rear tyres and it was worst with Pirelli tyres. Rosberg explain that Michael sometimes forget to activate the DRS or that it was activate when he arrive in braking zone. The last problem he got was that he had motion sickness in the simulator, so without test session like in his Ferrari days it was clearly a handicap

That's what makes Michael and Lewis quite similar drivers, is a fact that they were building whole team around them. I'm die hard Ferrari supporter, grown up on Michael's era, and not really a fan of Lewis, I have a lot of respect to Lewis, because of his similar way of working with the team as Michael did.

So, I guess that if he wouldn't be drained in 2005 and 2006 (as you mentioned), he would propably continue racing in 2007 and maybe 2008. Then his career would be even better. When you said about Hamilton, Vettel and Alonso being at the peak of their careers, it reminded me of last 2 years of Valentino Rossi in MotoGP, when he wasn't as quick as much younger riders like Fabio Quartararo or Francesco Bagnaia. And it was the same with Schumacher in early 2010s.

Schumacher qualified 6th on his first race back but no one took any noticed as they were expecting him to be on pole - They expected too much. He hadn't raced in F1 for over three years and even Senna once said the winter break was a long time to be away from a F1 car. His comeback has nothing to do with his great achievements - In my opinion.

A good piece, but i think it added to his legacy, because it helped Merc in the modern era! To put it this way, if he had the 2014-2016 Merc, he would have had wins, & atleast a silver medal in the championship. Michael was on Nico"s pace from mid 2011 right away until the end! Also dont forget Spa 2012, his 300th race. Where he was P2/ P3, for the most of it, sadly because of a late gearbox problem, he could not fight for it, such a shame about Monaco 12, it should have been HIS race ;) Actually Michael was offered a new two year deal for 13/14 at Silverstone. But due to long term motivation, he declined at Monza, & then in Singapore Niki went after Hamilton, & he was signed for 2013 & beyond! His comeback proved more then anything else, his pure love for the sport, & that driving & competing is what matters the most! #KeepFightingMichael #NeverGiveUp #RoadToRecovery #Win92 #ForzaSchumi

Imagine if Michael waited just two more years

Alternative Title: "How Schumacher's Mercedes Comeback Failed Successfully"

No way was it a failure. He was hired to develop & build up a new team. He did what he was paid to do including getting Hamilton to join the team.

Also I'd like to compare how Alonso is currently performing vs Michael in his Merc phase (especially in 2012) . Both in their 40's, both in midfield cars, both having consistent points finishes, both showing moments of brilliance (Michael arguably slightly had the better moments i.e. his pole lap, valencia podium or wet race performances) and both have had bad luck (alonso's 2022 and Schumis 2012 season). So the fact that Michael was being regarded as a finished driver whereas Alonso is still being considered top 5 just shows how high of a standard Michael was being held to. Yes Michael was slower than Rosberg in 2010 and 2011 but we all know how Rosberg held up against Hamilton so Schumachers 2012 pace was no joke and I'd think Rosberg is slightly a tougher teammate than Ocon (who I rate very highly too)

On the contrary. Lewis's success can be directly tied to the work Michael put into Mercedes. The question you need to ask - if Michael stayed, would he have won?

Great video Aldas!

Man that Schumi-Todt-Brawn combo/trio was something else

Such a shame what happened to Michael, he could have continued making contributions to the sport in a backroom or management role. Not to mention, I bet Mick wishes his dad was able to give him tips and work with him.

That Valencia 2012 podium was one of the greatest driver line-ups.

What ru talking about mate? MSc came back to rebuilt the Mercedes team on Ross Brawn's request (who is a great friend). Just like the pair did with Ferrari back in 1996. He was a second driver, not expecting to win any championships. The fruit of the 3-year labor was evident in 2013 when Lewis got a seat in the 2nd best car on the grid. And to put it to bed, despite the 7WC, Lewis is nowhere near Michael in terms of racing skills.

I agree with a lot of this video except the conclusion .. it was not a failed comeback nor did it tarnish his legacy, if anything it enhanced it and showed everyone a different and more human side to Michael. Over his three years there were two things that consistently kept improving. His performance and the performance of the Mercedes car. Had it not been for reliability in 2012 we would have probably had a couple of more podiums and maybe even a win. I still think however his job was to set the team in the right direction and recent history is the proof that his contribution succeeded.. only difference between what he did in his previous teams and merc was that he was too old to reap the fruits of the hard work done in the come up years.

Love the content mate

i was happy to see Micheal as a driver again cause when he left f1 i was too little to know whats happening

Even if the results left something to be desired, I love the fact that Michael got to end his career with the brand that brought him to Formula 1 in the first place - Mercedes paid for his debut with Jordan at Spa 1991, and I believe the plan was originally for Michael to then work on the Sauber-Mercedes F1 project, had he not been immediately signed by Benetton after his debut.

On a small side note. Masa’s crash is devastating. Massa was and still is incredibly talented, but I don’t think he ever fully recovered from that crash in 2009.

Mercedes brought Michael to Mercedes for one/two reasons: to properly kickstart the Mercedes factory team and immediately reap the advertisement benefits [for Merc]. He did just that. It's no coincidence Mercedes had two German drivers at the time. But from a sportive perspective it was a failure.

The sad thing is it that the Mercedes W03 was actually very good. However, Schumi just could not produce

I would say Michael return has shown how much he fundamentally understands how teams need to develop and win. It was a new team in essence with Brawn GP onwards. Michael’s feedback on every aspect is not seen today from drivers. He changed the atmosphere from a workplace to a family. Ross would have known how to tap into all these attributes to bring Mercedes into a winning team.

Awesome video as always! But I heard some stuff around articles and forums saying that Montezemolo actually forced Michael out of the team. Further into it Montezemolo gave Michael a dilemma of either racing beside Kimi in 2007 but replacing Massa, or retiring to allow Massa to retain his seat - Which he of course did. Thoughts?

We will always have that ghost pole lap in Monaco and the podium at Valencia from the middle of the grid.

Comparing Alonso to anyone is unfair.. It’s a shame Alpine has sabotaged Alonso this year

I never really understand the "rotate the car" until I saw 8:26

Great video!

even if you hated him even just hearing when he say at some point you have to say good bye just makes me want to cry as you could clearly see that as much as he loved and competed in the sport you could just see how he was starting to get to old for the sport with his age slowly starting to take its toll with the energy and reflex and concentration levels ect slowly starting to get worse and worse hence alot of the reason why he keep on constantly making loads of silly/clumsy mistakes ect towards the end and even he knew it and pretty much admitted it in the end and retired for good but the sad thing is is that sometimes it unfortunately doesnt matter how badly you want something or how hard you try it doesn't always work out the way you want it

"At some time, it's good to say goodbye, and this time it might be forever" This part make my eyes very wet to be honest...

I thought this too wayback then. But when the netflix docu came out, he came back to have fun and develop the team, without the pressure of winning and chasing titles.

He still played a part in developing the most dominant team (Merc) beating his achievement with ferrari.

0:13 7 World Championships and that's the bLaCK aNd wHiTE stats Real smooth Aldas, real smooth

12:45 I really like your stuff and almost never disagree, but Bruno Senna was driving like an idiot lap after lap blocking Michael. He didn't deserve that penalty and he easily would have won Monaco again. I am glad you pointed out his one-handed driving and brake adjusting, almost no one was doing that. The best part of the Monaco lap and his 3 seasons was when Ross came on the radio and said, "What a little star!" If Micheal would have stayed one more year, I would have given him even odds against Nico for the title. If one looked over his entire career, I dare anyone to find anything where Micheal negatively criticized the team, teammates, sponsors, or even tire suppliers. Aldas is right in pointing out how crucial Micheal was in putting Mercedes into winning form.

in retrospective I see how his job with Mercedes was more related to the development of the car for the 2014 regulations, specifically for the v6 turbo parallel mgu hybrid that they pushed in negotiations and Nikki lauda admitted began its development around 2007. He did a great job on that! if McLaren hadn't flopped in 2013 probably the plan of German team and German driver championships dominance would have come true. BTW I love how just by the driving style you can identify wich merc in the video is Schumachers.

I think that part of the reason for it being perceived as a failure is due to the fact that the Press had unrealistic expectations of what he could do. Michael Schumacher was 41 when he returned to F1 in 2010 and hadn't driven an F1 car competitively since 2006, only driving F1 cars occasionally until 2008. What's more, the team he was joining in 2010, Mercedes, wasn't the off the shelf title contender Mercedes expected after purchasing the championship winning Brawn GP outfit. Although Nico Rosberg was able to show what the MGP W01 was capable of on its good days, scoring 2 podiums in the first 4 races (Malaysia and China), Michael didn't get close to the podium all year. Although the pace difference between them closed in 2011, Mercedes slipped further from the ultimate pace and although Rosberg achieved a breakthrough pole and win in China in 2012 and Schumacher set the fastest time in Q3 in Monaco and recorded a podium in Valencia, it was apparent that Mercedes were slipping even further down the order, they were 5th in the Constructors Championship by the end of 2012, sowing the seeds of the Press saying that the man signed on to replace Schumacher from 2013, a certain Lewis Hamilton, had killed his career. Long story short, although on paper it didn't come close to matching his achievements from his first career, Michael Schumacher certainly helped lay the foundations behind the scenes that helped Mercedes propel Lewis Hamilton to win 6 championships in the following 8 years

He was only there to build a championship winning car, and he did, thats not a failure.

My dream is to see Michael returns to the paddock, not as a driver, but as a Ferrari’s Team Principal to lead his son Mick and whoever his teammate could be to a new Ferrari’s glory, it could be a long way away, but Michael and Ferrari has been my childhood heroes who was seen on the face of car magazines at home more times than I could remember

Don't think you can compare schumi and alonso's comback. Alonso never stopped racing. He keept racing full time in other series. Schumacher stopped for 3 year. Any other athlete that takes a break that long will never be as sharp as they ones was especially at that age. Just my opinion

I have to disagree, I believe there was no better driver to have at Mercedes at the time to develop the team, just like he helped develop Ferrari in 1996, he helped Mercedes, he also helped polish Rosberg into the brilliant driver he was, not just the diamond in the rough that he was at Williams. I'm not gonna say he was at his peak or anything like that but I dont think it was all about the on track performance for him and Mercedes in that time

i find it very weird that people overlook what he did for the f1 safety

You did not say "another video in the baaaag" 😂

I was happy ,literally ,because i could watch him racing for 3 more years in F1 , but if you watch some videos of his technique with the Mercedes,it's amazing how he still had it in his 40s!

I respected him even more for coming back to help his German team at that age.. he knew full well he wouldn't be winning with Mercedes.. but he sure did build the most successful team of the first part of this century.. he had a very bad motor bike accident that did serious damage.. hardly a lingering neck injury.. great video though.. 👍 He wasn't the same driver though.. but you can't take three years off from F1 in late 30's.. he did great though..

12:10 I do believe that was the roll-bar he was adjusting, every driver was making brake bias adjustments were done on the steering wheel pretty early on in the 2000s, I want to say 02 or 03 but it may have been even earlier because drivers could adjust the tc since it was reintroduced in 01 but, in his famous pole lap that wasn't everyone had the roll-bar settings on their steering wheel except for Schumacher, when he left everyone was still using the same cockpit lever to make their balance changes & supposedly he struggled with doing that on the wheel and asked to go back to the old system. that could just be complete bs, can't remember where I had heard that and I don't have in-depth knowledge of Mercedes car design like that lol. just finished the video and I am so glad someone finally said it: Michael's role at Mercedes was misinterpreted by the fanbase imo, I think he and Brawn knew that he was too old to really come back in and dominate/be a semi regular contender for podiums but his knowledge and experience was crucial for Merc's later success, their 2013 car was their peak in the V8 era and had the Hybrids come in 2015 they likely could have been something of a challenger to RedBull. people overlook his developmental role & that by the tail end of 2011 Mercedes f1 was on course to overtaking McLaren for 2nd best. plus the F1 world knew the hybrid's were coming since 2010, when Nico & Lewis would go on to dominate with a hybrid system that Schumacher aided the development of but people entirely overlook one of the most critical pieces to Mercedes' success, many of them Mercedes fans, it's a bit mind numbing tbh.

Michael new on his return it was not all about the car, Ross Brawn wanted the staff too become a team just as Michael managed to do with Ferrari, Ross pointed out it takes time to build a team from lots of individuals and Michael was good at that, So he was not only a fantastic driver but a good team builder.

I remember that he was quite fast still, but lacked focus, was a bit reckless and aggressive, and was also quite unlucky.

It wasn't quite the comeback that I think he was expecting - I was expecting him to have a very similar experience to Niki Lauda at McLaren, but never the less he got a pole(taken away for a penalty) and a podium. He still had some of the magic of his past.

Great video

In terms of raw speed and hunger Schumi was already on decline in 2006 because he did had a car capable of winning that year ,but he didn’t won..but then again its normal because he was 37 at that time ..Just to see that he scored pole in monaco 43 years of age for me is nuts ..what he demonstrate from 93-04 is unmatched to this day..

he is still a legend in my heart

The real reason Schumacher left was that technology was removed from the car and the driver had to do more of the work not on the tech. Hence failure on comeback.

I think while Michael was not as fast nor consistent it depended more on the tires than anything else for me as he never had to drive around tires in his career except for 05. I think 2012 qualfying stats still shows his speed

He slowly get used to the car over the years. 2012 was really strong but not being lucky made it look like Rosberg was the better driver that year

Wasn't there a clause in his Sauber-Mercedes Sportscar contract before he entered F1 that said he had to drive for Mercedes-Benz if they returned as a works team?

Random fun fact: Michael Schumacher is the most unsuccessful driver for Mercedes till date. How the times change man

Teams do not develop the cars around drivers but around performance

He brought in the talent, money and experience to build that team into what it is today. And you call it a failure. I looked passed the takes your channel had on all the cheap f1 drama this year, but this is just insulting his legacy.

Well, when they set up the car for Michael, he did outperformed Rosberg so if they had a car to their liking I think the gap would have been closer or even maybe Michael would have outperformed Nico.

Another thing is the tires - Michael never drove the new spec tires, either pirellis or Bridgestones

On pure results, he lost some speed, but also had reliability issues. The new regs with refuelling bans, move to Pirellis and the v8 Merc engines did not gel with Schu's driving style. The car had a lot of understeer, which suited Rosberg's style and predecessor Button's liking. I will say he clashed with Kimi and there are people believed he played with a role in changing the suspension settings to suit Massa for 2008, whilst Ferrari were chasing Alonso and that sweet Santander money.

4:12. Who were nervous among the 2 all new Merc drivers, Nico or Schumacher? Nico knew if he failed to compete with Schumacher his career would be DOOM.

On the contrary, pole in Monaco at the age of 42 in a inferior car, fighting for P4 in the Constructors Championship, made him living legend more than a title with Ferrari did.

Because Nico was much better than everybody expected.

His old neck injury was also still an issue.

Really not important, but I think in the swimming pool section Michael wasn't adjusting the break balance, but rather seemed to be accessing the F-duct to gain a bit more speed on the exit.

The problem was that he was just too old I guess. Alonso only now is as old as Schumi was at his comeback and he has raced over 1 and a half years again since his comeback. At the same time he still raced on the highest level at his 2 years away from F1 and didn't have an injury that prevented him from a comeback at one point. Also Ocon is beating him this year and he isn't as good as Rosberg was probably. Kimi at Michael's age drove at the back of the grid and was more like head to head with Giovinazzi someone maybe only the fewest think is a top tier driver when time past on. The drivers have said as well that todays cars are slugish compared to when Michael still drove. His body just wasn't up for the task anymore. Let's see how Fernando does the next 2 or maybe even 3 years.

F1 is a young mans game. Watching those years was like watching Jordan on the wizards. He wasn't bad, his body was just incapable of competing with young fast guys. It happens to all drivers who get older. The reaction times start to slip away and it becomes about keeping what you have rather than getting faster.

HAM's mercedes titles: Powered by MSC...

Tbh that Monaco pole was truly special and showed that Michael was still Michael. He just didn’t have the tools to do the job at Mercedes and in that car. There’s no doubt in my mind that if Michael bare fruit the work he did with Ross Brawn, Lauda and eventually Wolfe at Mercedes Benz AMG Petronas, he would have dominated the hybrid era. He wasn’t in his physical prime but more than adequate enough to match any driver on the grid. Michael was supreme that lap and found ways to switch his brake bias settings that defy belief. At his age. In that car.

On more than one occasion Norbert Haug said Mercedes wouldnt be where they are 'now' (at LH's dominant phase) without MSC's time with the team. Thats NOT a failure.

I get to see Schumacher racing for 3 more years in a team full of people who admire him and he gets to do what he loves, for me it was never a failure

Can we admit. Seb Vettel is going to be making a comeback in 2026

Drivers in this position never get to see the rewards of their invaluable input. Not only Schumacher, but think of David Coulthard bringing his knowledge of the workings of McLaren to a fledgling RedBull, and now Sebastian Vettel bringing RedBull and Ferrari knowledge to Aston Martin (I'm talking operational knowledge, not intellectual property). If Aston Martin become successful in the next couple of years, Sebastian's time there will be largely disregarded but will remain highly influential.

Honestly throughout this period I just wanted him to have a good car as he was my hero growing up