Formula One Season Preview – Can Schumacher Win Again?

The 2010 Formula One season is just around the corner and a host of questions are bubbling to the surface. A major one has to do with the return the dominant force in Formula One for the last 15 years. Yes, Michael Schumacher is back. The question is whether he can win again and to what extent?

Schumacher is the seven time world champion that people either love or hate. Hyper competitive, he has been known to not only cross the line during his career, but run perpendicular to it! In truth, this pretty much seems to be the case for all World Champions as we’ve seen with Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and even Jenson Button to a small extent.


Schumacher returns after three years in retirement during which he “consulted” with Ferrari, a relationship that nobody seemed to really understand. He returns with the Brawn team, which has been renamed Mercedes with the manufacturer bailing on McLaren to sign up with Ross Brawn. The Brawn car was the dominant car early last season before the Red Bull vehicle caught up. The question is whether it will be dominant this year?

The drivers are celebrated wildly in Formula One, but even the most ardent supporter has to admit the championships come down to the car. Schumacher was champion when Ferrari was dominant and ran around the back of the field when they were not. One needs look no farther than the season Lewis Hamilton had last year after winning the world championship. The McLaren was an embarrassment and he drove around the back of the field for much of the season.



All of this raises the question of how the Brawn/Mercedes will perform this year. Was the team a one year wonder or not? With Ross Brawn in charge, it certainly seems that the team will be competitive. That being said, preseason testing has suggested the team will not had the early advantage it did in 2009. What will this mean for Schumacher? Well, I’ll go out on a limb and predict he wins a race or two, but another championship will not be in the cards. Still, his place is set in history so perhaps he will get more joy out of this second go around.

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