Fry sure of Schumacher's abilities

Date published : 16 Jun 2010 - 13:18:43

Mercedes GP CEO Nick Fry is adamant Michael Schumacher will come good following fierce criticism of his latest performance.

After Schumacher qualified a season-low 13th ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday, the seven-times world champion then endured a torrid race.

"We're very comfortable with Michael's performance, and I can't see any reason why he won't come good," he said.

The 41-year-old was initially involved in a tangle across the grass with Renault's Robert Kubica, suffering a puncture that forced him into another pit stop a lap after making his first.

Later in the race Schumacher escaped punishment from the stewards for an incident with Ferrari's Felipe Massa, his friend and former team-mate.

Somewhat humiliatingly, Schumacher was passed by Sebastien Buemi in his Toro Rosso, and on the final lap by both Force Indias of Tonio Liuzzi and Adrian Sutil, dropping him out of the points to 11th as he struggled on the softer tyres that had degraded badly.

BBC pundits Martin Brundle, Eddie Jordan and David Coulthard then lined up to give Schumacher a hammering, the former in particular claiming he drove "appallingly badly," in what was his "worst weekend since he came back".

Fry, naturally defending the star," said: "I'm surprised people have reached those conclusions. He was in a good position until the puncture, but when something like that happens, you get out of sequence.

"We also put him on the option tyre slightly earlier than we maybe should have done, otherwise he would have been able to defend better than he did. But certainly from inside the team we see things in a totally different perspective.

"We don't really see any significant difference in performance between Nico (team-mate Rosberg) and Michael - one is getting the breaks and the other isn't at the moment. He continues to improve, and he is going make a good job of it."