Bernie Ecclestone has admitted disappointment with Michael Schumacher’s return to formula one.

After his disappointing performance season last year, there were high hopes an improved Mercedes car and the new Pirelli tyres would lead to a more successful campaign in 2011.

Asked about the seven time world champion’s return so far, Ecclestone told the Swiss newspaper Blick: “I am surprised and disappointed.

“I would like to see him in a Red Bull because you don’t know how good the Mercedes is. Compared to his teammate Rosberg, it (Schumacher’s performance) doesn’t look good.

“But Michael is a fighter and he can still win. I’ll be the first to cheer when he beats Vettel,” the Briton laughed.

Schumacher, 42, admitted after a fraught event in Turkey two weeks ago that he is currently missing “the big joy” of F1.

Some commentators are advising the German to return to retirement, moving 1992 world champion Nigel Mansell to admit: “If things haven’t improved by the end of the year, maybe what some people are saying he should take heed.”

The German tabloid Express has this week even quoted a doctor as speculating Schumacher might need glasses, but Mercedes’ Norbert Haug denies he is over the hill.

“I would not underestimate him or his ability. So far this year his true capabilities have been clear not in results, but in lap times — yes,” the German told Salzburger Nachrichten.

And team boss Ross Brawn is quoted as saying by Reuters: “I think he’s pretty resilient and I’m optimistic this weekend he’ll be back where we want him.”

It is not right to say Michael Schumacher’s return to formula one this year was a failure, his former championship rival Jacques Villeneuve insists.

The seven time world champion struggled with the Mercedes car alongside Nico Rosberg in 2010, but Villeneuve thinks Schumacher ultimately had the edge on his younger teammate.

“It was difficult for him until mid-season but by the end he was ahead of his teammate,” the French Canadian told French language autohebdo.fr.

Villeneuve, who beat Schumacher to the 1997 title, also thinks F1 fans have a rosy recollection of the great Schumacher.

“At Ferrari, he was one or two tenths ahead of his teammate but rarely more,” said the 39-year-old.

“Everyone thought he was going to be a second ahead of Rosberg, but it was never even like that in the past.”

Villeneuve also wanted to come back to F1 this year and he said he acknowledges the enormity of the challenge.

“It’s difficult,” he said. “I was away for six months (in 2004) and physically it was tough, and then you’re getting your bearings. The last tenth is hard to get back.”

Villeneuve also backs Schumacher’s claim that the 2010 Mercedes car was a main reason for his results this year.

“If the car didn’t suit him then that’s hard to resolve,” he said, “but at the end of the season he was there.”

In a new interview with CNN, Schumacher was asked whether he is risking his reputation by pushing ahead with an unsuccessful return to F1.

“I enjoy it. I feel I have the right to do what I enjoy. Whether I put in dispute my reputation … I just feel good about my decision and I have so much support from people,” said the German.

The design of Mercedes’ 2011 car is already in the wind tunnel and “more innovative” that its disappointing predecessor.

That is the claim of the German marque’s Norbert Haug, one day after team boss Ross Brawn admitted the W01 was designed too conservatively amid Brawn GP’s 2009 title challenge.

“The prototype of the new car is in the wind tunnel,” Haug told Bild am Sonntag newspaper. “It will be more innovative, the result of taking more risks.

“The development of the current car is finished, so our engineers have more time to perhaps pursue some ideas that initially might seen outlandish.

“At the same time, our competitors are designing their new cars for 2011 whilst still fighting hard for this world championship,” added Haug.

In the same interview, the German also scotched reports he is at loggerheads with Brawn.

Working in the same office as his British colleague in the team’s offices at Yeongam, Haug insisted: “Does it look as though we cannot work with one another?”

However, much more pressing is the speculation that – at the end of another disappointing season next year – the team’s parent Daimler might pull the plug.

“Absolutely not,” Haug insists. “We certainly do not intend to be in the midfield, but no one at Mercedes is talking about quitting.”

Brawn’s fight for survival affected the design process of the 2010 Mercedes car, according to Michael Schumacher.

Despite aiming for the world championship with the W01, Mercedes GP is a distant fourth in the constructors’ standings, a year after the same Brackley based team won the 2009 titles before being sold to the German marque.

“Ross (Brawn) was busy last year with quite a few other things, like securing the future of the team. So he could not fully concentrate on the development of the (2010) car,” Schumacher is quoted by Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

“I can live with the situation even if I am not happy about it,” added the seven time world champion. “We have to recognise the reasons.”

The Mercedes car is the reason for Michael Schumacher’s performance struggle in 2010.

That is the belief of F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone, when assessing the first half of the seven time world champion’s return season to F1 this year.

“He has found a much more difficult situation than he would have counted on,” the 79-year-old said in an interview with Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport.

“It’s not a question of him, but of the car. If Michael was sitting in the Red Bull, he would immediately be as he was before,” added the Briton.

Schumacher’s teammate Nico Rosberg told the German-language TV Movie: “The car is currently not fast enough.

“There are some things in the development that have not quite gone to plan.”

Mercedes is still working on its current car but has started to design the W01′s successor, team boss Ross Brawn has revealed.

Michael Schumacher, who is 75 points behind the championship leader Lewis Hamilton, said in Canada that his attention is now turning to 2011.

But while not denying that the next Mercedes car is now on the drawing boards at Brackley, Brawn said the team is not giving up on 2010.

“I think everybody is looking at their cars for 2011,” the Briton is quoted by France’s Auto Hebdo.

“But we still have various things to put on the W01 in the coming races.  We are not dropping this car, that’s for sure,” added Brawn.

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Jun.11 (GMM) Mercedes engines and F-ducts on Friday led the pace during opening practice for the Canadian grand prix.

As expected at the unique Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, it was the most powerful engine allied with the downforce-stalling ‘F-duct’ technology that looks the ideal package.

The four Mercedes-powered McLarens and Mercedes cars monopolised the top four positions at the end of the morning 90-minute session, with Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel just fifth.

“It is a circuit that should play to the advantage of the Mercedes-powered teams and the teams with the F-duct — and we have neither!” laughed team boss Christian Horner.

Mercedes, whose Michael Schumacher ran McLaren’s Jenson Button close for the fastest morning laptime, is believed to be running a more refined version of its F-duct system this weekend.

“When it works properly it is a very, very powerful tool — and we are persevering with it,” said team boss Ross Brawn.

Nico Rosberg insists he is not disappointed with the reversion to the newer long-wheelbase Mercedes car for the forthcoming Turkish grand prix.

After Michael Schumacher struggled with the original short-wheelbase car earlier in 2010, he was the team’s pacesetter in Barcelona, where a longer-wheelbase was introduced along with other car developments.

But for the twisty curves of Monaco, the original car is being used once again, and Rosberg has once again been in front of his famous teammate.

But for F1′s next stop in Istanbul, it has been confirmed that the newer car will be back in action.

Rosberg, however, insists it will not disadvantage him.

“Michael and I have the same driving style,” he told Germany’s Bild-Zeitung.

“Even if Ross Brawn wanted to make a car that only worked for Michael, it would also work for me,” insisted Rosberg.

(GMM)

May 6 (GMM)  One of the innovations on the Mercedes car for the Spanish grand prix is the abolishment of the traditional ‘airbox’.

The airbox – an inlet for the normally-aspirated engines – has traditionally been part of the roll-hoop structure immediately behind and above the drivers’ head.

But the rollover structure of the revised W01 is now sharp as a knife, with air to now be fed to the 2.4 litre V8 engine via two symmetrical inlets on either side of the engine cover.

Also spotted in the Barcelona pitlane on Thursday was Christian Klien, having his moulded seat and settings fitted to the HRT car usually belonging to Karun Chandhok.

The team’s newly-appointed third driver will hand the F110 car back to Indian Chandhok ahead of Friday’s afternoon practice session.

Meanwhile, in the paddock, Virgin’s new double-storey motor home won the race as the most impressive of F1′s three new teams.

Sauber has taken over BMW’s imposing paddock structure of 2009, while Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel walked behind the Circuit de Catalunya pits sporting a new haircut.

Also spotted on Thursday was Joan Villadelprat, who is hoping his Spanish Le Mans outfit Epsilon Euskadi will be given a green light to race in formula one next year.

Apr.30 (GMM)  Drivers’ and constructors’ championship leaders McLaren are also winning the race as F1′s most reliable team.

The British outfit, whose Jenson Button leads the drivers’ table by 10 points over Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg, completed every single lap with both MP4-25 cars at the initial Bahrain, Australian, Malaysian and Chinese grands prix.

In second place, a 100 per cent record for Ferrari was tarnished only by Fernando Alonso’s engine failure in the closing stages in Malaysia.

Red Bull is third with a 92.4 per cent finishing record in 2010, despite the RB6 appearing to have suffered from several reliability glitches so far.

In fact, Sebastian Vettel’s wheel nut problem in Melbourne was the team’s only DNF, while teammate Mark Webber has completed all four races within the top 9.

Similarly, only one Mercedes car – Michael Schumacher’s in China – has failed to reach the chequered flag, but the German team is fourth in the list with a 89.2 per cent record due the stoppage occurring early in the race.

Williams’ single DNF culminates in a 86 per cent reliability record because Nico Hulkenberg was taken out on the first lap in Australia.

Renault is sixth of the ten teams with 75.1 per cent, for while Robert Kubica has finished every race with the R30, rookie Vitaly Petrov’s first race finish was in China.

In Bahrain the Russian damaged the suspension by hitting a kerb too hard, in Melbourne he spun into the gravel, and in Malaysia he had to stop with a gearbox problem.

Impressively, the new team Lotus also has a 75 per cent finishing record, even though Jarno Trulli was not actually a classified finisher at Sepang because he was ten laps behind.

And in Melbourne, the Italian’s T127 was not even on the grid due to a pre-race hydraulics problem.

Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari has finished all the races, but teammate Sebastien Buemi was taken out on the first lap in both Australia and China — first by Kamui Kobayashi and then Vitantonio Liuzzi.

Force India is now increasingly mentioned as a serious F1 competitor, but its reliability record so far in 2010 is just 65.9 per cent.

Liuzzi crashed in China and had a throttle problem in Malaysia, while Adrian Sutil had a Ferrari engine problem in Melbourne.

HRT’s F1 career started badly with only one car crossing the line in the opening two races.

But the Dallara-built cars of Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhok both finished in Malaysia and China, giving the Spanish team a 65.2pc finishing record.

Virgin and Sauber are at the bottom of the pile, with Virgin achieving a mere 33.8pc reliability record with only Lucas di Grassi able to cross the line in Malaysia by aggressively saving fuel.

Sauber is last, with only Pedro de la Rosa recording a race finish in Melbourne for a reliability record of just 25.5 per cent.

“We’ve suffered too many reliability issues on both the chassis side and with our engines,” team founder Peter Sauber said on Thursday.

“That’s very unusual — we’ve always been one of the best teams in this respect over the years.

“We’ve closely analysed all the chassis-related problems and already put measures into effect.  Our engine partner Ferrari is doing the same,” he added.