Ferrari is in deep trouble if it tries to employ the services of one of its former champions, but without success.
Is it just me or does anyone else think that this season is starting to look like 1992 for Ferrari? They had Niki Lauda as an advisor at that time.
It's not that bad yet.
When you see Ferrari mechanics drinking wine in the pits again, then worry.
But I agree that since Schumacher, Todt and Brawn left Ferrari as driver/strategist/mastermind combination, there is certainly a widening intelligence gap.
None of the current team members has the talent or the abilities to shape a winning team - which is what Schumacher did, when he joined Ferrari. He came to Ferrari from Benetton, having won the championship twice before.
Back then Ferrari was a loser team. Schumacher wanted to make Ferrari great again. He could have had it a lot easier and probably wouldn't have won only 7 but rather 10 championships, if he stayed with Benetton at the time.
Which other world champion would freely go to a weaker team after winning two championships? Alonso? R?ik?nnen? Hamilton? Gimme a break.
Which other top driver would put his heart and soul into turning a downtrodden racing team into a winning team against all odds? Let's face it: Most drivers are basically mercenaries who drive for the one who pays most and/or promises the best opportunities to win races. Driver and team are two different entities in most teams and lack the symbiotic relationship of the Schumacher/Ferrari combination.
Schumacher could have failed greatly with Ferrari and buried his career with it. But he didn't. He believed in what he was doing pulled it off. You have to be aware of that in order to understand why Ferrari rose like Phoenix from the ashes after Schumacher joined the team. No other driver in the current field has these abilities nor the personality.
Ferrari is currently still taking profit from the legacy of the Schumacher gang. Everything Ferrari is today, is based on Michael Schumacher. Not only in the racing sector but also the success and clear improvement of the sports car section of the company since the early 1990's is built on his success.
But with the Schumi team gone and Schumacher only working as an "adviser" now, Ferrari has lost the secret of its success and starts to slowly erode again.