Ross Brawn has said that he cannot draw comparisons between his two drivers at Mercedes GP.
Nico Rosberg has generally had the upper hand over his seven-time champion team mate since Schumacher’s comeback, but Schumacher showed in Canada that he has lost none of his ability to deliver a clever drive.
But in a long interview with Andrew Benson published on the BBC website, their boss Ross Brawn refused to draw a direct comparison between the two.
“Nico is a reference that’s in a little bit of a vacuum because he has not come up against the strongest drivers on a regular basis in the past. But he has matured and improved a lot over the last couple of years, so he’s a very strong reference.
“You can play that comparison game any way you like. Where is Michael compared to where he was? Is the fact that Nico outqualifies him more often than not a demonstration that Michael is a bit slower than he was or that Nico is an exceptionally quick driver?
“Who knows? I don’t have any way of calculating that equation. It’s a comparison in a vacuum.”
Brawn’s theme, expressed throughout, was that the car was not yet at the level for the drivers to produce competitive speed.
“All I do know is if we get the car better we’ve got two drivers who can produce the results. It’s down to us to improve the car and give them that opportunity.”
