Since the start of the season Schumacher and his team maintained that the narrower Bridgestone front tyres was the main problem for him. Mercedes GP also admitted to miscalculating the weight distribution of the car, a crucial factor since from the 2010 season cars would start with fuel loads for the entire race. While they tried to rectify the problem with a longer wheel base it didn't solve their problems.
The exhaust blown diffuser and the F-duct were the biggest innovations of the last season. Mercedes did have a fair share of problems with their version of the exhaust blown diffuser. With the hot air from the exhaust now channelized to blow on to the rear diffuser, the rear tyres tend to heat up much faster causing faster degradation. Often Schumacher found himself struggling with tyres during the later half of the race.
Bridgestone exited from Formula 1 at the end of 2010 and Pirelli takes over as the sole supplier of F1 tyres for the next three years. After the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix teams got a taste of the new tyres in a two day test session. After the tests Schumacher did seem satisfied with the new tyres, but did warn that everything would depend on how the 2011 Mercedes adapts to the new tyres.
2011 does promise to be better for Schumacher and there are many factors contributing to that.
Firstly way back in 2006 when Schumacher left the sport, tyres in Formula 1 were grooved. Yes Schumacher did race with slicks but never with Bridgestone tyres. Formula 1 mandated grooved tyres in 1998 when Ferrari were with Goodyear at that time. Agreed that Schumacher had to face the same situation as many other rookies like Hulkenberg, Petrov and he hasn't fared much better. One would have expected a seven time world champion to have adapted much faster. While we are not trying to give the same old argument of a 3 year gap, Schumacher has been known for an aggressive driving style and has an aggressive turn into into the corners which demands quite a bit from the front tyres. This has been his style since 1991 to 2006. While he might have to change his driving style a bit, he might want it the other way around. One which he is more comfortable. Change the car to suit his driving style rather than the other way round and only think former option only in 2011.
Mercedes decided quite early that there wasn't much for them in 2010. The way they were placed they were comfortably ahead of Renault and know they couldn't catch Ferrari. Their updates for races reduced towards the later half of the season and their focus shifted to 2011 quite early. 2011 has new regulations the main ones are - the flexible rear wing and the reintroduction of KERS. Mercedes now have a jump start ahead of their rivals which they definitely need. In 2010 Mercedes operated with a reduced workforce when compared to McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari due to the new restrictions on the personnel size in F1 from 2011. While other teams might take to the workforce reduction slowly till that time they would still have an advantage over Mercedes in terms of development.
Another aspect in Schumacher's favour is that now he has worked with the team for an year. At Ferrari he would have know everything inside out having been with the team for more than ten years. While Mercedes claim that they are not building a car around Schumacher at least his inputs and needs are taken into consideration early in the design of the car.
And his not so exciting performances at the beginning and the criticism from the media would have worked for him rather than against him. Everyone would have expected him to blaze through the field when the news of his comeback was confirmed and Schumacher himself would have thought of better performances. Admittedly he has more pressure to perform this year, but the ground reality of the 2010 season would have given him time to take a step back and refocus his efforts for the next two years. Already in the later part of the season he has stepped up to match his team mate if not better him one which was seen his qualifying performances in the last few races notably Brazil. A year of driving in F1 is certainly helpful.
But Schumacher would know and everyone should understand that Mercedes is still not on the same level as Ferrari, McLaren or Red Bull. So expecting Schumacher to clinch his eight title in 2011 or even fighting for the championship would still be asking for too much. Mercedes and Schumacher would however be targeting for wins and and a few podiums this year. Probably 2012 would be his year for the eighth world title but 2011 could be good.
