Michael Schumacher had returned to Formula 1 for one final stint and had teamed up with Mercedes and Rosberg for the same.
A lot of pundits felt that Michael was walking on thin ice while doing so, as he was putting his legacy at stake by making a comeback.
And that premonition proved out to be true, as Schumacher could not add to his 91 wins in F1 and managed to get just a solitary podium finish in his time with Mercedes.
However, his time there was worth it for his fans, those who wanted to see him in action again and for Mercedes, as they benefitted massively from Schumacher’s inputs and the kind of pressure that he put on the Mercedes officials.
We've loved celebrating Michael @schumacher's birthday week with you all
To wrap up, we have a special episode of Beyond The Grid with one of his closest allies – his manager, Sabine Kehm 🎙
Listen in here >> https://t.co/8aSUJ33pef#KeepFightingMichael #Michael50 pic.twitter.com/RDb17ytvCq
— Formula 1 (@F1) January 9, 2019
An absolute must listen too for any F1 fan. Best Podcast series on motorsport by far. Looking forward to the new season of #F1BeyondTheGrid in March 2019. LH to start and Ross / Sabine to conclude 2018 season/ MSC 50th were podcast gold. Thanks Tom and the F1 beyond the grid team
— krishnaramdeen8 (@krishnaramdeen8) January 9, 2019
Ever since, Schumacher’s departure, Mercedes domination has been all over the F1 world, with Mercedes winning 5 back-to-back titles in the last 5 years.
In the recent Beyond the Grid F1 podcast, Kehm pointed out how Schumacher played a massive role in helping Mercedes reach where it is today.
“Very quickly it became very clear that it would not turn out the way that he had hoped for because, in the first year, the resources were not really there and it was clear that they would not be given as well.” Kehm said.
“So that was obviously a little bit disappointing but then at some point it was [decided] ‘we have to cope with it and have to go on’ and I think Michael fought a lot to convince the right people to really give more money into it and really make it a big team again.
“He really made it very clear that if you want to do it you have to do it really full throttle.” she added.
Kehm went onto speak about how the decision about Michael’s comeback was made and how Mercedes came into being, as they were a midfield team then and were not really operating as a top team.
“At the beginning it was a bit undecided, we came back but not really, and they were kind of operating a little bit as a middle team and not really as a top team.
“I think the way that Michael kind of addressed this to some people helped them to really see that it makes no sense to do it like this.
“Already in his last year, you could see that the things were coming and coming and it was quite obvious also to him that if he had stayed another year, that would already be a much better year for him as well.” Kehm concluded.
