– Current Formula E driver Sam Bird spoke about his time with Michael Schumacher at Mercedes, highlighting the special strengths of the seven-time world champion. The Brit, who was a reserve driver at Mercedes in 2010, gained direct insight into Schumacher’s comeback at that time.
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Bird still believes today that the greatest strength of the German driver was how he worked with people. “Michael, first of all, what a guy,” Bird says in an interview with YouTuber Lucas Stewart. “What I learned from Michael was not necessarily how he drove; it was how he worked with people.”
“His ability to organize the team around him, to work with people, to be friendly but also to be firm when he needed to be,” adds the then Mercedes reserve driver. “I think that’s probably the most important thing I took away from working with him.”
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“He was really good at creating a good team environment. And that’s probably the most important insight from that experience.” Michael Schumacher returned to Formula 1 for the 2010 season after having retired from the top class for the first time at the end of the 2006 season.
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Schumacher was “brilliant in all interpersonal matters”
The record world champion then stayed with Mercedes until the end of 2012 before being replaced by Lewis Hamilton. The German is credited with having shaped the team into a form that later led to the multiple world championship successes of the Brit.
“Nico Rosberg was his teammate, and Nico was really good at car setup and knowing numbers and data about the car and knowing where he wanted to have the car. Michael was good at that too, but also brilliant in all interpersonal matters,” Bird recalls about working with the German Formula 1 legend.
“And I think you already saw that at Ferrari, how much they loved him, and he then brought that to Mercedes. So it was the respect he rightly had within the team. It was that presence. It was that aura when he entered the room, and everyone knew when Michael said something, it carried weight.”
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