Schumacher lagging behind GP2 youngsters
9 June 2010
Michael Schumacher has a Formula 1 back catalogue that is the envy of the paddock. Seven world championships, 91 wins and almost every record going.
None of those impressive statistics have helped him since he entered the Castrol Rankings this year though following a three-year exodus from the sport.
The 41-year-old German has yet to finish on the podium since joining the revived Mercedes team and currently lies 142nd in the Castrol Rankings.
The seven-times World Champion currently finds himself behind 12 of the front-runners in the GP2 Series - certainly not where he expected to be at this stage.
The highest-ranked of the GP2 contingent currently is iSport's Davide Valsecchi. Despite not having the greatest of starts to his campaign, the Italian lies 46th largely down to his title success in GP2 Asia.
GP2's next best is ART's Jules Bianchi, who, like Valsecchi, owes much of his current 52nd place in the Castrol Rankings to his exploits outside of the Formula 1 feeder series.
Third among the drivers is Arden's Charles Pic, who has come up from 193rd at the start of the year to 82nd. He is the highest-ranked driver to have won a GP2 main series race this year - his debut win at Barcelona helping his Castrol Rankings position considerably.
Three other GP2 drivers lie inside the top 100 this week. They are iSport's Oliver Turvey (93), Addax's promising young Mexican Sergio Perez (98), and Sam Bird (99), who was so impressive in carving his way through the field at Barcelona and looks like he could even eclipse his much-hyped ART team-mate Bianchi this year.
Interestingly, series leader Pastor Maldonado, 120th in the Castrol Rankings, is only 10th among the GP2 field, and behind Dani Clos (109), Giedo van der Garde (110) and Christian Vietoris (114), despite having won at Istanbul recently.
Rounding out the 12 are Marcus Ericsson (137) and Max Chilton (140), the Ocean Racing Technology man lying two places ahead of Schumacher.
Expect the great German to make significant progress against them at Montreal this weekend, as the GP2 boys enjoy a break in their calendar before getting back to business at Valencia.
Even a top 10 finish will elevate him 20 places. A podium would take him to the fringes of the top 100. Okay, so it probably won't happen, but this is Michael Schumacher, don't forget. And he wasn't that far off in Turkey. Write him off at your peril.
The Castrol Rankings is based on drivers' measurable performance over the last 12 months, including everything from their grid position to fastest laps. For further information on how the Castrol Rankings scores are calculated, click here.
