Michael Schumacher's Mercedes boss leapt to his defence on Saturday after pundits panned the seven-times Formula One world champion's performance in Canada last weekend.Mercedes GP chief executive Nick Fry told Reuters at the British motorcycling grand prix that the 41-year-old German, making his comeback after three seasons out, did not deserve the criticism directed at him."The drivers I think have both done an excellent job despite what I understand has been said about Michael," said the Briton."It's not something I or any of us would subscribe to. He's been an absolutely fantastic team member, he and Nico (Rosberg) work very closely together, he pushes the team very hard and he's a great influence on the team."We thought he drove a pretty good race (in Montreal) and I was somewhat surprised to hear that he got a bit of a pasting because that certainly wasn't our view," added the former Brawn GP boss.Schumacher collected a puncture and then struggled with his tyres in Canada, finishing 11th.He almost drove Renault's Robert Kubica off the track in one clash and slowed so suddenly in front of former Ferrari team mate Felipe Massa that the Brazilian hit the back of the Mercedes.'A SHOCKER'Former racer Martin Brundle, who was Schumacher's team mate at Benetton in 1992 and now commentates for BBC television, told viewers that it was the worst grand prix he had seen the winner of 91 races drive."If he were a new boy we'd be saying he's not ready for Formula One, he's not good enough," he added.Eddie Jordan, who gave Schumacher his grand prix debut with his now-defunct team in Belgium in 1991, described the former champion's race as a "shocker"."He is fighting an uphill battle and it's not working," the BBC paddock pundit said. "He's not used to it. He always had a very dominant position and he was brilliant in that capacity but he is now flawed. This was a flawed race for him."Fry, wearing a borrowed blue FIAT Yamaha team jacket as a guest of Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo's championship-leading team who have a common sponsor with Mercedes F1 in Malaysian oil giant Petronas, dismissed that."Michael has continued to improve and it's been a fascinating experience inside the team to see the evolution of Michael," he said."Obviously he was a bit rusty when he started at the beginning of the year and every race he grows in confidence."The nice thing is how well he's fitted into the team. I think we've got a very harmonious team attitude and approach and he's contributing towards that. The guys absolutely love him and I'm optimistic for the future."Schumacher is ninth in the championship after eight races, 40 points behind sixth-placed team mate Rosberg. The older German has yet to appear on the podium this season.Mercedes are fourth overall, 53 points behind Ferrari and 107 adrift of leaders McLaren.Despite the considerable gap, Fry said the team had not given up hopes of successfully defending the constructors' title won last year in their previous existence as Brawn GP under team principal Ross Brawn."I think the points difference is reasonable, there's a more generous allocation of points for each grand prix now and we are certainly not giving up," he said."We've got some improvements for Valencia (next week's European Grand Prix in Spain) and other improvements beyond that and if nothing else we need to continue to improve so that we are in a good position next year."I think catching McLaren and Red Bull will be difficult but not impossible and I think we are in with a chance with Ferrari," added Fry."If we are not in the top three in the championship this year we are going to be very disappointed because the team has got the capability and the skill to do that."(Editing by Tony Jimenez. To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)News posted by www.newsinfoline.com
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