‘Michael Schumacher did things that weren’t very nice – he had a very edgy side’ | F1 | Sport

Michael Schumacher’s former Mercedes race engineer, Jock Clear, has said that there was a very edgy side to the seven-time Formula 1 world champion. Clear now coaches Charles Leclerc at Ferrari but worked with the German during his final seasons in the sport following his comeback from retirement.

Schumacher returned to F1 after a three-year hiatus but failed to replicate his earlier triumphs. He led the field for only three laps and was unable to add to his then-record tally of 91 race victories but the German did secure a podium finish once more, for the 155th time, which extended that record mark.

Clear recalls of what it was like to work with Schumacher. The performance engineer spoke to Betpack about his experiences, saying of the legendary racing driver: “His way of dealing with people… it’s not as simple as just being, ‘he was such a nice guy’.

“There were things about Michael that weren’t very nice. There were times when he could be not a very nice guy. He had a very edgy side to his character when he wanted to, and we saw that in the cockpit a few times. But he had a very engaging character, where when he wanted to get people on side, he knew how to do it.”

Clear recalls using Schumacher as an example to follow for his Mercedes teammate, Nico Rosberg. He said: “When I engineered Nico Rosberg in 2010, Michael was on the other side of the garage. Nico and Michael were very different. Nico was offered a place at Imperial (College London) to do engineering, so he had a very good engineering background.

“There were lots of places where Michael was quicker than Nico. And Nico would look at the data with me, and he’d say, ‘What’s Michael doing here? What’s he doing here? Why?’ And there were times when I felt like saying to Nico, ‘close the laptop and just sit and look at the man.

“‘Listen to him and listen to how he talks to people, and watch him, watch his body language.’ I said to Nico that ‘what you’re not getting is how well Michael engaged with people and how well everybody wanted to be on Michael’s car. Everybody wanted Michael to win. Everybody wanted Michael to be their best mate.

“He just engendered that sort of support, naturally. There was nothing forced about it. He wasn’t calculated about it; he was just a very engaging character, and in a very competitive environment, that’s the kind of thing that makes a difference.”