Return to form for Schu depends on Pirelli - Brawn

Whether Michael Schumacher can return to full competitiveness next year depends in part on Pirelli.

That is the opinion of his team boss Ross Brawn, as the seven time world champion struggles in 2010 with the performance of Bridgestone’s tyre.

Schumacher is hoping to challenge for the 2011 title with a more competitive Mercedes, but Brawn warned: "It depends on how good the Pirelli tyre is in terms of how he (Michael) can respond in the steering movements."

However, Brawn told Auto Motor und Sport that the Brackley based team has been working this year to reinforce its staff in the area of car/tyre interaction.

"We have also had access to the experts at Daimler-Benz," he said, indicating that the team’s situation is better now than when it was privately owned a year ago.

"Back then we had to rebuild our team while fighting for the world title. Those are problems we have not had this time," said Brawn.