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Schumacher's return vindicated by strong Merecdes - Haug

Norbert Haug is confident Michael Schumacher will be back at the top soon © Sutton Images

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Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug believes his team's new found form vindicates Michael Schumacher's decision to return to the sport with the Silver Arrows.

Nico Rosberg won the Chinese Grand Prix at the weekend and Schumacher was running second until he retired with a loose wheel nut following a pit stop. Haug believes a Mercedes one-two was possible and is confident Schumacher will be back in the top three soon.

"It was a real shame for Michael - he had earned his place on the podium," Haug said. "But it will come, and now everybody who at some point criticised the decision can see how important, and how right, it is to have Michael Schumacher in our team.

"Michael has out-qualified Nico at two of three races this year, and Nico won yesterday. What's more, there's a nice trend to his grid positions so far in 2012: fourth in Australia, third in Malaysia, second in China."

Haug also praised Mercedes and underlined that it is still a young team operating on relatively modest budget.

"We want to continue improving, keep our feet on the ground and avoid making any unnecessary waves - there are already more than enough of those in Formula One," he added. "What I particularly liked was that the whole world joined us in celebrating the first win for our young team. Daimler spends less than half the sum on Formula One than it did five years ago and we have nevertheless managed to build a winning team. The victory on Sunday will only push us to get even better."

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