There was a worrying moment in the final qualifying session for the Malaysian Grand Prix this morning, when Michael Schumacher was top of the pile in wet conditions. I feared that rain was the catalyst he needed to rediscover his old form, and he was finally ‘back’. But no! He ended up qualifying 8th, with his team mate Nico Rosberg in 2nd.

It’s interesting to look back at Schumacher’s official quotes from qualifying and races so far this year. He was “satisfied” with qualifying 7th in Bahrain, a couple of places behind Rosberg; he “had fun” in the race and could “live very well” with finishing a place behind Rosberg in 6th. Schumacher qualified 7th again in Australia, a place behind Rosberg, which he described as “reasonable” despite being “handicapped by traffic”; he “could have had a good race” had he not been “hit right after the start”, but he was still positive about 10th place – five behind Rosberg – using words like “fun” and “promising”.

Which brings us to today. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but it seems like Schumacher knows that he’s run out of excuses. He said he was “a little disappointed” and that he “clearly could have achieved more”. He apportioned no blame, accepted that he didn’t get it right, didn’t try to put too much of a positive spin on things, and congratulated Rosberg on his front row grid position. Which I think is all massively to his credit.

He can’t have planned to still be behind Rosberg at this point in the season – if at all – so his good grace is quite disarming. I can’t hate him if he’s not making ridiculous excuses. So fair play to the man. He must be a bit worried though: if he can’t shine in the rain, then will he ever rediscover his old form?

Finally, it’s worth giving credit to Rosberg for consistently outperforming Schumacher. No-one expected it, and the emphasis tends to be on Schumacher not doing very well, rather than Rosberg doing better. Which isn’t very fair, really.