Rumor has it that Michael Schumacher is close to extending his contract with Mercedes GP, contract that expires at the end of the 2012 F1 season.

Michael Schumacher returned last year in Formula 1 after a three years absence and signed a three year deal with Mercedes GP, saying that he has long-term plans in the second stage of his driving career.

But it seems that the deal between the two parties might extend further than 2012, as both the Mercedes GP officials and Schumacher seem pretty close to a contract extension.

Norbert Haug, the Mercedes Motorsport Department Chief, suggested that the contract extension depends only on Schumacher’s will of continuing with the team. Haug said that he’d be very happy to see Schumacher commit future to Mercedes GP, “If Michael wants it [the contract extension] and we can agree on a right price [the wage].”

Michael Schumacher, Mercedes GP

Michael Schumacher’s manager, Sabine Kehm, talked about the seven times F1 world champion’s interest in signing a new deal. “Of course we are open to discussions, because with the team we feel very good,” said Kehm.

Schumacher will be 43 years old at the time his current deal with Mercedes GP F1 Team expires at the end of 2012 F1 season.

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Mercedes GP unveiled on the Valencia track the new W02 F1 car they will use in the 2011 Formula 1 season.

Mercedes GP is the third and the last team to launch their  new F1 car, which they hope to bring them success in the 2011 Formula 1 season.

The pictures of the new Mercedes GP W02 car are not an absolute novelty, as the team presented on Sunday a rendered picture of the new F1 car. So, the new W02 features a high nose, present on all F1 cars for the 2011 season, as well some changes of the air intakes and the sides, changes that can be easily spotted.

Regarding the layout, Mercedes GP have changed the shade of their silver, and now is easier to spot the green coming from their main partner, Petronas.

More pictures will be available later.

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“Absolutely.” This was Michael Scumacher’s answer when he was asked if he can win the Formula 1 world title in the 2011 season.

Michael Schumacher looks forward towards the 2011 season of Formula 1 and he is optimistic that he can leave the last year’s disappointments behind. Motivated by his and Mercedes GP F1 Team’s progresses towards the end of the 2010 season, the German is confident that he can win the 8th world title in 2011.

When F1 Racing reporters asked if he can win the 2011 championship, the seven times F1 world champion answered:

“Absolutely. Look, we have a three-year project. Very clearly right now, we are not where we want to be. We’ve put a lot of effort into coming back and are optimistic we have a chance. But in the history of Formula 1, when does it ever happen that you come back straightaway from this level to win in just one year? Very rarely. So I’m sure we can fight for wins this year and we might be able to fight for the championship. I hope so. I’m here on a mission and I want to succeed. I want to perform and I’m going to put 100 per cent into it. And if that’s not the case in 2011, then we will have to do it in the final year,” he said, talking about his deal with Mercedes GP, that expires at the end of 2012 season.

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Mercedes GP F1 Team released, on their official site, a teaser that shows us the shapes of the new W02 F1 car for the 2011 season.

The Formula 1 fans are eager to see the launches of the new cars for the 2011 Formula 1 season, and Scuderia Ferrari is the first team to unveil their car, in less than 2 hours.

The Ferrari F1 Team rivals, Mercedes GP, decided to go ahead of the Italians and posted a teaser of the new W02 car on their official website. The picture highlights some of the elements of the front and rear wing, and also the cockpit of the Mercedes GP F1 car, but as we expected we can’t figure out how it really looks.

Mercedes GP W02 is set to debut on Monday, February 1, in the paddock of the Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, with only tens of minutes before the start of the first testing session of the winter. But, until then stay tuned as Mibz.com will cover most of the car launches for the 2011 Formula 1 season.

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A source inside Mercedes GP F1 Team claims that Michael Schumacher got poor results in the 2010 Formula 1 season because he couldn’t use the team’s simulator.

Michael Schumacher’s comeback in Formula 1 after a three years absence was not crowned with the success most of his fans anticipated, as the German found it hard to adapt to the new regulations, especially that the changes were numerous compared to 2006 season.

In addition, the seven times world champion did not manage to keep up pace with his team mate at Mercedes GP, Nico Rosberg, despite his slight return to form towards the end of the year.

“Nico spends a lot of time in the simulator preparing the car for the grand prix weekends. Michael begins with a basic setting … [it is] is one of quite a few very good reasons why Schumacher was sometimes at a disadvantage to Rosberg,” said the source for F1 Today,

Ross Brown previously announced for Mercedes GP F1 Team that they are currently working on a better simulator, which will be used the earliest in the 2012 Formula 1 season.

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Michael Schumacher believes he deserved to be criticized for his results in 2010 F1 season, but he is confident that he will make progress next year.

A year after he announced his return in Formula 1, Michael Schumacher posted an interview on his official website, where he expresses his opinions about the 2010 Formula 1 season and about the next year perspectives.

Talking about the way he was the fans and media saw his comeback, the Mercedes GP driver said that the critics he had to stand for the poor results were fully deserved.

“I haven’t looked good all the time either. I can live with criticism very well, you just have to differentiate it and it can bring you forward as well. What is much more important is that I deeply enjoy building what we are building here at this team and that is always the best base for success because you do not need to question the motivation. And please don’t get me wrong here; you don’t question the seriousness either. I can’t wait already to get the new season started,” the seven times F1 world champion said.

When asked what will happen next season, Schumacher said that he anticipates he will manage to register progress after in 2010 haven’t even finished on podium once. Still, he registered visible progress starting the Japanese Grand Prix, on the circuit in Suzuka.

“I look forward to some quiet days with my family over Christmas but I also notice that I am going all tingly already thinking about next year. We ended the season with a positive feeling and things were starting to come together with a tendency that was clearly positive. And from a physical point of view, the year wasn’t very demanding for me. So, knowing our developments for the new year makes me confident that we can fight for some race victories from our own power. This is a prospect which makes me look forward to competing again,” Schumacher also said

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Michael Schumacher is optimistic he will start winning races in the 2011 Formula 1 season, but he admits his title chances are low.

At the end of a season in which he was constantly beaten by his team-mate Nico Rosberg, Michael Schumacher is more positive about 2011 season, one of the reasons being his progresses in the last GP of the 2010 F1 season.

The Mercedes GP F1 Team Driver believes that he will be able to win races next season, but he admits that the F1 world championship is a too ambitious target for him.

“We are clearly in a better situation now because of the immense support from Mercedes. But we cannot presume to think that we will be fighting for the championship. We will make a big leap forward and – if all goes well – win races,” Schumacher said for he German publication Auto Motor und Sport.

Schumacher believes that some of the experimental parts introduced by Mercedes GP during the season have been one of the reasons for his modest results, another reason being the tyres supplied by Bridgestone.

“In retrospect, there were things; my floor was burned because of the exhaust being too hot, or the F-duct working in places where it should not. There were many [issues], resulting from the fact that we are in a restructuring phase but we still wanted to go for the title. At Spa my F-duct didn’t work, but I didn’t say anything. At Suzuka it happened again – a problem with my car but not with Nico’s. I prefer to speak inside the team, and I am convinced that in 2011 the problems will exist no more. The car was a compromise. With the tyre, it was difficult for me to drive how I wanted to,” the German also said.

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Michael Schumacher believes it’s too early to make a comparison between Pirelli tyres and the ones offered by Bridgestone in the last four years.

Michael Schumacher tested last Saturday the new tyres Pirelli will supply in Formula 1 starting next season. Even though his team-mate, Nico Rosberg, criticized their performances, the German driver of Mercedes GP refused to make any comments, believing it’s too early for such analyses.

Anyway, it’s worthy to say that Schumacher is the only driver that competed in Formula 1 with Pirelli tyres, right at his debut, in 1991, which coincided with the Italians’ F1 exit.

“I am probably the only driver to have driven with Pirelli tyres before but it was 20 years ago and I didn’t have any certain expectations before today. In terms of consistency, it looked quite good but we were using the 2010 car today and it will be all about how these tyres suit our 2011 car. I am already curious to try it out but at the same time I am looking forward to having a break now. I am sure the guys are too and they clearly deserve it,” said Schumacher in a Mercedes GP press release.

On the other hand, Fernando Alonso believes that the transition from Bridgestone to Pirelli tyres won’t be a problem for the drivers. “From what we could see, the switch from Bridgestone to Pirelli should not be a traumatic one,” said the Spanish, who insists that 2010 was a good season, despite he lost the world championship in the last race fro Sebastian Vettel.

“I would think it’s the same thing the Dutch football players felt when they lost the World Cup final back in July. Then, after a few weeks, they realised they had achieved something, while so many others had not even got anywhere close. The same goes for us: the final victory eluded us, but in any case we had a great season, with a fantastic fight back in the second part of the year,” Ferrari F1 Team driver added.

Pirelli will make a new private testing session in Bahrain between December 12-16, before the tests with Formula 1 teams, scheduled for the entire month of February.

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Ross Brown believes that the Korean Grand Prix highlighted the first progresses of the Mercedes GP F1 team in the 2010 Formula 1 season.

After the world title conquered last year under the Brawn GP name, Mercedes GP recorded a decline in 2010 and only got three podiums in the first 17 Grands Prix of the year, Nico Rosberg finishing 3rd in Malaysia, China and Great Britan.

Even so, Ross Brown believes that the first progresses of the team were registered only in Korean Grand Prix, the race in which Michael Schumacher only got a 4th place. More than this, the Germans might have finished on the podium again with Nico Rosberg, if Mark Webber didn’t hit him.

“We are getting there. t has probably taken a bit longer than we expected, but we keep seeing these really good bits of progress, and we are putting everything together for next year. The F-duct is good, and we have the fastest straight-line speed now. We are not changing many things, just understanding how to set the car up, and it is really just consolidation, which is a lesson,” said the Brit.

Mercedes GP is now on the 4th position of the F1 Constructors’ Championship with 188 points, and even though their position was threatened by the rivals of Renault F1 Team, is very likely to finish the season in front of the French.

Via | Autosport

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Mercedes GP is enthusiastic about Michael Schumacher’s performance in Korean Grand Prix, after the German finished 4th, for the third time in 2010.

After he started the race on the 9th place, Michael Schumacher reminded us about his rain strengths and managed to finish the race 4th.

First, he won two positions after he overtook Robert Kubica and Jenson Button in the first laps, and then he climbed up three positions after Mark Webber, Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel abandoned the race.

So, the German equaled his season’s best, and Ross Brown congratulated him for this result. “The team did an excellent job this weekend and have been rewarded with a very good result for Michael today. Michael had an extremely good race. He took all of his opportunities and drove sensibly in the tricky conditions. We spent the latter part of the race looking after the tyres and making sure that we got through to the end as we didn’t think that we could challenge the leaders. Overall a very positive weekend and we hope to finish the season with equally strong performances,” said the Brit.

Schumacher also congratulated the team for their support throughout the race, given the difficult conditions of the Korean Grand Prix. “I am pretty happy with today’s race and I have to say thank you to my team who guided me perfectly through the afternoon,” the German said.

Schumacher’s result comes to end the numerous critics he received from some of the international press, regarding his poor results in the 2010 Formula 1 season.

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