FORMULA 1 - 2013

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Merc target the 2014 titles

Having finished second last season, Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche wants the Mercedes team to go one better in 2014.

Last season, Mercedes put in their performance since purchasing the Brawn GP team with Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton achieving three race victories.

Six more top-three results helped the team to second in the Constructors' while Hamilton was fourth in the Drivers' battle.

Next year, though, Zetsche says the double will be Mercedes' goal.

"Of course our goal is to win the Drivers' and the Constructors' World Championship," he told Auto Motor und Sport.

Meanwhile non-executive director Niki Lauda is confident that Rosberg and Hamilton, who teamed up for the first time this season, will continue to draw the best out of each other.

"Lewis has brought out even more in Nico than Michael Schumacher succeeded in doing," he said.

"This year we have seen the best Rosberg that there has ever been.

"Our aim [next year] is for the drivers to push each other to peak performance."

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Massa: Vettel was amazing

Sebastian Vettel may have had the best car on the grid in 2013 but Felipe Massa says what he did with it was "amazing."

The Red Bull driver put in a dominant display in the second half of the Championship, winning every grand prix after the summer break.

That run took him to nine successive race wins, a new record, while bringing his total wins to 13 out of 19.

It also handed him his fourth Drivers' title with three races to spare.

But while some have put his success down to his RB9, Massa says Vettel deserves credit.

"It was down to his talent no doubt. He is an excellent driver who deserves everything he is winning," the Brazilian told TotalRace.

"Many people say he only wins because he has the best car but the work he did was amazing and, continuing with a competitive car, he can win more."

The soon-to-be Williams driver, though, refused to rank Vettel against the likes of Emerson Fittipaldi or Michael Schumacher as they arrived in the sport later than Vettel.

"The drivers start F1 earlier today. You cannot compare anyone today with Fittipaldi, Stewart nor with Schumacher, who also arrived in F1 older than Vettel.

"This reality increases the possibility of younger drivers conquering more titles than in the past."

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Di Montezemolo: Simulators a joke

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has labelled F1 simulators a "joke" and would like to see the sport rely more on on-track testing.

Although next year's Championship will include several post-grand prix tests, in-season testing was banned back in 2009 in an attempt to curb costs.

The teams instead switched to simulators, plugging big money in the designs, which di Montezemolo says are more expensive than running out on track.

"It is a joke," the Ferrari president told Autosport. "We have been forced to invest a huge amount of money in these terrible machines, artificial, instead of testing here [at Fiorano] and Mugello.

"If somebody has no money to do tests, it is better to race in GP2, in go karts or go and play basketball. I want to do testing to first of all give new drivers the possibility to drive cars and get experience.

"But I also want to give more opportunities to the public because from one race weekend to another it is silent in F1. There is nothing, nothing.

"Testing is also a good opportunity for the sponsors, to call the public. And tests are less expensive than building and developing every month the terrible simulator. This is something we have to discuss for the future."

The Italian added that banning - or limiting - testing has hurt Formula One and played a direct role in this year's Pirelli tyre drama.

"I think in soccer if you want to compete in the Champions' League, you have to buy good players, you have to train sometimes even five times in a day. This is competition.

"I think that it is ridiculous that in F1, from one side, we are not allowed to test, and from the other side we are forced to spend a huge amount of money in the windtunnel in which we develop aerodynamics that I cannot transfer any of to my [road] cars.

"I don't want it to seem that I am a conservative old fan of F1. I think if we were allowed to do more testing, the scandal of the tyres [in 2013] would not have happened because even for Pirelli it is very difficult as they cannot do too many tests."

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Whitmarsh concedes 'panic' didn't help

Martin Whitmarsh says mid-year "panic" during the 2012 season was behind McLaren's dismal showing in the 2013 Championship.

When designing their 2013 challenger the previous year, McLaren suffered a slight dip in performance which their team boss revealed resulted in "worry and fret and panic."

And that ultimately led to the team trying to overcompensate which impacted the design of this year's MP4-28.

"Last year we had a quick car. And if we had had more operational reliability then we could have won the Championship," Whitmarsh told Autosport.

"Around mid-year, when we were making decisions about this year's car, I guess we had a slight dip in our performance.

"What tends to happen is that every now and again you get on a roll and you get a good upturn in performance and you feel good with life.

"Occasionally it goes flat for a while and then you start to worry and fret and panic.

"We were looking at our development last year, we had a reasonable car, and then it did not respond in development terms.

"Every week you are delivering 1.5-2 points of downforce and when you go for a six week period of not doing that, you start to worry.

"It was maybe at that time that the engineer team thought maybe our progress is horizontal and we need to break out of here."

However, have established early on this year that the car was horribly off the pace, McLaren again panicked.

That resulted in a wrong direction which, although the team recovered from later in the season, it was too late to prevent this first Championship without a podium result since 1980.

"We got ourselves panicked into a horrible position in Melbourne where we were nailing the car's ride height on a bumpy circuit and going in the wrong direction.

"We took a car that wasn't good enough and made it worse in my opinion, to be frank about it.

"We were behind and we have now focused on the effort of the coming years. There is a limit on what we could do this year.

"But Red Bull aside, we have gone forward. At the last four or five races, we were racing with Ferrari, Mercedes and Lotus.

"So we have made relative gains, and we have not for three or four months done any base work on the car, just running experiments in FP1 and going from there."

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Alonso: 'Vettel must prove himself in inferior car'

Fernando Alonso has warned Sebastian Vettel that he must prove his talent in an inferior car to what he's driven over the past five years if he's to be considered a 'legend'.

Whilst the German has won the past four championships and reaped praise from fans and rivals, it seems Alonso remains skeptical of the 26-year-old's status.

Speaking to the BBC, Alonso warned Vettel that he could face a mighty fall if he can't prove himself in a bad car.

"Time will tell us [whether he's a great], but I think when he will have a car like the others, if he wins he will have great recognition and he will be one of the legends of F1," said the Spaniard.

"When one day he has the car like the others and he is fourth, fifth or seventh then these four titles will be bad news for him because people will take those four days in a even worse manner than what they are doing now. "So there are interesting times for Sebastian coming."

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Update: Michael Schumacher, ex-F1 champion, critical & In a Coma after ski fall

Michael Schumacher, seven-time Formula 1 world champion, is in a critical condition after a skiing accident, says the French hospital treating him.

The 44-year-old German suffered serious brain trauma, was in a coma on arrival and underwent a brain operation.

He was skiing off-piste with his son in the French Alps on Sunday when the accident occurred.

Schumacher was wearing a helmet when he fell and hit his head against a rock, his manager Sabine Kehm said.

Early reports had said his condition was not life-threatening and he reportedly walked away from the accident complaining only of feeling a bit shaken.

The accident took place in the French ski resort of Meribel on Sunday morning.

The resort's director, Christophe Gernignon-Lecomte, said Schumacher was attended to by two ski patrollers who requested helicopter evacuation to the nearby valley town of Moutiers.

He was subsequently moved to the bigger facility at Grenoble, in south-east France. His wife Corinna and two children are with him.

"Mr Schumacher was admitted to the University Hospital of Grenoble at 12:40 [11:40 GMT], following a skiing accident which occurred in Meribel in the late morning," the Grenoble hospital said in a statement.

"He suffered a severe head injury with coma on arrival, which required immediate neurosurgical intervention. He remains in a critical situation."

The hospital statement was signed by the facility's neurosurgeon, the professor in charge of its anaesthesia/revival unit, and the hospital's deputy director, reports said.

A hospital official declined to give more details and said more information would be given out on Monday, said Reuters news agency.

Experts say it is likely that his brain began to swell and the urgent surgery was required to relieve the pressure, says the BBC's Hugh Schofield in Paris.

'Like a father'

Professor Gerard Saillant, a close ally and friend of Schumacher, and his former Ferrari team boss Jean Todt are at the hospital.

Prof Saillant is an expert in brain and spine injury. He oversaw Schumacher's medical care when the German broke his leg in the 1999 British GP.

The German, who is due to turn 45 on 3 January, retired from F1 for a second time in 2012.

Schumacher won seven world championships and secured 91 race victories during his 19-year career.

He won two titles with Benetton, in 1994 and 1995, before switching to Ferrari in 1996 and going on to win five straight titles from 2000.

After the German retired in 2006, he was seriously hurt in a motorcycling accident in Spain three years later, during which he suffered neck and spine injuries.

But Schumacher managed to recover and made a comeback in F1 with Mercedes in 2010.

After three seasons which yielded just one podium finish, he quit the sport at the end of last year.

F1 drivers from around the globe have expressed their shock at the news of the accident.

British ex-racer Martin Brundle, who was Schumacher's F1 teammate at Benetton, tweeted: "Come on Michael, give us one of those race stints at pure qualifying pace to win through, like you used to. You can do it."

Brazilian driver Felipe Massa posted a picture of himself and Schumacher on Instagram, with the Portuguese message: "I'm praying for God to protect you, brother!"

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F1 world in shock while support pours in for Schumacher and his family

Support has been pouring in for Michael Schumacher after the retired seven-time Formula 1 World Champion suffered severe head injuries in a skiing accident in the French Alps resort of Meribel on Sunday, and doctors say “his condition is life-threatening”

The next official report from the hospital is expected on Tuesday.

Meanwhile a spokesman for German chancellor Angela Merkel told a briefing: “We hope that he overcomes his injuries and [that he] can recover.”

World F1 Champion Sebastian Vettel told German media: “I am shocked and I hope that he will get better as quickly as possible. I now wish his family a lot of strength.”

Former Benetton team mate Martin Brundle told Sky TV: “He’s only a year out of the F1 cockpit but as a driven and competitive person you can’t simply switch off and settle down at the end of a long career, you need challenges and achievements to keep the adrenalin flowing. But from what I read he wasn’t taking undue risks on the ski slopes, and it seems he’s been very unlucky on this one. The need for machinery and speed will always be there, it’s inevitable. When I read that Michael had received a blow to the right side of his head I couldn’t help but think of Ayrton [senna], and pondered why these things so often happen to the truly great. I sincerely hope and expect of course that this incident has a much happier ending, and I feel sure that his competitive determination and fitness will give him the best chance.”

From Schumacher’s former team Ferrari: “Everyone at Ferrari has been in a state of anxiety since hearing about Michael Schumacher’s accident.”

Felipe Massa, 2008 would be F1 World Champion, on Twitter: “I’m praying for God to protect you, brother!”

Former F1 driver David Coulthard told the BBC: “As I know Michael from the racetrack, there is no question in my mind that he has the physical ability to take on this challenge, the greatest challenge of his life.”

Jean Todt: “Michael is a partner, a brother for me. I am devastated. Sorry, I have no more to tell…”

Double F1 World Champion Fernando Alonso on Twitter: “Get well soon Michael! Hope to hear some positive news very soon! #strongman”

Former Jordan and HRT driver Narain Karthikeyan on Twitter: “Terrible to hear about M Schumacher’s skiing injury. If anyone can pull through this its you.”

Quadruple Indy Car champion Dario Franchitti on Twitter: “My thoughts are with Michael Schumacher and his family. If anyone can pull through this it’s him.”

Former Alpine skiing World Champion Luc Alphand: “I’m stunned. Skiing, for me and a lot of people, is a leisure before anything else. He might have hit a rock with his feet and you don’t need to go fast to hurt yourself.”

Former F1 World Champion Jenson Button: “My thoughts are with Michael Schumacher at this tough time.. Michael more than anyone has the strength to pull through this.”

Giedo van der Garde: “My thoughts and prayers are with Michael, his family, and friends!!! #MichaelSchumacher keep fighting.”

Daniel Ricciardo: “Pulling for Schumi.”

Nico Hülkenberg: “My thoughts are with Michael and his family! Hope to hear something positive very soon!”

Pastor Maldonado: “Sad news [sunday] about Shumi, praying for you mate!”

Paul Di Resta: “Terrible news about MSC, thinking of him and his family. Hoping for better news and that he can pull through.”

Sergio Perez: “You will win your most important race Schumi!!!”

Romain Grosjean: “All our thoughts to Schumi and his family ! Hope you will recover soon.”

Jean-Eric Vergne: “Wishing all the best to Michael, hope everything will be good..!”

Timo Glock: “I am deeply shocked and in my mind in these difficult days with his family and all the people that like him so much as I do!”

Williams F1 Team: “Our thoughts and prayers are with Michael, his family,friends and fans at this time.”

Toro Rosso: “Our thoughts are with Michael and his family, wishing him a full recovery.”

Red Bull Racing: “We wish Michael Schumacher a full and strong recovery. We are thinking of him and his family at this very difficult time.”

Vitaly Petrov: “All my thoughts are with Michael and his family. Get well soon Michael!”

Mark Webber: “My thoughts are with Michael and his family at this tricky time.”

Sauber F1 Team: “Our thoughts are with Michael Schumacher and his family. We wish them strength in this difficult time.”

Caterham F1 Team: “Our thoughts and prayers tonight are with Michael, his family, friends and supporters.”

Sahara Force India: “All our thoughts are with Michael Schumacher and his family at this moment. Come on Champion!”

Audi Sport: “The whole motorsport world is united in the hope that Michael Schumacher will recover from his terrible skiing accident.”

Lewis Hamilton; “Mine and my family’s prayers and thoughts are with Michael and his family. I wish him a quick recovery. God Bless him.”

Nico Rosberg: “My thoughts are with Michael, his family and his friends. If someone finds a way out it will be #Schumi. Hopefully there will soon be good news.”

Mercedes F1 Team: “Following the serious injuries sustained by Michael Schumacher in a skiing accident yesterday [sunday] in France, the thoughts and sympathies of all at Mercedes-Benz Motorsport and the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team are with Michael, his family and friends. We have been shocked to learn that he is in a critical condition and are closely monitoring the latest medical bulletins from Grenoble. We all know the depth of Michael’s fighting spirit and send him all our strength and support in this latest battle. We sincerely hope that he will make a full recovery and will be with us again soon.”

NBA star and compatriot Dirk Nowitzki on Twitter: “My thoughts are with Schumi.”

Former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan: “Forget the cricket… everyone’s thoughts should be with Michael Schumacher.”

Valentino Rossi: “Forza Schumi don’t give up we are all with you.”

Bill Clinton: Thinking today of Michael Schumacher and grateful for all he's done w/@clintonfdn and for others. My prayers are with him and his family.

Niki Lauda, "I find it completely shocking and unexplainable why this great driver, who won seven championships in over 300 races and stayed alive, could have something like this happen to him. It's tragic.

"He is the greatest driver of them all, with seven titles."

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Prost: New turbo era will be fascinating and good for F1

Formula 1 legend Alain Prost has admitted that he would like to still be a driver on the grid, ahead of the switch to radical new turbo V6 engine rules coming into effect for 2014.

The quadruple World Champion, known during his career as ‘the professor’ due to his technical meticulousness, said the move to turbo V6 and ‘greener’ energy recovery systems, following years of V8 rules, “fascinates me”.

Frenchman Prost, now 58 and an ambassador for World Champion engine supplier Renault, won his last title in 1993, when Williams utterly dominated with its highly sophisticated, ‘active suspension’ car.

“We’re going back the essence of competition, which we had lost a little over the past years,” he is quoted by France’s autohebdo.fr.

“For the past few seasons, I have never said ‘It would be nice to be driving now’, but for 2014, I really would like to be,” added Prost.

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Massa: I was as fast as Alonso

Felipe Massa reckons he had the measure of Fernando Alonso in qualifying this past season even if he did lose out on grand prix Sundays.

Although Alonso trounced his team-mate in the Drivers' standings, 242 points to 112, the second half of the Champion at least saw Massa edge ahead in qualifying.

The Brazilian edged his team-mate in five of the nine qualifying sessions in the wake of the summer break.

His improved form, though, was not enough to secure his future with the 32-year-old parting ways with the team at the end of the season.

"Fernando is a very strong racing driver, especially in the first few rounds of the World Champion he was fantastic," he told Finland's Turun Sanomat newspaper.

"Qualifying is not as important to the World Championship as it has been and I was at least fast, if not faster, than Alonso.

"In the grands prix, considering other factors; the tactics, traffic, pit stops and all of that; I was not very lucky.

"When Alonso was driving for the Championship, and I was not, he had the advantage of strategy and that affects your ability to get the top positions."

Massa will now head to Williams where he believes he can play a role in the team's resurgence.

"I know Williams just been through a tough phase but I think the team has the potential to achieve much more than last season.

"They have what is required to reach the same level that Williams were a few years ago and I want to be a part of that process.

"The Mercedes engines should be very competitive so I am confident that, together with Valtteri Bottas, we will have a good package at our disposal and can fight for regular points in an effort to get steadily closer to the front."

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Button: Retirement not on the cards

Jenson Button says he won't be retiring from F1 any time soon with his focus remaining on what he needs to do to be quickest.

Next year Button will be the second oldest driver on the grid, just months behind Kimi Raikkonen, but like the Finn has no plans to retire.

Having stated in the past that he wants to remain at McLaren into the new Honda era in 2015, Button has given little thought to what he will do when the day comes.

However, should he take a guess at what the future holds, the 33-year-old would like to guide the next generation of racers.

"Richard, my manger, thinks about what I should do but I don't," he told TotalRace.

"I have so many years ahead and it is more important to think about that right now, what I need to do in the car to be sure that I will be fastest.

"This is my thinking right now.

"But there are some things that could happen parallel to my car.

"I think I have something to give the youth and that they will listen to me.

"I think if a businessman said to a kid he has to act in a certain way, he will not listen. But if a F1 World Champion said it that would be different."

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Why racers Love To Live On The Edge

“There are those who keep out of mischief, and then there are the adventurers,” the five times world champion Juan Manuel Fangio said in the 1990s. “We racing drivers are adventurers; the more difficult something is, the greater the attraction that comes from it.

“Michael Schumacher is the greatest of the adventurers.”

This quote from the Maestro has always struck me as the best explanation of what drives a true racing driver, but it also sums up the character of Schumacher. He rarely took the easier path.

Whether it be motorcycle racing, in which he suffered a bad accident in February 2009 which prevented him from making a comeback as Felipe Massa’s replacement in August that year, or skydiving or skiing or karting, ordinary life proved too boring for him. That was also what motivated his comeback with Mercedes in 2010 for three more years of challenging himself against the best drivers in the world.

Some drivers reach the end of the road in their careers and realise that the fire has gone out, Damon Hill, is a good example as is Gerhard Berger, Niki Lauda and even Fangio himself. For them a quiet retirement was the goal.

Others still feel the rage to compete and to challenge themselves for many years after their retirement. In many ways it is what makes them feel alive.

And, after challenging themselves by dancing on the edge of calamity for years in a racing car, sadly, many racing drivers come unstuck in the other side of their life, competing in dangerous sports, flying planes and helicopters, continuing to live life on the edge.

One thinks immediately of Robert Kubica’s accident in a fun rally while he was racing F1 with Lotus, then there was Mark Webber, who suffered leg and shoulder injuries while extreme mountain biking.

Tyrrell driver Patrick Depailler broke his legs in a hang gliding accident in 1980.

Didier Pironi was Gilles Villeneuve’s team mate at Ferrari in 1982 and challenged for the world championship. He was killed in a power boating accident.

Emerson Fittipaldi crashed a light aircraft but survived, while rally star Colin McRae fatally crashed a helicopter.

Michael Schumacher is involved in the biggest challenge of his life right now and a fresh medical bulletin is expected mid morning, according to colleagues on the ground in Grenoble.

He is in excellent physical shape and as we all know, is an unbelievable fighter, so he will no doubt give it his all.

Nearing the beginning of the new year and so close to Michael Schumachers Birthday on January 3rd, I personally can not believe I'm ending this seasons Formula 1 thread with such terrible news. I truly hope the 2014 thread will have better news to open with and that Michael recovers in good health.

His colleagues in F1 and his millions of fans around the world are praying for a positive outcome from this terrible situation.

Should I find any more news on this, I will keep you informed - Mika.

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Michael Schumacher's family in bedside vigil after ski accident

The family of German motor-racing champion Michael Schumacher are at his bedside as he fights for life following a skiing accident in the French Alps.

Schumacher's manager, Sabine Kehm, said his wife, Corinna, daughter Gina Maria and son Mick are in a state of shock at the Grenoble hospital.

The seven-time Formula 1 champion suffered head injuries on Sunday in a fall at the resort of Meribel.

He has been put in a medically-induced coma to relieve pressure on his brain.

"The family is not doing very well, obviously. They are shocked," Sabine Kehm told reporters.

Prof Jean-Francois Payen, of Grenoble University Hospital's intensive care unit, told a news conference that they could not give a prognosis for the 44-year-old driver.

"He is in a critical state in terms of cerebral resuscitation. We are working hour by hour," he said.

Prof Payen said that if Schumacher had not been wearing a helmet "he wouldn't be here now".

"We had to operate urgently to release some pressure in his head," the anaesthetist said.

Neurosurgeon Stephan Chabardes said that a post-operative scan had shown "diffuse haemorrhagic lesions" on both sides of Schumacher's brain.

The BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Grenoble says there are precedents for people surviving such injuries.

Induced comas can last several weeks while a patient's condition is stabilised, she adds, and there can be many months of therapy in order to achieve as full a recovery as possible.

Doctors have lowered Schumacher's body temperature to 34-35C (93.2-95F) as part of the coma, slowing his metabolism to help reduce inflammation.

The driver had been skiing off-piste with his teenage son when he fell and hit his head on a rock.

He was first evacuated to a hospital in the nearby town of Moutiers.

Prof Chabardes said the driver was in an "agitated condition" on arrival in Moutiers and his neurological condition "deteriorated rapidly".

He was taken from Moutiers to the larger facility in Grenoble.

Messages of support have come from around the world.

A spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she and her government were, like millions of Germans, "extremely shocked".

"We hope, with Michael Schumacher and with his family, that he can overcome and recover from his injuries," the spokesman said.