Daimler chairman Dieter Zetsche on Thursday indicated he would like Michael Schumacher to extend his Mercedes GP contract beyond 2012.
Seven time world champion Schumacher’s existing three year contract, dating back to his decision to return to F1 in 2010 after a three-year sabbatical, runs out this year.

Zetsche is quoted by Seddeutsche Zeitung newspaper as saying Mercedes is fully committed to formula one, with an “engagement for the long term”.

As for involving 43-year-old Schumacher in those plans for 2013, Zetsche admitted it was “an attractive possibility”.

“He is still a motor sports icon,” he added.

Schumacher said at the Jerez test this week that while he might not have a title-winning car this year, Mercedes will build one in the future.

“We have to build our way there. I’m confident we can do that, in future, but let’s take it step by step,” said the German.

As for the possibility of a new contract, Schumacher answered: “I never gave any prognosis about my career. The right time will come to discuss my future.”

Targeting the world championship in 2012 is not realistic for Mercedes GP, according to team boss Ross Brawn.
Daimler chairman Dieter Zetsche admitted last week he is not happy with the performance of the Brackley based team, currently a distant fourth in the points standings behind Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari.

“Our intention is to be better every year and it is clear that in this sense we cannot be satisfied,” Brawn told Spain’s El Pais newspaper.

“Last year we were fourth and we are again. The next step should be to fight for third or second, and then go for the title in 2013,” he added.

“You need to be going forward and when you do not, you have to know why and to change your strategy.”

He said he is not worried about Mercedes possibly losing patience.

“Mercedes knows what kind of challenge competing in formula one is and that’s why they want to prove they are capable of meeting the challenge and succeeding,” said Brawn.

“It is the most competitive and complicated championship and if winning it was easy, it would not be interesting.”

But Brawn warned that with only a couple of minor changes to the regulations for 2012, Red Bull is likely to once again set the pace.

“If you’re winning, as Red Bull are now, that is the scenario that you want,” said the Briton. “When the rules do not change there are fewer possibilities of having different interpretations of them.”

Brawn therefore said he doubts there will be “any revolutionary ideas” seen on next year’s F1 grid.

Meanwhile, he acknowledged that he was not personally responsible for the ground-breaking ‘double diffuser’ idea that was credited for Brawn GP’s title win of 2009.

“It was a Japanese engineer from (former owners) Honda,” said Brawn. “He presented it, we analysed it and found it to be viable.”

Mercedes has reportedly targeted ousted Ferrari technical director Aldo Costa.
In May, as Ferrari grappled with its new 150 Italia car, the famous Maranello based team said the Italian had stepped down.

It emerged a few days ago that Costa has left the carmaker completely but is on what is known in F1 as “gardening leave” until the end of the year.

The specialist Italian magazine Autosprint reports that Mercedes, headed by another former Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn, has targeted Costa.

We reported recently that the Brackley based team is on a recruitment drive to boost its staff numbers to the height of big three teams Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari.

Autosprint said Brawn told Daimler chairman Dieter Zetsche at the Nurburgring that Mercedes’ struggles in 2010 and 2011 have been due in part to the team’s comparatively small size.

“So he (Brawn) received the go-ahead for the recruitment campaign,” said the report.

Mercedes is looking to boost its F1 staff numbers by 100 people, according to German newspaper Bild-Zeitung.
The report said the German marque’s experiment at trying to succeed again with Brawn GP’s modest head-count of 450 at the Brackley headquarters has failed.

Bild said all the other top teams, including Red Bull (525 people), Ferrari and McLaren (both 550) have significantly higher staff numbers.

The news that Mercedes has embarked on a major recruitment drive for its F1 team follows the visit to the Nurburgring last weekend of Daimler chairman Dieter Zetsche.

And team boss Ross Brawn was quoted as saying: “The potential of this car has been exhausted.”

Bild said Mercedes GP is advertising for 39 jobs, with several of those positions “to be filled twice or even three times”.

Michael Schumacher remains a top driver but Mercedes also has an eye on Sebastian Vettel.
The German marque’s top brass Dieter Zetsche is at the Nurburgring this weekend where he was asked by Bild am Sonntag newspaper if Red Bull’s Vettel would be a better bet for Mercedes’ works team.

“If the cars are very competitive, it is the driver who determines the success,” Zetsche is quoted as saying.

“Michael Schumacher has shown that he still has considerable qualities. As for Sebastian Vettel we have a good relationship. Privately he drives a SLS.”

Alongside Schumacher in 2011 is the highly competitive Nico Rosberg, and team boss Ross Brawn on Saturday confirmed the pair both have a contract for next year.

“We need to do our homework with the cars,” continued Zetsche. “We are certainly quite competitive already, but not as much as we had hoped for. We’re working on it.”

According to a rumour in the Abu Dhabi paddock, Dieter Zetsche is not happy with the outcome of the 2010 title race.

Zetsche is the chairman of Mercedes’ carmaker parent Daimler, and he is apparently uncomfortable with Red Bull becoming this season’s constructors’ champion, French commentator Jean-Louis Moncet wrote in his Auto Plus column.

The German, uncomfortable that this year’s manufacturers’ title has been won by the maker of an energy drink, reportedly wants the FIA to change the official title of the “World Constructors’ Championship”.

Moncet wrote: “I seem to remember that among the reasons that drove BMW to leave F1 was that defeats by Mercedes, Toyota or Renault are one thing — but Red Bull!”

According to well-known French commentator Jean-Louis Moncet, a notable meeting involving the Mercedes GP team took place on Monday.

Moncet wrote in his Auto Plus blog that the video conference would involve the Stuttgart based Daimler chairman Dieter Zetsche, and the Brackley based team’s Ross Brawn, Norbert Haug, Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg.

He said the “various statements by members of the team to the media” would be discussed, even though a Mercedes spokesman rubbished the report.

And although Mercedes insists the comments were taken out of context, Moncet could be referring to Rosberg’s quoted claims about being frustrated by a lack of development progress.

There have also been hints from Rosberg, Schumacher and Brawn that development of the 2010 car could be stopped in favour of focusing on next year’s project.

But in a team statement late last week, those figures insisted the team is still working hard on the W01.

“It’s been tough for us over the last few races but we are working hard to improve and I am confident we will get there,” said Rosberg.

However, a headline in the German daily Die Welt said “Expectation and reality are far apart at Mercedes”.

The article included Zetsche’s warning of early this year when he said that “If there are clear indications that we can use our money more effectively outside of formula one, we will have to take a new decision”.

And former Jordan and Jaguar designer Gary Anderson said: “The people around Brawn understand the car they have built for 2010 in the same way they understood it in the second half of last year.”

But Bernie Ecclestone thinks Mercedes needs more time to get up to speed with its own team.

“Of course it takes a bit of time to revive a myth, but I am sure they are on the right track and that the Silver Arrows will come back to full strength,” said the F1 chief executive.

(GMM)

Daimler’s President, Dieter Zetsche, has warned that for Mercedes F1 racing team to continue in Formula One, it must pay its participation by winning races, and thus helping its headquarter company.

Mercedes, together with Aabar stockholders, took charge of Brawn at the end of last year, satisfying the long cherished dream of becoming a Formula One constructor.  The manufacturer chose the seven-times champion, Michael Schumacher for the project, who will partner with Nico Rosberg to win the championship in his first comeback year.

However, Zetsche reveled in an interview that, “winning is the project’s “condition,” and he also warned that if there are “clear signs” that Daimler’s money could be better invested in some place else than Formula One, “a new decision will have to be taken.”

“The fact that Aabar is beside us as an investor, not only shows that we are allocating our risk, but it is a sign that the Formula One racing team has to pay itself;” added Zetsche.

Although the single-seated will not be seen until next week, the Grand Prix Mercedes motor-racing team introduced today, at the Mercedes Museum in Stuttgart, its two official pilots for the next season: Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg, both from Germany.

Before the media and a great crowd, the car that was used last year by the British Jenson Button, under the Brawn GP ‘Scuderia” was displayed, but with the silver color that the racing-team will show during the 2010 campaign.

“The German Formula One ‘Scuderia’ is now ready.  A bit of German pride is legitimate,” declared Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Daimler, when the design of the new silver racing cars was presented at the Mercedes Museum at Stuttgart.

The goal of the motor-racing team is clear: the World Championship title.  However, Zetsche chose not to risk himself and stated that the long-term targets do not necessarily have to be complied with in the first season.

“We have a clearly defined goal which is to become World Champions, but that doesn’t mean this has to happen during the first year,” Zetsche said.

“We’re a new team.  Give us some time,” he added.

Next week, the first official tests will take place at the Ricardo Tormo de Cheste circuit (Valencia, which will also be the site where the definitive single-seated named ‘MGP W01′ will be presented for the first time.  On the other hand, during the team’s official introduction, Schumacher, received most of the attention and declared: “Last summer, I already experienced how people received me, and frankly their reaction was a real surprise for me.

“It’s exciting and gives me a very warm feeling.  I’m very grateful with my fans.  Their reaction is a great motivation and driving force for me,” he added.

On his part, Rosberg said he’s looking forward to participate and is very happy.  Driving a Mercedes is a dream come true for him..  “It’s clear that this is a very, very special thing; a dream come true.  I’m looking forward to trying the new car out, and to work with people like Norbert (Haug), Ross (Brawn) and Nick (Fry), and to have Michael (Schumacher) as team-mate; that’s big.  It’s going to be a great season,” pronounced the second German of the racing-car team.

The thing being that Mercedes constitutes an only-German team.  The excitement was quite visible in Dieter Zetsche’s face.