Michael Schumacher’s brother has tipped the seven time world champion to keep racing beyond his 44th birthday.

Schumacher’s Mercedes deal runs out this year, but talks about a new contract for 2013 are yet to be discussed.

Ralf Schumacher, also a grand prix winner and six years younger than his more famous sibling, was asked by Bild am Sonntag newspaper about Michael’s recent anti-Pirelli outburst.

Asked if it was an overreaction to the fact his teammate Nico Rosberg was the first Mercedes driver to win in 2012, Ralf answered: “It has nothing to do with it.

“But for sure Michael came back to celebrate successes with Mercedes. And until he succeeds, he will not give up.

“I still see a lot of fire in Michael,” said Ralf Schumacher, now a DTM driver with Mercedes.

“He is pushing hard, as we saw as recently as Mugello last week.”

Ralf said Mercedes’ 2012 F1 car, the W03, is well built.

“I think we will see Michael on the podium soon,” he insisted.

“At some point, there surely comes a point when the body can’t do it any more. But when I look at Michael, that’s still a few years away.

“I certainly won’t be racing as long as he has,” he laughed.

Ralf Schumacher has ruled out following his older brother Michael back into formula one.

At the weekend, 36-year-old Ralf kicked off his fifth consecutive season driving a Mercedes in the German touring car series DTM.

He was a respected winner of 6 grands prix, driving most recently for Toyota in 2007, but despite his famous brother’s return to F1 with Mercedes, Ralf told Germany’s Der Westen that his own grand prix career “is over”.

“Formula one is exciting and beautiful, but the DTM is much more friendly, we don’t have to travel all around the world, everything is familiar.

“I like that,” the German said.

There are still some “gentlemen” in F1, team boss and owner Peter Sauber insists.

Amid the recent F-duct debate, it was suggested that Mercedes’ Ross Brawn had broken a teams’ ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ that the technology should not be pursued.

“I think you need gentlemen in formula one for this” Sport Bild reporter Ralf Bach jibed sarcastically during a news conference recently.

But Sauber, arguably one of the few gentlemen in the paddock, told Sonntagsblick that he still has some peers.

Asked if he was privately congratulated after Sergio Perez’s second place in Malaysia recently, the Swiss said: “Martin Whitmarsh, of McLaren, offered me a very nice congratulation.

“Franz Tost (Toro Rosso) wrote me a lovely text. And then Domenicali and the people at Ferrari; we have a very friendly relationship,” added Sauber.

As for whether there are many other gentlemen in F1, he insisted: “In this business, you don’t really ask this question.

“I didn’t know Colin Chapman. Ken Tyrrell was someone who appealed to me greatly, but he didn’t take us (Sauber) seriously. It was the same with Frank Williams.”

Indeed, in the paddock, scepticism and cynicism are more widespread, which explains why Sauber’s 2012 car – although fast throughout winter testing – was not regarded as a serious threat until mere days ago.

“We knew our car was good after the tests in Jerez and Barcelona. But the others just thought that we were running light, which is common when a team from the midfield shows something,” said Sauber.

Also amusing, according to Peter Sauber, is the story of Sergio Perez.

“A year ago it was said he just paid for his cockpit. So it makes me chuckle now when I see them say he is going to Ferrari,” he smiled.

Nearly half of all German sports fans think Michael Schumacher should return to retirement, according to a survey.
Citing the German market research company Promit, SID news agency said 47.2 per cent of respondents would advise the seven time world champion against signing a new agreement to stay in formula one beyond his 2012 contract.

In contrast, just 32.2 per cent said the Mercedes driver should stay in 2013, with 8.5 per cent advising a move to the German touring car series DTM to reunite with his brother Ralf.

As for the 42-year-old German himself, Schumacher insists he has not decided what to do.

“I will definitely be here (in F1) next year,” the German is quoted by the Kleine Zeitung newspaper.

“Then we will see what happens.”

Meanwhile, 62.7 per cent of those surveyed tipped Sebastian Vettel to wrap up the 2011 title before the last grand prix of the season in November.

The Schumacher brothers are adamant Red Bull must now impose team orders if it wants to win the 2010 drivers’ world championship.

Their young countryman Sebastian Vettel looked set to take the points lead from his Australian teammate Mark Webber, who crashed on the slippery Yeongam circuit, after controlling Sunday’s Korean grand prix from pole position.

But Vettel also retired from the race with an engine failure, leaving him 14 points shy of Webber, who is now 11 points behind new championship leader Fernando Alonso.

With just two races to go, Ralf Schumacher thinks Red Bull’s new strategy should be obvious.

“Now Red Bull need to play a single card; Mark Webber,” the former grand prix winner, in Korea to commentate for German television, is quoted by Bild newspaper.

“Sebastian needs to get as many points as he can, but Red Bull must see to it that Webber gets the title,” Schumacher added.

Reluctantly, because it will be to the detriment of his friend Vettel, seven time world champion Michael Schumacher also said a team strategy must now be taken by Red Bull for the remaining Brazilian and Abu Dhabi grands prix.

“I’m sorry for Sebastian,” he told German television Sky. “I have to recall almost a decade ago, when everyone thought we at Ferrari were crazy to be thinking about the championship so early.

“But if Red Bull had done the same, their worry lines would be much smaller now,” added the German.

His reference to “almost a decade ago” must surely be about 2002, when Ferrari was roundly condemned for moving Rubens Barrichello aside so that Schumacher could take maximum points from the Austrian grand prix.

Ferrari implemented a similarly controversial strategy at Hockenheim earlier this year, and on Sunday Fernando Alonso moved to the head of the drivers’ title standings.

But Red Bull team boss Christian Horner was quoted on Sunday as saying he will not be making Webber the number 1 driver for the rest of 2010.

But he also told reporters at Yeongam: “I haven’t had time to look at all the mathematics and scenarios. It’s something that obviously we will look at pretty closely between now and Brazil.”

Vettel, however, made clear he is not personally ready to give up, even though his engine failure seriously dented his charge in Korea.

“It is very significant for the championship situation, but I am the last to give up,” German media quote him as saying.

Susie Stoddart has revealed she would like a formula one team to give her the opportunity of a proper track test.

The 27-year-old Scottish driver, whose partner is the Williams co-owner Christian ‘Toto’ Wolff, currently races a Mercedes in the German touring car series DTM.

“I dream about formula one,” Stoddart, no relation to the former Minardi owner Paul Stoddart, told the Austrian magazine SportWoche.

“I would at least like my first test. That’s what I really want to do. But I don’t want it to just be a PR stunt.

“I want to show them what I can do,” added Stoddart, who has also raced in Formula Renault and British F3.

She is currently 12th in the 2010 DTM standings, ahead of former F1 drivers Ralf Schumacher, David Coulthard and Markus Winkelhock, with two races to go.

Jun.10 (GMM)  Michael Schumacher looks set to stay at Mercedes in 2011.

The famous German, who initially retired in 2006, is believed to have signed a three-year contract prior to returning to formula one this season.

But after a difficult re-acclimatisation, it had been widely speculated that the 41-year-old might prefer to step back out of the race cockpit at the end of 2010.

Boss Ross Brawn said in Turkey that he hopes both Schumacher and Nico Rosberg stay at the team in 2011.

Schumacher’s younger brother Ralf also thinks the seven time world champion is staying put.

“I think he’s pretty happy with what he’s doing and, as far as I know, it’s a three-year plan, so I’m sure we’ll see him around for a while,” he told 422race.com.

And Schumacher himself is quoted as saying on Thursday: “For me this is not a one-year project.”

That commitment might lead to Mercedes eventually calling off development of the silver MGP-01 in order to concentrate early on its 2011 successor.

“By mid-season, we must look to put the F-duct in and catch up to the top,” Brawn added.  “If it is worthwhile to keep attacking then we will do it, if not we will concentrate everything on 2011.”

The Briton told Italy’s Autosprint magazine that he still thinks the pacesetting Red Bull cars are still within reach.

“Some aspects of their car is different from all the others,” he explained.  “Other teams will introduce these elements in the next races.

“I know that everyone is looking with great interest at their exhaust system,” said Brawn.

Jarno Trulli is this weekend bidding to maintain a perfect qualifying record on the streets of Monaco.

Since his first visit to the Principality as a formula one driver in 1997, the 35-year-old Italian has never been outqualified by the occupant of the sister car.

His conquests include Ukyo Katayama, Olivier Panis, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso, Ralf Schumacher and Timo Glock.

His Lotus teammate in 2010 is Heikki Kovalainen, who has so far outqualified 2004 Monaco winner Trulli on two occasions.

Finn Kovalainen told Turun Sanomat: “I will just concentrate on my own performance.”

(GMM)

The former grand prix winner is in the Barcelona paddock this week as the team principal of the new GP3 team RSC Mucke, which has performed strongly in Spain.

Asked by Germany’s Bild-Zeitung, the 34-year-old refused to rule out one day turning his management skills to F1, where he won 6 of his 182 career grands prix.

“I am very interested in the view from outside of the cockpit,” DTM driver Schumacher admitted.

(GMM)

May 7 (GMM)  Michael Schumacher on Friday confirmed he is now feeling more comfortable at the wheel of his 2010 Mercedes.

Earlier at the Circuit de Catalunya, his younger brother Ralf remarked that “everything for Michael looks a whole lot better” as he outpaced the sister car driven by Nico Rosberg in both 90-minute sessions.

“Here I’m feeling comfortable with the car, it does do what I’m asking it to do,” said the German, after driving the revised W01 car with a longer wheelbase.

Nico Rosberg, meanwhile – who had previously been outpaced by Schumacher in just four other official sessions this season – said he “went wrong on the setup” of the updated car.

It had been suggested prior to the weekend that the changes implemented by Mercedes might suit Schumacher but cause Rosberg, who is currently second in the world championship and 40 points ahead of his teammate, to suffer.

“I’m not sure, we’ll have to see,” team boss Ross Brawn told the Evening Standard last week when confronted with the theory.

(GMM)  On the opening day of the fifth grand prix weekend of 2010, Michael Schumacher’s brother thinks the seven time world champion may have turned the corner.

6-time GP winner Ralf Schumacher, six years younger than the Mercedes driver, is in the Barcelona paddock this weekend as sporting boss of the GP3 team RSC Mucke.

Mercedes has heavily updated its 2010 car for the Spanish grand prix, including a longer wheelbase that is touted to suit 41-year-old Schumacher’s famous affection for strong front-end handling.

In morning practice, he was ahead of Nico Rosberg by more than three tenths, having been outpaced by the younger German in nearly every previous track session.

Schumacher looked comfortable and competitive once again in the afternoon.

“Here in free practice we have seen that everything for Michael looks a whole lot better,” Ralf told Sky television.

Apr.22 (GMM) Two more of Michael Schumacher’s supporters have backed the seven time world champion amid his currently lacklustre 2010 return to formula one.

On Wednesday, Bernie Ecclestone and Norbert Haug hit out at the negative reports about Schumacher’s form in the W01 Mercedes, and now his younger brother Ralf Schumacher is asking the critics to “lay off a bit” and “stay fair”.

“He himself knew that, after a three-year break, he could not go in and win again straightaway like before,” 34-year-old Schumacher told the German daily Bild.

“But the expectations from outside were, of course, very big. Clearly Michael probably hoped to be somewhat nearer the front after four races.

“With regard to the times he is not so far away as the points make it seem. I believe a good result is soon possible,” added Ralf.

David Coulthard said in the German press after Shanghai that the weekend had been “the darkest” in the 41-year-old’s entire career.

But on Wednesday, ahead of his debut in the DTM series this weekend, Coulthard insisted it is “ridiculous” to write off Schumacher now.

Niki Lauda said after China that the German’s performance had been “mediocre” but he thinks it can be remedied with “practice, practice, practice”.

And another former GP winner Jochen Mass, who raced in the 70s and 80s, said he is neither “surprised nor disappointed” about Schumacher’s current form.

“No one should forget that he hasn’t driven for three years and could do hardly any testing,” he told Express.

“We might not see the old Michael back again, but he can still be very good, further forward in the rankings and with a little luck winning again,” added Mass.