Schumacher: 2011 Mercedes could be a winning package

Michael Schumacher is now hopeful that the Mercedes W02 can be the car that takes him back to the top of the Formula 1 podium after the team's late surge at the end of winter testing.

Mercedes had been enduring a tough pre-season until its full 2011 package was introduced for the final two days and domed it to the front.

That has left Schumacher feeling confident that he can at least get back on the podium in 2011 - and maybe add to his record tally of 91 victories.

"My feeling is a good one," he said.

"The team has been functioning very hard over the winter to shape our car in all of the areas which had been recognized by us as needing improvement.

"The data I have seen over the winter had been quite hopeful, but then we all know that the realities of data and the race track can be quite different.

"As a driver, you clearly hope for a good step forward and I think this is what we have achieved.

"I am confident that we can fight for podium finishes, and I am hopeful we can fight for victories at some of the races.

"Saying that, we will only see the truth once the season gets underway, so I can barely wait to go to Melbourne to lastly see what the real picture is."

The German myth added that he felt far more at home back in F1 with a year of his comeback under his belt.

"This year feels very different certainly," he said.

"Last year everything was new again; the difficult situation, the car, the team, the structures.

"It was very thrilling but it was still something you had to find your way through.

"Now, one year later, I know much better which areas to work in.

"I am much more recognizable with the team and we have a great group of very skilled and devoted people.

"I enjoy what I do, I enjoy working with Mercedes, and I have never regretted my choice to return."

view this site : perry scales, chicago movers, texas coatings

Alonso rates his F1 rivals

Alonso was asked by Spanish paper AS to give his view on his Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa, current World Champion Sebastian Vettel and his Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber, McLaren duo Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton as well seven-time Champion Michael Schumacher.

Two-time Champion Alonso described Vettel as follows: "Very fast. Very fast and accurate. If he starts first in a race it is hard to stop him."

Mark Webber, who finished third in the Drivers' Championship last year is "experienced, calm and reliable. It is very difficult to see him fail."

Alonso believes his former McLaren team-mate Hamilton is "a great driver and one of the fastest of the present Formula One grid" while Button "has a great nature for difficult races in the rain or with the safety car in the dry".

As for Schumacher, Alonso says "he is the champion, we all respect him and he is a driver able of surprising".

And his views on his team-mate Massa?

"Very quickly, he knows the team, he ongoing with Sauber, but is now with Ferrari and very hungry to win."

view this site : chicago movers, moving quotes, chicago movers

Schumacher targets eighth world F1 designation

Michael Schumacher believes he can sign off the bitter dissatisfaction of his comeback season and take a shock eighth world title this year at the wheel of his Mercedes.

The 42-year-old failed to arrive at the podium in 19 races in 2010 and was totally outshone by Nico Rosberg who finished the campaign 70 points in front of the German veteran.

But there were signs of development towards the end of 2010 and Schumacher's confidence has been boosted by team principal Ross Brawn overseeing an improved technical package.

Asked if he expected to be world champion at the end of the best campaign in F1 history with 20 races, Schumacher told F1 Racing magazine: "Absolutely.

"We have a three-year project. Very clearly right now, we are not where we want to be. We've put a lot of attempt into coming back and are hopeful we have a chance.

"But in the history of Formula One, 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 title fight. I hope so.

"I'm here on a assignment and I want to succeed. I want to carry out and I'm going to put 100 percent into it. And if that's not the case in 2011, then we will contain to do it in the final year."

Schumacher will be back on track in Valencia for the first of the four pre-season tests from February 1 in front of the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix on March 13.

view this site : chicago movers, moving quotes, chicago mover

Another big weekend for Sebastian Vettel

Two weeks on from winning his first F1 drivers’ championship in the Abu Dhabi, there is still little sign of Sebastian Vettel taking a rest. This weekend he demonstrated his Red Bull on the streets of the Berlin in his native Germany.

If that wasn’t enough, he then headed to Dusseldorf where he and Michael Schumacher clinched their fourth successive Nations Cup title at the annual Race of Champions (ROC) event.

Vettel’s Berlin run took place on Saturday on a temporary track constructed on June 17th Street, allowing Formula One’s youngest champion to drive an F1 car in front of the famous Brandenburg Gate. He then completed a driver’s parade along Yitzhak-Rabin Street, aboard the Red Bull tour bus.

Happy to be able to celebrate with his fans in the German capital, Vettel said: "It was a dream come true for me today and it was great that so many people were here, even in the cold weather. It’s something very special to drive in front of the Brandenburg Gate and to leave a signature of rubber written by my slicks! You don’t get such a chance very often in life - it was a great day.”

On Sunday, neither Vettel nor Schumacher made the finals in the individual ROC competition, but in combination they were again invincible in the Nations Cup. In a repeat of the last two finals, Team Germany lined up against Team GB, represented by touring car stars Andy Priaulx and Jason Plato. The two teams were extremely closely matched and needed a sudden-death shoot-out to decide the result, with Schumacher beating Priaulx by a fraction.

Irvine: Schumacher was an idiot

Eddie Irvine has hit out at his former Ferrari team-mate Michael Schumacher following the Hungarian Grand Prix, branding the German as an 'idiot' for the move that he pulled on Rubens Barrichello late in the race.

Schumacher, now at Mercedes after three years in the retirement, forced Barrichello towards the pit wall as the pair battled back tenth place in the race and was handed a ten-place grid penalty to be take at the Spa for the way in which he has squeezed the Brazilian off the circuit onto the grass.

It is a move that has been widely condemned and Irvine pulled that no punches as he hit out at the German during an appearance on the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast Show.

"He was an idiot,” the Irish driver said. “It was an idiotic manoeuvre that was been extremely dangerous. It was incredible. He wasn't thinking and it was just pure and arrogance that he thought he could just drive another driver into the pit wall.

"He got punished, but I don't think he got punished even enough. He should have got a one race ban because it was one of the worst manoeuvres I've ever seen.”

Despite attacking the German however, Irvine said he didn't feel Schumacher should retire for a second time.

"I don't think he should retire,” he said. “He's always done a stuff like this and has intimidated people for a long time, but he got away with it because he was the Michael Schumacher.

"He was 'the' Michael Schumacher, but this Michael Schumacher isn't getting away with it."