Schumacher responds to family

Michael Schumacher often cries when he hears the voices of his family members, according to a report in the Italian magazine Autosprint.

This week, the F1 legend's manager and doctor hit back at claims by former driver Philippe Streiff, who declared that while Schumacher is unable to speak, he is "starting to recognise those close to him".

Official information has been thin on the ground throughout the full year since the former Ferrari and Mercedes driver's skiing crash last December.

But as the authoritative Autosprint's editor-in-chief Alberto Sabbatini writes, the health and future of one of the world's greatest ever sportsmen is "on everyone's mind".

The report said its information has been collected "as objectively as possible", based on "reliable and verified information" from "those who know and have seen him recently and are aware of his clinical status".

Sabbatini concluded that Schumacher is making a "very slow recovery", adding: "The good news is that Michael is not stuck in a bed.

"When not undergoing physical therapy to avoid muscle atrophy, he sits in a chair in front of the windows of his villa, overlooking on one side the snowy peaks of the Swiss alps, and on the other the shores of Lake Geneva.

"Michael has his eyes open," he continued, "but he is often looking into the void.

"In recent times, he has been able to recognise the familiar faces of his family, but he cannot communicate with them. He does not speak and he is not able to perform movements independently.

"He reacts to external stimuli but for now can only answer a familiar voice by moving his eyes.

"In a wonderful article in the Corriere della Sera on Sunday, Giorgio Terruzzi said that sometimes a tear rolls down Michael's face. He cries when he hears the voice of his children or Corinna.

"It shows that he feels emotion. That his brain works. It is the only way his strong character is able to externally convey an emotion. It is a sign that he is alive and understands, even if for now he is the prisoner of an immobile body," Sabbatini added.

Vettel talks about his first 'fairytale' Ferrari experience

Sebastian Vettel continued his introduction to Scuderia Ferrari during the weekend when the German F1 driver met with his new team principal Maurizio Arravabene and company chairman Sergio Marchionne, as well as James Allison and the rest of the engineering team.

The meeting was followed by 100 laps in the F2012 at the Fiorano Circuit and a few sessions in the F14T simulator.

Vettel remembers his childhood days when he used to dream of working with Ferrari. He said “Obviously it’s been a fantastic day to come here,”.
“I remember I’ve been here a long time ago as a little child, driving through Maranello and trying to look over the fence, so to be here officially as part of the team felt fantastic.

“The possibility to drive the car and get to know the team was a unique experience. Obviously it’s a very different colour for me, everybody is dressed in red, everything is red, but it’s really something special and I’m very much looking forward to the challenge that we took on for the next years.”

Regarding the test, “Obviously, its already winter time so it was quite cold doing some laps but it was a great feeling, it is always enjoyable to be in the car and, again, looking back to the years when I was 11 or 12, trying to look over the fence and trying to see a glimpse of Michael running on the track, well, today I was the one running and saw the tifosi around."