The glittering evening attracted royalty as well as movie stars, entertainers and a worldwide television audience estimated at 320 million.
Lance Armstrong and Roger Federer were nominated for the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award.
The Indian driver says he would like to take the place of Williams test driver Alex Wurz's, who has been promoted as one of the team's two race drivers.
Red Bull, owned by Austrian energy drink billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz, have taken over the old Jaguar team.
"Basically I came home pretty much frustrated from China, after a very sad season," the seven times Formula One champion said.
If the German wins the title, he could then walk away and Massa would simply slot in alongside Raikkonen at Ferrari.
The Finn fought back from sixth quickest in Friday's first practice session to edge out Schumacher for the fastest time overall.
The time sheet for Sunday's Malaysian Formula One Grand Prix.
"The reality check is a race weekend so there is nowhere to hide from that," said the Scot.
As his stunned rivals licked their wounds, Schumacher warned that Ferrari would not have it that easy at the next race in Malaysia on March 21.
But the Spaniard also believes that he will be able to fight back strongly in the last three and retain his title.
Paddock sentiment has started swinging towards the expectation that the German will continue for another year or two.
Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso is confident he can stop Michael Schumacher's winning run in his Ferrari rival's home German Grand Prix this weekend.
The driver's manager Willi Weber announced the donation on a German television fundraising drive which raised over 34 million euros ($46.2 million) in pledges.
Michael Schumacher believes he can turn his record eighth French Grand Prix win into an eighth Formula One championship.
The 37-year-old's victory in France also made him the first driver to win the same Grand Prix eight times
Michael Schumacher seized pole position as Ferrari swept the front row at the French Grand Prix
'It's been ultimately a really great race between two different teams and it ends with a bit of a ... negative. It does kind of feel like a deflated win'
His manager Willi Weber also said the German driver was not going to McLaren.
More than 100,000 viewers voted in the contest, which was broadcast on ZDF television.
Renault's Fernando Alonso took a giant step towards becoming Formula One's youngest champion by finishing a close second.
Points rather than a podium finish may be the best Ferrari can hope for from their home Italian Grand Prix this weekend, said the Formula One champion.
Michael Schumacher can equal Ayrton Senna's record of six Monaco Grand Prix victories in the most glamorous race of the F1 season this weekend.