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BIOGRAPHY !!!!
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On the 3rd of January 1969, Rolf and Elisabeth Schumacher became the proud parents of a baby boy,
Michael. Little did they know at the time what lay ahead for the Schumacher family.
When Michael was four, he was given a pedal kart. His father, Rolf decided to install an old motorcycle
engine in the kart for some more speed for his son. Michael enjoyed driving the now faster kart, but
unfortunately (or fortunately as it turned out) he collided with a lamp post. This lead to the decision that
Michael would be far safer driving on the local kart track at Kerpen-Horrem (as there were no lamp
posts to hit!)
At the age of four he was the youngest member and driver at the kart club. When Michael was five, Rolf
built him the 'cheapest go-kart ever built,' made from second-hand equipment which others had
discarded. He was probably still using this kart when he won the club championship for the first time at
the age of six. This was despite his rivals being older and generally having better equipment.
Although karting is comparatively cheap, it does still cost money. Rolf soon
realised that his son's karting career was costing more money than he could
afford, and eventually Michael was faced with the prospect of the end to his
karting career, despite his obvious talent. However, this talent led local
business people, as well as friends of the family, to sponsor him, allowing him
to continue.
Jurgen Dilk helped Michael when he was ten by buying him a new kart, and realising the driving ability
that Michael had, continued to support him, only asking for the trophies that Michael won in return. He
also helped to find other sponsors for Michael.
Michael had a successful time karting in the mid-eighties. In 1984 he was German Junior Champion,
repeating the feat in 1985 as well as finishing runner-up in the Junior World Championship. In 1986 he
finished third in the German Senior and European Senior Championships, while in 1987 he won both the
German Senior and European Senior Championships.
Although karting was a large part of Michael's childhood, he did go to school just like every other child.
He showed ability in several subjects, including mathematics and English, as well as sports such as judo
and soccer. When Michael was eleven, he had the choice between taking part in a go-kart race or a
judo competition. Choosing the latter, he came third and immediately realised he had made the wrong
choice. However, racing was only a hobby.
After completing his schooling, Michael took up an apprenticeship as a
mechanic at a local garage. At worst, he would have some qualifications
if his driving career failed. Actually, the apprenticeship helped him
greatly, as it helped him to understand better how a car worked.
Michael changed garages after one year of his apprenticeship, working
at Willy Bergmeister's garage; Willy was a racer too. He completed his
apprenticeship early while working at Willy's garage.
In 1988, with sponsorship help from Jurgen Dilk, Michael took his first
step from karting into single seaters, that being Formula K�nig.
Although the cars have a small engine, the cars have adjustable wings,
making them the first step in single-seaters. Michael won nine of the ten
rounds, finishing second in the other to become the clear champion at
season's end. At the same time, he also competed in the German
Formula Ford series, finishing sixth overall, as well as the European Formula Ford series, finishing
second overall. In fact, the European Formula Ford Champion in 1988 was Mika Salo, a future
Formula One competitor.
In 1989, Michael moved up to German Formula Three, driving for WTS. WTS was Michael's
introduction to Willi Weber, who has been a part of Michael's career ever since. Michael was in
contention for the championship throughout the season, the two other contenders being the Austrian
Karl Wendlinger and fellow German Heinz-Harald Frentzen. With one round remaining, Karl led the
championship, needing a very poor result to let either Michael or Heinz-Harald through to win the
championship. Despite finishing fourteenth in the final round, Karl won the championship, beating both
Michael and Heinz-Harald by an agonising one point.
Michael went to Macau in 1989, winning the first heat after a first-corner
crash involving several cars. He again lead the second heat but retired with
mechanical problems.
In 1990, Michael returned to German Formula 3, winning the championship despite not finishing in either
of the first two rounds of it. More importantly, he formed part of the new Mercedes Junior Team (along
with Karl and Heinz-Harald) in the World Sports-Prototype Championship. Driving the Group C cars
was not easy, with turbocharged 5-litre V8 engines producing 700hp, but this taught the drivers how to
conserve tyres and fuel as tyres could be trashed easily with 700hp under the right foot, as well as
having to make too many pitstops if excessive amounts of fuel was used. The 'junior' drivers did well,
with Michael winning the final round with co-driver Jochen Mass in Mexico City despite his dislike for
the notoriously dangerous circuit.
Michael returned to Macau in 1990, taking second position on the grid behind Mika H�kkinen. Mika
won the first heat, Michael finishing second,and Mika again took the early lead in the second. However,
Michael passed Mika, although Mika trailed close behind, close enough for the overall win as it was
based on aggregate time. Mika made a lunge for the lead on the final lap, which Michael resisted,
resulting in Mika's exit from the race. Michael went on to win the heat and the race overall, despite
having to complete the remainder of the final lap without a rear wing after his altercation with Mika.
In 1991, Michael again drove for Mercedes in the World Sports- Prototype Championship, teaming up
with Karl Wendlinger. However, the Mercedes was outclassed for most of the year, with poor reliability
and lack of speed causing the greatest problems. Michael again won the last round of the season, this
time at Autopolis. By the time he won at Autopolis though, he had competed in five Formula One Grand
Prix, one for Jordan and four for Benetton, as well as one Formula 3000 race in Japan.
Michael made a spectacular debut in Formula One. Having driven a
Formula One car for the first time on the Tuesday before the race, his
qualifying position of seventh was remarkable. It was even more
remarkable if you consider it was the first time he had visited the track!
Although he retired in the race on lap one with a clutch problem, he
had made a significant impression on the Formula One circus. So much
so, that by the next race he was now driving for Benetton.
Many discussions took place between Spa and the next race, which
was at Monza over where Michael would be driving for the rest of the 1991 season and subsequent
seasons, with both Jordan and Benetton claiming that he would be driving for them. Eventually things
were sorted in Benetton's favour, with Michael signed up for the remainder of 1991 and several
subsequent seasons. Again he impressed, outqualifying triple World Champion Nelson Piquet, and
scoring his first points as he finished fifth. A couple of sixth places topped off the remainder of the
season.
1992 was a learning year - learning to cope
with a new team mate, learning to drive new
circuits, and learning to cope with new
expectations from others in terms of results.
He learned well, and managed to score a
podium finish in only his eighth race, as well as
a front row grid position in only his tenth race,
only Nigel Mansell's dominant
Williams-Renault faster. He was involved in an
incident with Ayrton Senna during a test at
Hockenheim just before the German Grand Prix. A misunderstanding occurred between them on the
track, leading to Michael brake-testing Senna. Ayrton apparently didn't like this too much and grabbed
Michael by the throat when he returned to the pits in front of a group of journalists. McLaren mechanics
prised Senna off, with Michael saying that maybe Ayrton wanted to give his neck a massage! Michael's
first win in Formula One came in only his eighteenth race, involving both skill and a bit of luck as he
understeered off the circuit, but avoiding the barriers, continued on, and as he saw the condition of team
mate Martin Brundle's tyres, decided a change to slicks was the right thing to do. This allowed him to
build up a lead which no-one was able to conquer. After a close second in the final race of the season in
Adelaide, he finished third in the World Championship, a tremendous achievement in only his first full
year of Formula One.
1993 was a disappointing year in many ways, with many good qualifying
performances thwarted by a lack of reliability with the car. He was set to
win in Monaco when a '50 cent' part failed, causing hydraulic failure.
Also, a problem with the traction control system led to lost places at the
start of at least two races, possibly costing him victory in the Belgian
Grand Prix. A string of podium finishes, as well as another win offset that
to an extent, bringing him fourth in the World Championship.
1994 was a tumultuous and tragic year. Tragic, with the deaths of the rookie Roland Ratzenberger and
the brilliant triple World Champion Ayrton Senna at Imola, as well as the crash of Karl Wendlinger at
Monaco. Tumultuous, as allegations of traction control were levelled at the Benetton team, the passing
of Damon Hill on the warm-up lap at Silverstone and then not responding to the black flag,
Verstappen's pit-stop fire at Hockenheim, the
'too-thin' plank at Spa and finally the collision with
Hill at the final race of the season at Adelaide
topped off a season full of ups and downs as he
won 8 races and became World Champion. It was
a year that many thought would be dominated by
Senna, but it was not to be. Michael himself
believed that this may well have occurred, with a
statement made during a post-race interview at
Adelaide saying he would like to give the World
Championship to Senna. In Barcelona, Michael
finished second in what was probably his best ever drive, as for three-quarters of the race the car was
stuck in 5th gear. It was only the combination of the flexibility of the Zetec-R engine, Michael's skill as
well as some of the techniques he had learned in Sports-Prototype racing to maximize corner speed that
allowed him to finish the race so well.
1995 started off controversially when both Michael and David Coulthard were disqualified from the
Brazilian Grand Prix over fuel irregularities. The FIA's subsequent decision over the appeal confused the
teams as the drivers got their points back while the constructors didn't! When Michael crashed at Imola,
speculation from the press said he had 'cracked' under
pressure. The next few races certainly did not provide any
more evidence of this being the case. Another collision with
Hill at Silverstone lead to speculation of a bitter feud
between Michael and Damon, which both parties denied. A
wet and dry race at Spa led to more sparks as a minor clash
between the cars when Hill on wets tried to pass Michael on
slicks in wet conditions at Les Combes, as well as claims of
blocking only led to further claims of a feud, not helped at
Monza when Hill and Schumacher went off again together.
The remainder of the season was reasonably
uncontroversial, as Michael took 3 wins, including one at the N�rburgring where he charged from 40+
seconds behind to win the race, after passing Alesi around the outside with just 2 laps to go. Winning 9
races for the season, equalling Nigel Mansell's 1992 record, becoming World Champion for a second
time, (the youngest double champion), as well as helping Benetton secure their first Constructors'
Championship, in a car many acknowledged was not as good as the Williams, made the achievements
even more meritorious. In fact, it will be a year that he may well find hard (if not impossible) to beat.
1996 was an interesting year. Could
Michael retain the title and make it
three in a row for only the second
time in the history of Formula 1?
How well would 'rookie' (though
1995 IndyCar World Series
Champion) Jacques Villeneuve, and
more importantly, how well would
Damon Hill do? Would he win the
championship? Would he keep his
Williams drive? There seemed to be more worries during the season off the track than on it! Despite
little pre-season testing, the two Ferraris occupied the second row in Melbourne, with Eddie Irvine
becoming only the third driver to outqualify Michael (each doing so only once). However, the car was
not fully sorted and ran several of the early races with parts from the '95 car in the interests of reliability.
Still, Michael ran remarkably close to the lead in Argentina, N�rburgring and Imola, with N�rburgring
being a highlight as he pushed Villeneuve hard for 2/3 of the race. Then came Monaco and the meeting
with the Armco... Barcelona was the exact opposite, as Michael absolutely demolished the opposition,
with a fastest lap more than 2 seconds faster than anyone elses! Unfortunately this was followed by a
period of unreliability, the worst being the engine detonating on the warm-up lap of the French Grand
Prix, after Michael had managed to set pole! Finally at Spa and Monza things turned better, as he won
both races, with the tifosi going beserk for the first Ferrari victory at Monza since 1988. A third, and
then second at the final race rounded off a reasonably successful year - not as successful as some
hoped, but as successful as could be expected in the circumstances.
1997 was both a success and a failure. A success, with Michael nearly winning the title, but a failure in
the end when it was not realised (and also the way the battle ended). After up and down early season
form, which netted Michael two second places and a fifth, Michael drove a dominating race in a wet
Monaco to take the Championship lead. Barcelona
was a poor race (for a change), but Michael then
won the next two races, having a little bit of luck in
Montreal. Then at Silverstone, while leading (partly
due to a problematic pit-stop for Villeneuve), a
wheel bearing failed. A second at home, followed by
a tyre-chewing fourth in Hungary, had Michael in a
position where a good run by Villeneuve would see
the championship head Jacques' way. At Spa,
however, this was not to be, as Michael proved his
superiority in a wet-dry race, winning by almost half a minute. Monza saw little change to the situation,
however Austria and Luxembourg saw Jacques' chances rise as he took two wins while Michael
finished sixth in Austria (thanks to a yellow flag infringement) and was damaged beyond repair in a first
corner incident at Luxembourg (involving the two Jordans). A strange race at Suzuka, as Jacques held
the field up after being suspended due to a multiple yellow flag violation, only for Jacques to be
overtaken by Irvine. Michael then got through on Jacques (just!) at the first pit stops, with Eddie handing
over to Michael, with Eddie running interference (literally). Michael went on to take the win, leaving him
in the lead (just!) as they entered the last race. After everyone overcame the shock of the first three
drivers qualifying with the same lap time, the race started, with Michael holding a slim but 'safe' lead
over Jacques. Just after both drivers seconds pit stops, however, Jacques closed in, with Jacques
making a late dive at Dry Sack corner. Michael, partly surprised, first turned away, then turned in, the
two cars touching. Michael finished in the gravel, while Jacques continued on to take the championship.
Despite 5 wins, the year would be remembered by many people not for the fight for the title but instead
for the incident at Jerez. Despite the incident however, Michael's drives during the year, particularly at
Monaco and Spa showed he was still the one to beat.
1998 was similar in that Michael was again in contention for the title, but again it was not to be. But after
the first race in Australia, the odds on anyone other than either of the McLaren drivers winning the title
must've been extremely long! Brazil was slightly better, the McLarens still dominating but at least
Michael took third. Action in Argentina including
some argy-bargy saw Michael take the win, followed
by a closing-in second place at Imola. Monaco was
a low point, with contact with Wurz during an
overtaking manoeuvre leading to rear suspension
damage and a finish out of the points. Canada was a
race full of incident, Michael taking the win after
run-ins with Frentzen and Hill, including a ten second
stop/go penalty. Another win in France followed,
amid controversy over the decision to restart the
race, which (luckily) benefitted the two Ferraris. At a
very wet Silverstone, Michael won again after a safety car, a pass under waved yellows, the leader
spinning then falling off the track, and a stop/go penalty that was taken...or was it? And was the penalty
applied correctly? It was decided that although there was a penalty to be taken, it had been given too
late and was therefore anulled, meaning that Michael could keep the win. Austria saw Michael fight for
the lead with H�kkinen before making an unusual error and falling off the track, damaging the front wing,
leading to Michael fighting back through the field to eventually take third place (with a little help from
Eddie). Germany was a shocker, fifth being Michael's weekend work, while the next race was the exact
opposite, Hungary seeing Michael and Ferrari put one over the McLarens. Spa is probably best
forgotten - at least, the race after lap 24 - while Monza was a place to rejoice as both Ferrari drivers
and Schumachers stood on the podium as Coulthard's exploding engine led to Michael passing
H�kkinen for the lead and consequently the win. Luxembourg saw a better result than 1997, however,
Michael's early race lead turned into a H�kkinen win by the end of the race. Suzuka was a race of highs
and lows - highs for H�kkinen's Championship and Michael's fight back through to as high as 3rd place;
lows including two restarts, including Michael's 'stall' and the tyre failure which was caused by an
impossible move by one backmarker on another. At least there was no contact between the two title
contenders, apart from a congratulatory handshake after the race! 6 wins saw Michael once again get
desperately close, driving the wheels off the car throughout the year, but the McLarens were just too
good too often, especially the one driven by Mika...maybe 1999 will see salvation for the faithful
followers.
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