History
Since the Formula
One World Championship began in 1950 the
title has been won by 31 different drivers,
14 of whom won more than one championship.
Of the previous multiple champions the most
prolific was Juan Manuel Fangio, whose
record of five titles stood for five decades
until it was eclipsed by the most dominant
driver in the history of the sport. By the
time he retired, still the man to beat after
16 seasons at the top, Michael Schumacher
had seven driving titles and held nearly
every record in the book by a considerable
margin. Though his ethics were sometimes
questionable, his sheer brilliance behind
the wheel was never in dispute.
The most extraordinary driver's origins were
most ordinary. He was born on 3 January,
1969, near Cologne, Germany, six years
before his brother Ralf, who would also
become a Formula One driver. Their father, a
bricklayer, ran the local kart track, at
Kerpen, where Mrs Schumacher operated the
canteen. As a four-year old Michael enjoyed
playing on a pedal kart, though when his
father fitted it with a small motorcycle
engine the future superstar promptly crashed
into a lamppost. But Michael soon mastered
his machine and won his first kart
championship at six, following which his far
from affluent parents arranged sponsorship
from wealthy enthusiasts that enabled
Michael to make rapid progress. By 1987 he
was German and European kart champion and
had left school to work as an apprentice car
mechanic, a job that was soon replaced by
full-time employment as a race driver. In
1990 he won the German F3 championship and
was hired by Mercedes to drive sportscars.
The next year he made a stunning Formula One
debut, qualifying an astonishing seventh in
a Jordan for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa,
whereupon he was immediately snapped up by
Benetton, where in 1992 he won his first
Formula One race, again at Spa, the most
demanding circuit of them all.
Over the next four seasons with Benetton he
won a further 18 races and two world
championships. His first, in 1994, was
somewhat tainted in that Benetton was
suspected of technical irregularities and in
their championship showdown race in Adelaide
Schumacher collided (deliberately, some
thought) with his closest challenger, the
Williams of Damon Hill. But Germany's first
world champion was unquestionably worthy of
the 1995 driving title, following which he
moved to Ferrari, then a team in disarray
and without a champion since Jody Scheckter
in 1979. The Schumacher-Ferrari combination
began promisingly with three wins in 1996
and five more in 1997, though that season
ended in infamy when in the final race, at
Jerez in Spain, Schumacher tried
unsuccessfully to ram the Williams of his
title rival Jacques Villeneuve off the road.
As punishment for his misdemeanour
Schumacher's second place in the
championship was stricken from the record
books he would thereafter begin to rewrite.
After finishing second overall in 1998,
Schumacher's 1999 season was interrupted by
a broken leg (the only injury of his career)
incurred in crash at the British Grand Prix.
From then on there was no stopping 'Schumi'
- who in 2000 became Ferrari's first
champion in 21 years, then went on to win
the driving title for the next four seasons
in succession. In 2002 he won 11 times and
finished on the podium in all 17 races. In
2003 he broke Fangio's record by winning his
sixth driving title. In 2004 he won 13 of
the 18 races to secure his seventh
championship by a massive margin.
Disadvantaged by an off-the-pace Ferrari in
2005 he still managed third overall in the
standings. In 2006 he finished his career
with a flourish (though at Monaco he was
found guilty of deliberately parking his
Ferrari to prevent anyone from beating his
qualifying time): extending his pole
position record to 68 (Ayrton Senna had 65),
scoring seven victories to bring his total
to 91 (40 more than his nearest rival, Alain
Prost) and nearly winning yet another
driving title.
Like all the great drivers Schumacher had
exceptional ambition, confidence,
intelligence, motivation, dedication and
determination. What set him apart and helped
account for his unprecedented length of time
at the top of his profession was a pure
passion for racing and an endless quest for
improvement. Blessed with a supreme natural
talent, he had a racing brain to match,
possessing spare mental capacity that
enabled him to make split-second decisions,
adapt to changing circumstances and plan
ahead while driving on the limit, which with
his superb state of fitness (he trained
harder than any driver) he was easily able
to do for lap after lap. The smoothly swift
and mechanically-aware driver operated with
a keen sensitivity for the limits of his car
and himself (he made comparatively few
mistakes) and his feedback to his engineers
(led by technical director Ross Brawn who
worked with him throughout his career) was
exceptionally astute.
No Ferrari driver worked harder for the
team, nor were any of them more appreciated
than the German who led the famous Italian
Scuderia to six successive Constructors'
Championships. He led by example, frequently
visiting the factory at Maranello, talking
to the personnel, thanking them, encouraging
them, never criticising and invariably
inspiring everyone with his optimism, high
energy level and huge work ethic. The team
was totally devoted to the driver who often
said he loved the Ferrari ‘family’.
Life with his own family - wife Corinna and
their children Gina-Maria and Mick - was
deliberately kept as normal as possible (the
children never came to the races) and held
sacred by the essentially shy and private
man who reluctantly became one of the most
famous sportsmen in the world. Rich beyond
his wildest dreams (he reportedly earned as
much as US$100 million a year), he
generously supported charities, especially
those for underprivileged children, and to
help victims of the 2004 Asian tsunami
disaster he made a personal donation of
US$10 million.
In his last season the 37-year-old driver
who had made Formula One racing his personal
playground was still at the peak of his
powers. No champion had been so excellent
for so long, but Michael Schumacher finally
grew tired of the effort necessary to
continue to excel and decided to quit while
he was still ahead - so far ahead that his
achievements are unlikely to ever be
surpassed.
Text - Gerald Donaldson
F1
