Michael Schumacher

Basic Facts

Birth date : 3rd January 1969
Birth place : Hürth-Hermülheim, Germany
Nickname: Schumi, Schuey
Country : Brazil
Marital status : Married
Height : 174 cm
Weight : 68 kg
Wife Corinna Schumacher (nee Betsch) since Tuesday 1st August 1995
Children Gina-Maria, daughter (DOB 19/01/97) and son Mick (DOB 22/03/99)
Family Rolf: Father, Elizabeth: Mother and Ralf: Brother (DOB 30/6/75)

Early Years

In Germany, the regulations require the driver to be at least 14 years old in order to obtain a kart license. To get around this, Schumacher obtained a license in Luxembourg in 1981, at the age of 12.

In 1983, he obtained his German license and the year after he won the German Junior Kart Championship. From 1984, Schumacher won numerous German and European kart championships. He joined Eurokart dealer Adolf Neubert in 1985. By 1987 he was the German and European kart champion, at which point he withdrew from school and began working as a mechanic. In 1988 Schumacher made his first step into single-seat car racing by racing in the German Formula Ford and Formula König series, winning the latter.

In 1989, Schumacher signed with Willi Weber's WTS Formula 3 team. For the next two years, funded by Weber, he competed in the German Formula 3 series, winning the title in 1990. Towards the end of 1990, along with his Formula 3 rivals Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Karl Wendlinger, he joined the Mercedes junior racing programme in the World Sports-Prototype Championship. This was an unusual move for a young driver: most of Schumacher's contemporaries would instead compete in Formula 3000 on their way to Formula One. However, Weber advised Schumacher that exposure to professional press conferences and driving powerful cars in long distance races would help his career. Schumacher gained victory at the season finale at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in a Sauber-Mercedes C11 and finished fifth in the drivers' championship. He continued with the team in the 1991 World Sportscar Championship season, winning again at the final race of the season at Autopolis in Japan with a Sauber-Mercedes-Benz C291, leading to a ninth place finish in the drivers championship. In 1991, he competed in one race in the Japanese Formula 3000 Championship, finishing second.

 

Formula 1 Debut

Schumacher made his Formula One debut with the Jordan-Ford team at the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix, driving car number 32 as a replacement for the imprisoned Bertrand Gachot. Schumacher, still a contracted Mercedes driver, was signed by Eddie Jordan after Mercedes paid Jordan $150,000 for his debut. The week before the race, Schumacher impressed Jordan designer Gary Anderson and team manager Trevor Foster during a test drive at Silverstone. His manager Willi Weber assured Jordan that Schumacher knew the challenging Spa track well, although in fact he had only seen it as a spectator. During the race weekend, team-mate Andrea de Cesaris was meant to show Schumacher the circuit but was held up with contract negotiations. Schumacher then learned the track on his own, by cycling around the track on a fold-up bike he had brought with him. He impressed the paddock by qualifying seventh in this race. This matched the team's season-best grid position, and out-qualified 11-year veteran de Cesaris. Motorsport journalist Joe Saward reported that after qualifying "clumps of German journalists were talking about 'the best talent since Stefan Bellof'". Schumacher retired on the first lap of the race with clutch problems.

 

Benetton 1991-1995

After his debut, and despite Jordan's signed agreement in principle with Schumacher's Mercedes management for the remainder of the season, Schumacher was signed by Benetton-Ford for the following race. Jordan applied for an injunction in the UK courts to prevent Schumacher driving for Benetton, but lost the case as they had not yet signed a contract.Schumacher finished the 1991 Formula One Season with four points in six races. His best finish was fifth in his second race, the Italian Grand Prix, in which he finished ahead of his team-mate and three-time World Champion Nelson Piquet.

He finished third in the Drivers' Championship in 1992 with 53 points, three points behind runner-up Patrese.

1993 - He finished the season in fourth, with 52 points.

The 1994 season was Schumacher's first Drivers' Championship. The season, however, was marred by the deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger during the San Marino Grand Prix and by allegations that several teams, including Schumacher's Benetton team, broke the sport's technical regulations.

 

Ferrari 1996-2006

Schumacher finished third in the Drivers' Championship in 1996, and helped Ferrari to second place in the constructors' championship ahead of his old team Benetton.

Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve vied for the title in 1997 and during the last race, held at Jerez, Schumacher and Villeneuve collided as Villeneuve passed his rival. Schumacher retired from the race and Villeneuve scored four points to take the championship. Schumacher was held to be at fault for the collision and was disqualified from the Drivers' Championship.

In 1998, Finnish driver Mika Häkkinen became Schumacher's main title competition and ultimately won the championship with Schu coming 2nd.

1999 saw Michael Schumacher break his leg at the british grand prix after a rear brakes failure. This saw Michael out of action for 6 races. When he returned he played the role of second fiddle to eddie irvine who lost the title to Hakkinen after going down to the wire at suzuka.

Through 2000-2004 Schuey dominated Formula 1 and took 5 straight titles. 2004 was Schuey's best season as he took a staggering 148 points and 13 wins in a season (a record)

In 2005, Schuey had an avergae season at came home in 3rd in the Drivers championship.

His last year in Formula 1, saw Schumacher closely compete with world champion Fernando Alonso who denied Schumacher an 8th title. Before the Brazilian Grand Prix, the last race of his career, Schumacher conceded the title to Alonso. In pre-race ceremonies, football legend Pelé presented a trophy to Schumacher for his years of dedication to Formula One. During the race's qualifying session, Schumacher had the best time of all drivers through the first two sessions; but a fuel pressure problem prevented him from completing a single lap during the third session, forcing him to start the race in tenth position. Early in the race Schumacher moved up to sixth place. However, in overtaking Alonso's teammate, Giancarlo Fisichella, Schumacher experienced a tyre puncture caused by the front wing of Fisichella's car. Schumacher pitted and consequently fell to 19th place, 70 seconds behind teammate and race leader Felipe Massa. Schumacher recovered and overtook both Fisichella and Räikkönen to secure fourth place. His performance was classified in the press as "heroic", an "utterly breath-taking drive", and a "performance that ... sums up his career".

 

Summary

Schumacher was noted throughout his career for his ability to produce fast laps at crucial moments in a race, to push his car to the very limit for sustained periods. Motor sport author Christopher Hilton observed in 2003 that "A measure of a driver's capabilities is his performance in wet races, because the most delicate car control and sensitivity are needed," and noted that like other great drivers, Schumacher's record in wet conditions shows very few mistakes: up to the end of the 2003 season, Schumacher won 17 of the 30 races in wet conditions he contested. Some of Schumacher's best performances occurred in such conditions, earning him the title "Regenkönig" (rain king) or "Regenmeister" (rain master). He is known as "the Red Baron", due to his red Ferrari and in reference to the German Manfred von Richthofen, the famous flying ace of World War I. Schumacher's nicknames include "Schumi","Schuey"and "Schu". Schumacher is often credited with popularising Formula One in Germany, where it was formerly considered a fringe sport.When Schumacher retired in 2006, three of the top ten drivers were German, more than any other nationality and more than have ever been present in Formula One history. Younger German drivers, such as Sebastian Vettel, felt Schumacher was key in their becoming Formula One drivers. In the latter part of his Formula One career, and as one of the senior drivers, Schumacher was the president of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association.

 

Michael Schumachers Racing Stats (as of 21st January 2010)

F1 Starts: 250 (248 starts)
F1 Championships 7 (1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004)
F1 Wins 91
F1 Podiums 154
F1 Career points 1,369
F1 Pole positions 68
F1 Fastest laps 76

 

Michael Schumachers Teams and Team-mates

Year	Team	Teammates
1991	Jordan	1991 Andrea de Cesaris
1991-1995	Benetton	1991 Nelson Piquet 1992 Martin Brundle 1993 Riccardo Patrese 1994 Jos Verstappen/JJ Lehto/ Jonny Herbert 1995 Jonny Herbert
1996-2006	Ferrari	1996-1999 Eddie Irvine 2000-2005 Rubens Barrichello 2006-2007 Felipe Massa