| Active years | 1991–2006 |
|---|---|
| Teams | Jordan, Benetton, Ferrari |
| Races | 250 (249 starts) |
| Championships | 7 (1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004) |
| Wins | 91 |
| Podium finishes | 154 |
| Career points | 1,369 |
| Pole positions | 68 |
| Fastest laps | 76 |
| First race | 1991 Belgian Grand Prix |
| First win | 1992 Belgian Grand Prix |
| Last win | 2006 Chinese Grand Prix |
| Last race | 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix |
Michael Schumacher (pronounced [ˈmɪçaʔeːl ˈʃuːmaχɐ] born January 3, 1969, in Hürth Hermülheim, Germany) is a former Formula One driver, and seven-time world champion. According to the official Formula One website, he is "statistically the greatest driver the sport has ever seen". He is the first German to win the Formula One World championship and is credited with popularising Formula One in Germany. In a 2006 FIA survey, Michael Schumacher was voted the most popular driver among Formula One fans.
Early years
Schumacher was born in Hürth Hermülheim, to Rolf, a bricklayer, and Elisabeth. When Schumacher was four, his father modified the young boy's pedal kart by adding a small motorcycle engine. After the young Schumacher crashed it into a lamp post in Kerpen, his parents took him to the local karting track at Kerpen-Horrem where he became the youngest member of the karting club. His father soon built him a proper kart from discarded parts and at the age of six Schumacher won his first club championship. To support his son's racing, Rolf Schumacher took on a second job renting and repairing karts at the circuit, while his wife worked at the track's canteen stand. Despite the extra income, when Schumacher needed a new engine costing DM800 (400 €) his parents were unable to afford it, but their son was able to continue racing through support offered by several local businessmen.
In Germany the regulations required 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, the second of which he won.
Debut
Schumacher made his Formula One debut with the Jordan-Ford team at the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix 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 though Schumacher had only seen the challenging Spa track as a spectator, he knew it well. During the race weekend, teammate 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, his first competition in a Formula One car. 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.
1994–1995: World Championship years
In 1994, Schumacher won his first Drivers' Championship. The season, however, was marred by the deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger during the third race of the year, the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola and by allegations of cheating.
Schumacher won six of the first seven races. He had been leading the Spanish Grand Prix, the fifth round, before a gearbox failure left him stuck in fifth gear for 42 laps. Schumacher finished the race in second place, behind Hill. Following the San Marino Grand Prix, the Benetton, Ferrari and McLaren teams were investigated on suspicion of breaking the FIA-imposed ban on electronic aids. Benetton and McLaren initially refused to hand over their source code for investigation. When they did so, the FIA discovered hidden functionality in both teams' software, but no evidence that it had been used in a race. Both teams were fined $100,000 for their initial refusal to cooperate. However, the McLaren software, which was a gearbox program permitting automatic shifts, was deemed legal. By contrast, the Benetton software was deemed to be a form of 'launch control' which would have allowed Schumacher to make perfect starts, which was explicitly outlawed by the regulations.
Ferrari years
For 1996, Schumacher joined Ferrari, a team which had last won the Drivers' Championship with Jody Scheckter in 1979 and which had not won the Constructors' Cup since 1983 with drivers Rene Arnoux and Patrick Tambay at the wheel. He left Benetton a year before his contract with them expired; he later cited the team's damaging actions in 1994 as his reason for opting out of his deal.A year later, ex-Benetton employees Rory Byrne and Ross Brawn, who had been Technical Director at Benetton since 1991 , and who was one of the key members behind Schumacher's title successes with the team in 1994 and 1995, decided to join Schumacher at Ferrari. This highlighted Schumacher's enticement to build a more experienced and potentially championship-winning team around him.
2000–2004: World Championship years
Schumacher won his third World Championship in 2000 after a year-long battle with Häkkinen. Schumacher won the first three races of the season and five of the first eight. Mid-way through the year, Schumacher's chances suffered with three consecutive non-finishes, allowing Häkkinen to close the gap in the standings. Häkkinen then took another two victories, before Schumacher won at the Italian Grand Prix. At the post race press conference, after equalling the number of wins (41) won by his idol, Ayrton Senna, Schumacher broke into tears.The championship fight would come down to the penultimate race of the season, the Japanese Grand Prix. Starting from pole position, Schumacher had the early lead, but soon lost it to Häkkinen. After his second pit-stop, however, Schumacher came out ahead of Häkkinen and went on to win the race and the championship.
2005–2006
In 2005 Schumacher's sole win came at the United States Grand Prix. Prior to that race, the Michelin tyres, used by most teams, were found to have significant safety issues. When no compromise between the teams and the FIA could be reached, all but the six drivers using Bridgestone tyres dropped out of the race after the formation lap. However, rule changes for the 2005 and 2006 seasons required tyres to last an entire race, tipping the overall advantage to teams using Michelins over teams such as Ferrari that relied on Bridgestone tyres. The rule changes were partly in an effort to dent Ferrari's dominance and make the series more interesting. Less than half-way through the season, Schumacher said "I don't think I can count myself in this battle any more. It was like trying to fight with a blunted weapon.... If your weapons are weak you don't have a chance." The most notable moment of the season for Schumacher was his battle with Fernando Alonso in San Marino, where he started 13th and finished only 0.2 seconds behind the Spanish driver. Schumacher retired in six of the 19 races. He finished the season in third with 62 points, less than half the points of world champion Alonso.
Retirement
While Schumacher was on the podium after winning the 2006 Italian Grand Prix, Ferrari issued a press release stating that he would retire from racing at the end of the 2006 season. Schumacher confirmed his retirement. The press release stated that Schumacher would continue working for Ferrari. It was revealed on 29 October 2006 that Ferrari wanted Schumacher to act as assistant to the newly appointed CEO Jean Todt.This would involve selecting the team's future drivers. After Schumacher's announcement, leading Formula One figures such as Niki Lauda and David Coulthard hailed Schumacher as the greatest all-round racing driver in the history of Formula One. The tifosi and the Italian press, who did not always take to Schumacher's relatively cold public persona, displayed an affectionate response after he announced his retirement.
Racing record
Career summary
Complete Formula One results
(Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
* Schumacher was disqualified from the 1997 WDC due to dangerous driving in the European Grand Prix, where he caused an avoidable accident with Villeneuve. His points tally would have placed him in second place in that year's standings.
Formula One records
As of the end of the 2007 Formula One season, Michael Schumacher holds the following F1 records:
| Record | Number | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Championship titles | 7 (1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004) |
| 2 | Consecutive titles | 5 (2000–2004) |
| 3 | Race victories | 91 |
| 4 | Consecutive wins | 7 (2004, Europe–Hungary) |
| 5 | Wins with one team | 72 (Ferrari) |
| 6 | Wins at same GP | 8 (France) |
| 7 | Wins at different GPs | 22 |
| 8 | Longest Time between first and last wins | 14 years, 1 month and 2 days |
| 9 | Second places | 43 |
| 10 | Podiums (Top 3) | 154 |
| 11 | Consecutive podium finishes | 19 (US 2001–Japan 2002) |
| 12 | Points finishes | 190 |
| 13 | Laps leading | 4741 (22,155 km)[120] |
| 14 | Pole positions | 68 |
| 15 | Front row starts | 115 |
| 16 | Fastest laps | 76 |
| 17 | Doubles (Pole and win) | 40 |
| 18 | Perfect Score (Pole, fastest lap and win) | 22 |
| 19 | Championship points | 1,369 |
| 20 | Consecutive race finishes | 24 (Hungary 2001–Malaysia 2003) |
| 21 | Points in a season for vice-champion | 121 (2006) |
| 22 | Wins in a season for vice-champion | 7 (2006) |
| 23 | Wins at Indy (Any racing class) | 5 |
| 24 | Wins at Monza (Formula One) | 5 |
| 25 | Wins in a season | 13 (2004) |
| 26 | Fastest laps in a season | 10 (2004) |
| 27 | Points scored in a season | 148 (2004) |
| 28 | Podium finishes in a season | 17 (100%) (2002) |
| 29 | Championship won with most races left | 6 (2002) |
| 30 | Consecutive years with a win | 15 (1992–2006) |
| 31 | Consecutive days as champion | 1813 (from 8 October 2000 until 25 September 2005) |
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