Michael Schumacher

Michael Schumacher (German pronunciation:/m stormça peddlings to the mission( listen)(Hürth-Hermülheim, West Germany; January 3, 1969) is a German atonement for motorism. He has won seven Formula 1 world championships with Benetton squid in 1994 and 1995, and five with Ferrari between 2000 and 2004, surpassing the five championships won by Juan Manuel Fangio.

Likewise, he was runner-up in 1998 and 2006, third in 1992, 1996 and 2005, fourth in 1993 and fifth in 1999. In 1997 he finished runner-up, although he was later disqualified with no points. He accumulated 91 victories, 68 pole positions, 77 fastest laps and 155 podiums, surpassing the numbers of Alain Prost, who held these records in the 1990s. Except for fastest laps, those records were broken by Lewis Hamilton in 2020. If we take into account the current points system, the Kaiser would have 3890 points, making him the second driver with the most points in Formula 1 history, only behind Hamilton.

After retiring from Formula 1 in 2006, Schumacher raced motorcycling in 2007. However, he returned to Formula 1 in 2010 under Ross Brawn at the Mercedes team. He retired for good at the end of 2012. after the announcement of the signing of Lewis Hamilton by the silver arrows.

He has a younger brother, Ralf Schumacher, who was also a Formula 1 driver, and a half-brother, Sebastian Stahl, who also used to be a motorsports driver. His son Mick Schumacher is also a Formula 1 driver, previously champion of the 2018 European Formula 3 season, and in 2020 he also won the Formula 2 Championship. He is also a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy. His nephew, David Schumacher (Ralf's son), is also a driver and currently races in Formula 3.

On December 29, 2013, while enjoying the Christmas holidays with his family, he suffered a very serious accident hitting his head while skiing in the French winter resort of Méribel (in Les Allues, Savoie, French Alps), when skiing off-piste. Since then, the real state of his health is unknown, since the family hardly gives information about it.

In 2021, Netflix released the documentary Schumacher, based on his life and professional career.

Career

Beginnings

Schumacher got into a kart for the first time at the age of four. His father, Rolf, a mechanic at the Kerpen go-kart track, fitted a single-cylinder motor from a moped to a pedal go-kart. He progressed in karting , a specialty in which he was runner-up in the junior world at the age of 16, and later German and European champion at the age of 18.

In 1987, Schumacher switched to promotional formulas, where he was champion of Formula König and sixth in the German Formula Ford. He also participated in German Formula 3 where he obtained two victories and seven podiums, achieving a third in the 1989 season. In 1990 he was crowned champion of German Formula 3, and triumphed in the Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix. In said category he met and became friends with Heinz-Harald Frentzen (later a Formula 1 driver).

In 1990 he competed in some rounds of the World Endurance Championship with Sauber Mercedes, obtaining a victory in Mexico and two second places at the Nürburgring and Dijon with Jochen Mass. The driver competed in the complete event in 1991, accompanied by the Austrian driver Karl Wendlinger. He took a win at Autopolis, a second place at Silverstone and a fifth place at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, for which he moved up to ninth in the drivers' championship. He also ran two rounds of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters in a Zakspeed Mercedes-Benz 190, and took second place in the Sugo round of Japanese Formula 3000.

Jordan debut (1991)

Schumacher testing Jordan 191.

Michael Schumacher made his Formula 1 debut with Jordan. Eddie Jordan, following the advice of Willi Weber, called him to replace the Belgian Bertrand Gachot, who could not participate in the Belgian Grand Prix. The then-rookie took to a circuit he had never ridden on before and put in a good performance in Belgium, consistently outperforming his teammate Andrea de Cesaris. Schumacher obtained 7th place in the classification; after that, he makes a great start and only needs one corner to advance two more positions; but on the ascent of Eau Rouge, problems with the gearbox-clutch made him have to retire.

The result in Belgium made Flavio Briatore call him to occupy a seat at Benetton-Ford in the next race. Additionally, Wili Weber had been informed that Jordan would lose the Cosworth engine for next year, which would be exclusive to the Benetton team, which facilitated Schumacher's departure from Jordan because they did not want to be tied to an uncompetitive team for a 3-year contract.. However, finally the decision had to be ruled by the British courts, which ruled in favor of Benetton because Schumacher had signed an agreement with them, while with Jordan the pilot only had a principle of agreement.

Benetton (1991-1995)

Schumacher Auto Benetton in 1994.

In 1992 he took his first and only victory of the season, the Belgian Grand Prix, at Spa-Francorchamps; he also achieved eight podiums, including three second places and four third places. That year he finished in third place, ahead of Ayrton Senna in the dispute for the Formula 1 World Drivers' Championship, behind Riccardo Patrese, second, and Nigel Mansell, first.

In the 1993 Formula 1 season he claimed a fourth place second only to the two Williams in first place, Alain Prost, and third place, Damon Hill, and by Ayrton Senna. Schumacher also added 9 podiums to his scoreboard in one of which he won victory at the 1993 Portuguese Grand Prix, all the races that he has reached the finish line have ended on the podium for the German driver.

At the 1994 San Marino GP, in Imola, he had to contemplate a completely black weekend: on Thursday a truck belonging to the Pacific Racing team caught fire, killing two employees, on Friday Rubens Barrichello, Jordan driver Grand Prix and whoever was ultimately his teammate at Ferrari, would suffer a terrible accident in "Variante Bassa"; On Saturday, the Austrian Roland Ratzenberger, a Simtek driver, dies in the Villeneuve curve after losing control at more than 300 km/h, when his front wing detached; and finally, on Sunday, at the Tamburello curve, in an accident suffered under strange circumstances, the Brazilian Ayrton Senna, Williams-Renault driver and triple World Champion, also died. These accidents broke a 12-year streak without the death of any pilot, since the death of Riccardo Paletti in the 1982 Canadian GP. In this regard, Schumacher opined:

Of this kind of accident I've seen many. Accidents, they looked much worse than theirs, but they didn't expect the worst. You see it and you say that "it can get a broken arm or leg" and it turns out it turns to the line of lap and we don't really know what happened. None provide information. They think that the competition should be kept and start all over again, because it should be so, and in the end you don't know anything, until after the podium finishes. Pasquale had told us that (Ayrton) I was in a coma. But as for what I know about "coma", there are different types and sometimes you label one more reserved or sometimes it's worse than you think and you don't want to believe that something bad happened. (he gets excited) You don't want to believe it! About 2 hours after the race, sir. (Tom) Walkinshaw told me the thing was going very wrong. I said, "No, he's in a coma, it's not necessarily a bad thing, considering his blow was very bad." Later Jackson told me he was dead and one minute later someone said he was still in a coma. They gave us such unreliable information, which made us think enough that it must have happened, while I didn't want to admit that he was dead either. He said, "He's going to be the world champion! Maybe he misses one or two races, but he'll be back." (silence painful). Two weeks later, when I felt very much his death, I felt the worst... It was inconceivable.

Michael Schumacher, explaining what happened, during and after Imola 1994.

His first two-time Formula 1 world championship

In that year 1994, Schumacher would win his first and most important Formula 1 World Drivers Championship by a single point advantage over his pursuer in the dispute, the British Damon Hill, after hitting his rival's car, both drivers having to leave the race at the Australian Grand Prix. In 1995, he defended the world title, for the last time at the wheel of a Benetton-Renault, since the following year he was hired by the Ferrari team.

Ferrari (1996-2006)

1996-1997

Schumacher, in his first year at Ferrari, couldn't beat the Williams of Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve, the 1996 champion and runner-up with a low-nosed car that was ineffectively developed over the next few years. In 1997, he had a very exciting duel with Villeneuve with whom he reached the last Grand Prix, the European Grand Prix, in Jerez de la Frontera (Spain), with a single point advantage over the Canadian driver. In a controversial maneuver, Schumacher intentionally collided with Villeneuve, as a consequence he had to retire. Not only did he lose the championship, but the FIA appreciated intentionality and sanctioned him with the annulment of the entire score obtained that season. It was a situation very similar to the one that had occurred two years earlier, in a duel with Damon Hill, where he, after being misled, returned to the track crashing into the British car and breaking the left front suspension, taking away the championship for a spot. He was never sanctioned for this maneuver.

1998-1999

The 1998 and 1999 championships were dominated by McLaren and won by Finn Mika Häkkinen. In 1998 there was a controversial collision in Belgium, between Schumacher's Ferrari and the McLaren of David Coulthard, Häkkinen's teammate, forcing Schumacher to retire and lose an important point in the championship.

In 1999, at the British Grand Prix, Schumacher suffered an accident that caused him a broken leg and the impossibility of contesting the next six races of the Championship. That year the Ferrari was finally competitive and it is very possible that it would have been proclaimed champion if it had not been for that serious accident, although it was Mika Häkkinen who took his second championship. In return, Ferrari won its first constructors' world championship in 16 years.

2000-2004: five consecutive titles

Finally, in 2000, after a hard fight with Mika Häkkinen, Schumacher won the 2000 Japanese Grand Prix and was crowned champion (thus being the only driver to be champion on slick and treaded tyres, along with Lewis Hamilton in 2008 and 2014) driving the Ferrari F1-2000. That victory marked the end of an unfortunate period for Ferrari of 21 years in which the team had been unable to win the drivers' world title, despite having highly prestigious drivers (Prost, Mansell, Berger, Alesi, Reutemann, Alboreto, Johansson, etc.), after the one achieved by the South African Jody Scheckter in 1979.

The bad streak had been sealed by tragic events, the death of Gilles Villeneuve in 1982 and the serious accident of Didier Pironi, that same year, who had a duel with Gilles for supremacy in the team.

Michael Schumacher at the U.S. Grand Prix. in 2004.

Schumacher had high and good performances with Ferrari since from 2000 to 2004, in which Schumacher won 5 consecutive Formula 1 Championships, in 2000 he won 9 races and beat the current champion Mika Häkkinen by 19 points. From the following year (2001) the superiority of Ferrari over the other teams was manifest. This, together with the orders from the Ferrari team, which systematically favored Schumacher over his teammate Barrichello, allowed him enormous control of the championship. That same year, 2001, he won another nine races and the title in Hungary, with four to go. He doubled his teammate Rubens Barrichello on points and nearly doubled McLaren's David Coulthard. In the 2002 Formula 1 season he achieved eleven victories and equaled Juan Manuel Fangio's championship record. At that time his performance as a driver was almost unattainable, although in the 2003 season the championship was played in the last race in Japan with a very young Kimi Räikkönen, who was already driving for McLaren-Mercedes at the time. The Kaiser's advantage over Räikkönen with just one race remaining was nine points, so the latter was forced to win on Japanese soil and hope that Schumi failed to score any points, so an eighth place was enough for the German to win the title and indeed he did, although as the race at Suzuka was won by his teammate Rubens Barrichello relegating Räikkönen to second place, the Finn was left with no chance of becoming champion, and therefore Michael Schumacher, already Without needing to get eighth place, he was proclaimed world champion for the sixth time, the fourth in a row. His main rivals during these years were the McLaren team drivers, Mika Häkkinen, David Coulthard and Kimi Räikkönen; and those of the Williams team, Juan Pablo Montoya and his own brother Ralf Schumacher.

2005-2006

But the hegemony of the so-called Kaiser of Formula 1 would end in 2005, where the members of a new generation of drivers, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Räikkönen, would take center stage in the Renault F1 and McLaren teams, respectively. Schumacher was outclassed by both rivals that year because of car problems, lacking competitiveness in 2005. He said it was his worst season since he joined the Italian team in 1996.

The 2006 season could not have started better for him and for Ferrari, after the poor results of 2005, since in the first Grand Prix, held in Bahrain, he achieved his 65th pole position, thus equaling the historical record of Ayrton Senna, one of the few who had not yet managed to achieve.

Later, at the Enzo and Dino Ferrari Autodrome, corresponding to the 2006 San Marino Grand Prix, he would break said record for pole positions by achieving the 66th pole position and the 85th victory of his sports career. Fate or chance would make it in this scenario where he surpassed the emblematic record of the late Ayrton Senna, the same circuit in which 12 years ago Michael Schumacher saw, from the 2nd position in the race, how an unfortunate accident ended the life of the legendary Brazilian pilot.

At the Monaco Grand Prix of that same year, when the Spanish Fernando Alonso was leading the world championship, he was the main actor in a famous incident when he parked the Ferrari in the penultimate corner of the circuit, thus preventing Fernando Alonso (who was driving behind him) from finishing his last fast lap, in which he had been setting the best time in the fight for the pole position in the third qualifying round. The incident caused many discussions and the FIA finally concluded that the accident had not been such but that it was due to a maneuver by the driver himself so that Fernando Alonso could not snatch the pole position he had at that time. The stewards decided that the German driver should start from the end of the grid.

Two weeks later at the Nürburgring circuit he would win the European Grand Prix, victory number 86 for the German. On September 10, 2006, after winning the Italian Grand Prix, his 90th win, he announced his retirement from racing at the end of the 2006 season.

Schumacher at the Ferrari 248 F1 in Canada.

On October 8, 2006, leading the Japanese Grand Prix and with 17 laps to go, he suffered an engine failure 6 years, 3 months and 6 days since the last time it had happened. The setting had been the 2000 French Grand Prix.

On October 21, 2006, in qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix, a problem with his car's fuel pump led him to withdraw from the last qualifying session, relegating him to tenth place. In the race he suffered a puncture after having run over the remains of Nico Rosberg's car and was relegated to the last position, since he had to do almost a complete lap at the José Carlos Pace Autodrome with a burst tire. However, after repairing the wheel and coming within seconds of being overtaken by the race leader, he managed to move up eighteen positions. He finished 4th in what was his last race as a driver in this category, not being able to take the championship from Fernando Alonso, but he gave a memorable performance, with a hellish pace and making several overtakes. Schumacher managed to win five with Scuderia Ferrari consecutive times the Formula 1 World Drivers' Championship, a record that has yet to be matched by any other driver in Formula 1 history.

At the age of 37, more than 25 dedicated to competition and 16 seasons in Formula 1, he retires from that category of competition.

First withdrawal. Ferrari Member

In December 2006, he was appointed adviser to the Ferrari drivers (Räikkönen, Massa, Badoer and Gené).

Almost a year later, on November 6, 2007, it was announced that the German would drive the F2007, the Scuderia Ferrari car from the 2007 season, in pre-season training the following week, at the Circuit de Barcelona -Catalonia, Barcelona. However, his spokesperson, Sabine Kehm, stated that the elder Schumacher's participation in training was an extraordinary event, and that the driver had no intention of returning to Formula 1. For the 2008 season it was reported that Schumacher would comply duties as test driver for the Italian team. On July 28, 2008, Schumacher was testing an F430 Scuderia, an optimized version of the 430, at the German circuit of Nürburgring Nordschleife, the green hell, and in sector 3 of the circuit, he hit the fence at 250 km/h. However, it was not he who was driving but Raffaele de Simona, test pilot of the cavallino, with no other results than the partial destruction of the vehicle. Despite this, he phoned his wife Corinna to say that they were fine and that they would not stop the day of tests.

2009

On July 25, 2009, Felipe Massa suffered a serious accident in the qualifying sessions of the Hungarian GP, for which Schumacher was chosen to replace him during the 2009 season, starting at the European GP and until the end of the season or the total recovery of Felipe Massa. After a few days training with karts and with the Ferrari F2007, Schumacher announced on August 11 that he would not drive again due to neck pain. Finally, the tester Luca Badoer takes the place of Felipe Massa in the European GP and subsequent ones. A little later Badoer is replaced by Giancarlo Fisichella.

Mercedes (2010-2012)

Michael Schumacher in 2010.

Schumacher driving the MGP W01 at the Malaysian Grand Prix in 2010.

On December 22, 2009, the return of the Kaiser to Formula 1 for the 2010 season was made official, signing for the Mercedes team initially for 3 years, and with a salary of 7 million euros. euros. With this, Formula 1 is reborn in the commercial and economic field after the problems evidenced in 2008 and 2009 by the withdrawal of three major manufacturers (Honda, BMW and Toyota) and the tire supplier Bridgestone for the 2011 season. In Bahrain he starts 7th and finishes 6th in the race, a very weak start for the German. In Melbourne he starts 7th again but at the start he is touched by Fernando Alonso, and Schumacher had to change the wing; in the end, he finished 10th, after a fight for the last point with Jaime Alguersuari. In Sepang he starts 8th, but the race only lasted 9 laps as a badly tightened nut came off the wheel, obtaining his first retirement of the season. In Spain he signed his best race of the year finishing in 4th position and in Monaco he was penalized for overtaking Fernando Alonso with the safety car on the track. As soon as the sanction was learned, the Mercedes team filed an appeal against it, alleging that Schumacher overtook with green flags, which indicated that the safety car entered the pits when all danger on the track disappeared and not by application of rule 40.13 of the sports regulations. of Formula 1 as indicated by the direction of the race to all the teams when entering the last lap.

During the following races, Schumacher scored points with some regularity, but always in the low places, except in Turkey and Korea, where he equaled the fourth place achieved in Montmeló. Finally, he ends the season in Abu Dhabi with a bumpy first round, with a final balance of only 72 points, having achieved his teammate Nico Rosberg 142, almost double.

In 2011, despite the fact that Mercedes is even less competitive than in the previous season, Schumacher improves his performance and is much closer to that of Nico Rosberg. Again with a 4th place as the best personal and team result, Schumacher got only 13 points less than his teammate.

Schumacher returns to drive for the now Mercedes AMG team in the 2012 Formula 1 season, alongside Nico Rosberg. At the Australian Grand Prix, Schumacher qualified in fourth position and moved up to third at the start of the race, which he held until he suffered a terminal gearbox failure on lap 11. In race two, in Malaysia, Schumacher qualified third, but only managed to collect one point after being hit from behind on the opening lap of the race by Romain Grosjean in wet conditions. For the third race of the season in China, Schumacher qualified third, but started in 2nd place, due to Lewis Hamilton being penalized. This marked the first time since 1955 that Mercedes had occupied the front row of the grid, as teammate Nico Rosberg took his first career pole position. A mechanic's error in Schumacher's first pit stop forced him to retire after 13 laps. The fourth race was in Bahrain. Schumacher suffered with a faulty DRS mechanism in qualifying, which was compounded by a penalty for a gearbox replacement. He started 23rd on the grid, and finished 10th. In qualifying for the Monaco GP he took pole position, but came out in sixth place due to a penalty for causing a crash at the Spanish GP, and ended up abandoning the event. Schumacher's bad luck seems to have ended for the European Grand Prix held in Valencia, where he got his first podium since he returned to F1 in 2010 and it has been 6 years since he last got on the box.

In the words of engineer John Barnard in the book The Perfect Car, Schumacher's drop in performance after his first retirement was greatly influenced by his driving style. The Mercedes AMG team gave preference to its future driver Nico Rosberg, designing the cars adapted to an understeering driving style, while Michael preferred vehicles with a greater tendency to oversteer. Willi Weber also stated that he advised Schumacher that his return to Formula 1 would be fruitless.

Definitive withdrawal

The announcement of the hiring of Lewis Hamilton by Mercedes-Benz for 2013 left Schumacher without a steering wheel. A few days later, Schumi confirmed his definitive retirement from competition.

Ski accident

On December 29, 2013, Schumacher suffered a serious accident when he hit his head while skiing with his family in the winter resort of Méribel, in the French Alps, when skiing off-piste between the areas of La Biche and Mauduit. He was transferred to the Grenoble-Alpes University Hospital and the first medical report diagnosed serious brain injuries, leaving him in critical condition. After undergoing two medical operations, he had to be kept in an induced coma for several months. According to Dr. Johannes Peil, who treated him when he suffered a serious fall in February 2009 at the Cartagena Circuit, ensures that the pilot's brain has already "remained damaged" when it crashed in turn 1 of the aforementioned circuit. This German doctor, one of the family's most trusted until a few years ago, affirms that the right half of his brain was damaged when he crashed with his motorcycle in Cartagena and that the consequences have since then affected the entire cerebral irrigation system.. He maintains that this may have played a role in his subsequent fall, four years later, while he was skiing with his son in the French Alps.

On June 16, 2014, it was published that she had definitely come out of her coma; he left the University Hospital of Grenoble and was sent to a rehabilitation clinic. On 10 September it was announced that he would be taken to his mansion in Gland, Switzerland, where he would continue to receive medical care. Since then, Sabine Kehm, spokesperson for the Schumacher family, has repeatedly asked that the privacy of the seven-time champion be respected.

However, on December 29, 2015, two years after the accident, the international sports press launched headlines insisting that nothing is known about Schumacher's health.

On January 2, 2019, the day before Michael's 50th birthday, the family shared the following: “You can rest assured that he is still in the best hands and that we are doing everything we can to help him. Please understand that we follow Michael's wishes and that we keep a matter as delicate as his health, as always, private. » Four days earlier, five years had passed since the serious accident.

By mid-2019, Schumacher had made a noticeable improvement, was making progress in his recovery and could now watch Formula 1 races.

Statistics

Grand Prizes Won

• 8 GP of France (1994-1995-1997-1998-2001-2002-2004-2006)
• 7 GP of San Marino (1994-1999-2000-2002-2003-2004-2006)
• 7 GP of Canada (1994-1997-1998-2000-2002-2003-2004)
• 6 GP of Belgium (1992-1995-1996-1997-2001-2002)
• 6 GP of Japan (1995-1997-2000-2001-2002-2004)
• 6 GP of Europe (1994-1995-2000-2001-2004-2006)
• 6 GP of Spain (1995-1996-2001-2002-2003-2004)
• 5 GP of Monaco (1994-1995-1997-1999-2001)
• 5 United States GP (2000-2003-2004-2005-2006)
• 5 GP of Italy (1996-1998-2000-2003-2006)
• 4 GP of Brazil (1994-1995-2000-2002)
• 4 GP of Australia (2000-2001-2002-2004)
• 4 GP of Hungary (1994-1998-2001-2004)
• 4 GP of Germany (1995-2002-2004-2006)
• 3 GP Malaysia (2000-2001-2004)
• 3 GP of Great Britain (1998-2002-2004)
• 2 Pacific GP (1994-1995)
• 2 Austrian GP (2002-2003)
• 1 GP of Portugal (1993)
• 1 GP of Argentina (1998)
• 1 GP de Baréin (2004)
• 1 GP of China (2006)

Records achieved

2002

• More podiums in a season: 17 (in 17 races)
• More podiums followed: 19 (2001 - 2002)
• More races won in one season: 11 (from 17 races). Record that would later be surpassed by himself in 2004 by Sebastian Vettel in 2013 and surpassed by Max Verstappen on October 30, 2022 when he won 14 races in the same season.
• First and only pilot who has climbed the podium in all the races of the season
• Greater point margin with the second class of the championship (67)

2004

• More world titles: 7 (currently with Lewis Hamilton)
• More consecutive world titles: 5
• More races won in one season: 13 (of 18 races), same record that Sebastian Vettel achieved in 2013, currently surpassed by Max Verstappen in 2022 (the previous record was in 11 in 2002, also achieved by him)
• More races won consecutively: 7 (European GP, Canada GP, U.S. GP, France GP, England GP, Germany GP, Hungary GP). This record was overtaken by Sebastian Vettel in 2013 with 9 consecutive wins
• More quick turns in a season: 10 (in 18 races)
• More points achieved in one season: 148 (up to 180 points) 82.22% of the points
• More races finished consecutively without retreating: 24.
• He is the only driver of Formula 1, along with Fernando Alonso at the 2013 Barcelona GP, who has managed to win a GP making 4 pit stops, under normal conditions, at the 2004 GP.
• Second position with Alberto Ascari getting his 5th "Grand Chelem" (Pole, Quick Race Tour and Win Leading All Races)

2006

• More wins: 91 (the previous record, of 51 wins in power of Alain Prost, beat it in 2002). This record is currently held by pilot Lewis Hamilton.
• More races won with the same team: 72 (with Ferrari)
• More seconds posts: 43
• More races won from pole position: 40
• More races won without winning the championship: 7 (Second in the table in 2006) (Empatado con Alain Prost en 1984 y 1988, y con Kimi Räikkönen en 2005, que también fueron segundo con 7 victorias). This record has been overcome by Lewis Hamilton in 2016 with 10 wins that didn't help him win a championship that won Nico Rosberg
• More "hat-trick" (pole position, race won, fast turn): 22
• More total points obtained: 1369
• More time between the first and last victory: 14 years, 1 month and 1 day
• Only driver in history to win 5 times a race in Indianapolis Motor Speedway
• Unique pilot in history to win 8 times the same Grand Prix: Circuito de Nevers Magny-Cours (France)
• One of the two pilots to give more than 50,000 race rounds. (Achieved at the 2006 GP in Germany and surpassed by his former partner at Ferrari, Rubens Barrichello, at the 2009 Monaco Grand Prix, at the command of a Brawn GP after turning 48)

Major accidents and collisions

• 1992 French Grand Prix: Collision with the McLaren of Ayrton Senna on the Magny-Cours circuit fork. The race is suspended momentarily and the image of Senna in the grill is curious to shun Schumacher.
• Australia's 1994 Grand Prix: collides with Damon Hill's Williams and gets the world title on board a Benetton.
• Belgium's 1996 Grand Prix: Hits against protections in free sessions on the Malmedy curve.
• The 1997 European Grand Prix: collides with the Williams de Jacques Villeneuve and is subsequently excluded from this contest with the withdrawal of all the points obtained. The FIA claimed intentionality in the collision by Schumacher.
• Belgium's 1998 Grand Prix: Hits David Coulthard's McLaren from behind and generates a polemic in which he went to find the Scots at the pit of the English team. It didn't happen to elders and both riders reconciled.
• Great Britain Prize of 1999: it hits more than 175 km/h against the tire barrier of the Stowe curve of the Silverstone circuit, after a failure in the rear brakes of the Ferrari F399. Unfortunately the trunk of the car is damaged more than it should have been damaged in this type of accident, which causes a fracture of tibia and perone in its right leg and causes a large part of the 1999 season to be lost. He would return to dispute the last two GPs of the season and ensure the world builders for his team.
• Australia's 2001 Grand Prix: in the free, runway, after which the Ferrari performs two complete rounds of bell. It went unharmed.
• 2001 German Grand Prix: at the start of the GP, after the departure, his Ferrari loses speed and is embellished by Luciano Burti. They both came down unharmed.
• Brazil's 2004 Grand Prix: performs a trompo in Friday's trainings and is hit strongly against the tire barrier. Get off the Ferrari F2004.
• The 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix: in the S de Senna it beats Giancarlo Fisichella, but the German stretches the braking and damages the left rear wheel of the Ferrari, this causes a delay in positions when you have to enter the pits and also lose the already few options to win the 2006 championship. It was his last race (before returning to Formula 1 in 2010), going back spectacularly to the 4th place.
• On 13 February 2009, he suffered an arduous accident when he tried a motorcycle on the Cartagena speed circuit, which led him to the hospital.
• Grand Prix of Abu Dabi 2010: In the first round of the race, his trompea car, being frontally packed by Vitantonio Liuzzi coming from behind. Force India was on top of the Mercedes. They both went unharmed.
• 2012 Singapore Grand Prix: Hit behind the Rosso de Vergne Bull in career. Both are out of the way.

Controversies

Michael Schumacher has had various incidents in his more than 21 years on the slopes. At the 1994 British Grand Prix, Schumacher failed to obey the stewards' orders, was disqualified from that race (he finished second) and was banned from racing in Italy and Portugal. At the 1994 Australian Grand Prix, the last championship test of that year, Schumacher had a single point advantage over the British driver Damon Hill (92 to 91). Halfway through the race (lap 36), Schumacher's Benetton went off the track at Flinders Street, hit a wall damaging the suspension, and collided with Hill's Williams at the next corner. Both cars were unserviceable and unable to continue the Australian Grand Prix, despite the efforts of Williams' men to try and fix Hill's car. The FIA did not consider that this maneuver was intentional. As a result, with the point advantage that Schumacher had at the start of the Grand Prix, the German was proclaimed world champion. It was a decision not without controversy and from which, Schumacher forged a tough image and bordered on the limit of the normative.

Later, after a few misadventures with Hill himself, in the 1997 season, Michael crashed in the final race against the car of Jacques Villeneuve, who would go on to become world champion. It happened at the 1997 European Grand Prix, held in Jerez. As in 1994, Schumacher had a single point advantage over the Canadian (78-77), who was also driving with the Williams team. Villeneuve performed a passing maneuver on Schumacher, and as he passes him on the inside of the circuit's Dry Sack turn, Schumacher barrels violently to the inside, colliding with Villeneuve. As a result, Schumacher's car bounced off the track, becoming unserviceable and he had to retire. Instead, Villeneuve was able to continue, finishing in third position and claiming the world title. The FIA appreciated Michael's intentionality in that maneuver and sanctioned him with the annulment of the 78 points he had achieved in that championship.This maneuver by Schumacher was harshly criticized by the press and by many Formula 1 drivers and ex-drivers.

In 1998, during the British GP, Michael was penalized with a stop & go of 10 s to overtake with the safety car on the track. He delivered on the last lap, crossing the finish line via pit road to secure victory. The commissioners gave it valid.

Years later, in 2002, another great controversy, which implicated not only Michael Schumacher but also Scuderia Ferrari itself, occurred during the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix, when Rubens Barrichello, who was in first position, was forced by the team to let Michael Schumacher pass just meters from the finish line so he could claim victory. Later, at the 2002 United States Grand Prix, Schumacher let Barrichello pass in a similar way to return the & #34;please". The scandal caused by both events led the FIA to modify the regulations to prohibit team orders "that interfere with the result of the race".

In the 2006 season, at the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix, Schumacher had the best time of the session, but with a few seconds to go, Fernando Alonso improved the partials, and had chances to get pole position. Then, Schumacher performs a strange maneuver, stopping the car a few centimeters from the wall of the last corner of the circuit, preventing Alonso from drawing well and therefore trying to take pole position. However, the FIA penalized Schumacher forcing him to start last, while Alonso started first.

In the 2010 season, at the 2010 Monaco Grand Prix, Schumacher was running seventh with the safety car on the track, when at the last corner of the race and just after the safety car had been withdrawn, he overtook Fernando Alonso with green flags, finishing sixth. Although this mishap was the result of an ambiguous wording of the regulation, the commissioners penalized him with 20 seconds, causing him to lose his position.

At the 2010 Hungarian Grand Prix, former Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello was chasing Schumacher in the final laps for the one-point tenth position. Barrichello saw an opportunity on the home straight as he approached, but Michael backed him into the wall in such a way that it could have dire consequences. Barrichello called him "crazy" and asked for the black flag for the German from the radio (immediate disqualification). At the end of the race, the drivers who had finished 10th (Rubens Barrichello) and 11th (Michael Schumacher) were called to testify about the incident. The stewards decided that Schumacher would lose ten positions on the starting grid for the next GP.

Helmet

Schumacher has used two helmet companies throughout his career: Bell (until 2000) and Schuberth (2000-2012). The designs are as follows:

• Since his debut in 1991 at the Belgian Grand Prix to the 2000 Monaco Grand Prix, he used a white helmet with the colors of the German flag on both sides and above was observed a blue circle with golden stars.
• In 2000, since the Monaco Grand Prix, he changed his helmet because his was similar to Rubens Barrichello. In this way, the new helmet was entirely red with German colors on the side.
• From 2006 the helmet becomes only red with a small detail in black. He used it until his last GP in Ferrari.
• In his 20-year anniversary since his first in Formula 1 in 2011, at the Belgian GP, he used a gold hull made with 2 grams of gold and added the years 1991 and 2011 to his usual design.

Other activities

Schumacher was named UNESCO's honorary ambassador, and donated tens of millions of dollars to charitable projects.

After being penalized for deliberately crashing Jacques Villeneuve in 1997, Schumacher participated in several FIA road safety campaigns.

In 1997 he appeared in an Oasis video, specifically Stand By Me in which Michael appears as a security guard. His cameo was short, he only appears for a few seconds and is replaced by another man with the same hairstyle, who appears during the video on more than one occasion as the security guard. It is Michael's only appearance in a music video.

In 2009 he appeared on the British television show Top Gear. There it was pompously revealed that the pilot was The Stig. However, when testing a car at the Bedford circuit, the German made numerous driving errors and did not complete the lap. The show's host ended the show wondering if maybe he's not really The Stig.

In 2013 Schumacher agrees to participate free of charge in a road safety campaign of the National Traffic Safety Commission of Chile in the zero tolerance campaign for speeding, calling for "respect one's life and the of others". This as a result of the popular saying of naming "Schumacher" to those who drive at high speeds or who believe they are great pilots.

Footballer

Schumacher already has experience as a soccer player playing alongside soccer stars at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. It was in December 2004, in a match between Ronaldo's friends and Zinedine Zidane's friends, in which he played a part with each team, sharing a game with stars like Luís Figo or Andriy Shevchenko.

Schumacher also played for Echinches of Switzerland after his departure from Ferrari. The objective was to save the relegation team with their goals, which seemed almost complete, since they had only 2 points in 11 games played. Schumacher played as a midfielder and was the captain, although he only played that game for the club.

The then champions of the San Marino soccer league, SS Murata, had plans to hire seven-time Formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher, but not for a charity event, but to play in the UEFA Champions Qualifying Phase League in July 2008 together with a Brazilian legend, the already retired Brazilian Romário.

In July 2008, Schumacher participated in a charity event organized by Clarence Seedorf supporting education in Africa and paying tribute to Nelson Mandela. In that event, both Schumacher and the two Seedorf brothers participated, figures such as the great-grandsons of Nelson Mandela, Edmílson, Michael Ballack, Gennaro Gattuso, Lúcio and some football figures from Africa. In that match Schumacher scored a goal.In November of that year he also played the & # 34; Match Against Poverty & # 34; at the La Rosaleda stadium, in Malaga, Spain, before 30,000 spectators, in which he scored a goal.

In January 2009, he visited Costa Rica to launch an international road safety campaign and to support the victims of the 2009 Costa Rican earthquake. In addition, he played in a training session for the runner-up team of that country, Liga Deportiva Alajuelense (sub 20), where he scored 2 goals.

In June 2013, he played at the send-off for German soccer player Michael Ballack.

Career Summary

Race of Champions

• 6 Cup of Nations along with Sebastian Vettel: London 2007, London 2008, Beijing 2009, Düsseldorf 2010, Düsseldorf 2011 and Bangkok 2012.

Results

World Sports Prototype Championship

(Key) (bold indicates pole position) (italics indicates fastest lap)

Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft

(Key) (bold indicates pole position) (italics indicates fastest lap)

24 Hours of Le Mans

Year	Equipment	Copilots	Automobile	Class	Returns	Pos.	Pos. Class
1991	Team Sauber Mercedes	Karl Wendlinger Fritz Kreutzpointner	Mercedes-Benz C11	C2	355	5.o	5.o

Japanese Formula 3000 Championship

(Key) (bold indicates pole position) (italics indicates fastest lap)

Formula 1

(Key) (bold indicates pole position) (italics indicates fastest lap)

Predecessor: Alain Prost	Formula 1 Champion 1994–1995	Successor: Damon Hill
Predecessor: Mika Häkkinen	Formula 1 Champion 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004	Successor: Fernando Alonso
Predecessor: Selection of basketball in Spain	21. Prince of Asturias Sports Award 2007	Successor: Rafael Nadal