Photo by: AFP images
Micheal Schumacher was born January 3rd of 1969, in Hurth Germany. Schumacher’s father was Rolf Schumacher, a man who worked with mountain bikes, later switching to renting go-karts to test them.
His family had a food truck that was turned into a restaurant called Gaststatte.
Schumacher started off racing with used and cheap equipment. He would fish out tires from the trash that most people would consider un-usable. However, the German made it work, and kept winning races on these tires.
“I was always glad to have won with the worst and not the best equipment.” – Schumacher
“After those years, I was convinced I would always be a go-kart driver. Because I could never have imagined making it into the Formula class for financial reasons alone.” – Schumacher
During Schumacher’s go-karting career, Willi Weber saw potential in the young driver and offered to help financially on a contract. Willi Weber said to Rolf Schumacher “Come over to my place tonight. I’m giving him a five-year contract, a car and 2,000 marks a month salary.”
However there was a slight problem. While being in Formula one, you get a lot of attention and pressure put on you. Micheal Schumacher was considered overly shy and didn’t like the press or the news, he just wanted to focus on the sport.
As Schumacher said when he was first starting out- “Don’t make a star out of me. Don’t Push me too high up. I don’t want this…. I just want to be known as a very normal person and be treated as that and be able to walk down the street as like anyone else.”
Prior to Micheal Schumacher joining F1, Aryton Senna was the main figure of the sport. Shortly after though, Schumacher had started rising quickly in the ranks.
Most people claim that Schumacher was the best driver in F1 history and also the quickest. Which is partly accurate, Schumacher was the greatest driver in F1 during his time, however he wasn’t the fastest. The fastest to some people was Senna, with Schumacher setting the next fastest lap ever.
Schumacher’s first F1 entry was the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix, while his first win was at the same circuit in 1992. He started to keep beating and challenging Senna in races.
Mangu-Cours France July 5th 1992
Murray Walker – “And I have no doubt, a very angry Ayrton Senna, who may well regard Micheal Schumacher’s tactics as being just a bit too rumbustious.”
Ross Brawn – Former Technical Director Team Benetton
“We are now championship challengers, and we weren’t used to it. We didn’t know how to deal with it. And when you’re beating a Ferrari, and you’re beating McLearn, and you’re beating Williams.. These are all established teams. And here was this, uh, you know, T-Shirt manufacturer coming in with this kid from Germany and suddenly beating everyone.”
In 1994, Schumacher witnessed the tragic deaths of both Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger. During the San Marino Grand Prix, he was right behind them during the race and qualifying. While also getting a cheating allegation that his Benetton broke the technical regulations.
Schumacher originally retired in 2006 from being an F1 racer. Yet from 2007 – 2009 he acted as an adviser for Ferrari and helped test the tyres and electronics in the 2008 F1 season.
His last race win was at the 2006 Chinese Grand Prix, while his last race entry was at the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix. Schumacher competed and raced for Jordan, Benetton, Ferrari, & Mercedes.
Schumacher’s active years were between 1991-2006 and 2010-2012, with 308 entries and 306 starts. Which puts Schumacher 6th in the most number of races entered, behind and tied with 5th most number of races started with Jensen Button.
During Schumacher’s time racing, his brother Ralf Schumacher joined F1 where they were competing against each other.
Eventually, Micheal Schumacher retired once again in 2012 and had the record for most:
- world championships won (Seven)
- Most race wins 91
- Pole positions 68
- and Podium finishes 155
- Number of total fastest laps 77
- Most races with a single constructor (Ferrari) 181 race entries, and 179 race starts.
As of right now, Hamilton has broken most of these records and is tied as a seven time world champion.
Schumacher’s championship years were: 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004.
Later on in his life, Schumacher had two children, one who competed in Formula 1, and is currently a reserve driver for Mercedes and McLaren.
Unfortunately, in December of 2013, Schumacher and his son went on a skiing trip at the Maribel ski resort. The trip ended up with Schumacher suffering a severe brain injury, and placed in a medically induced coma till around June of 2014. He was only 44 years old at the time.
People continue to hope for a good recovery for Schumacher, as he is still thankfully alive and is focusing on getting better.
Schumacher at the start of his Formula 1 career also participated in the 24 Hours of La Mans race. He drove for the team ‘Team Sauber Mercedes’ in 1991.
