Mercedes GP PETRONAS Formula One Team
2010 FIA Formula One World Championship

Driver Profile: Michael Schumacher

“Statistically the greatest driver the sport has ever seen”, according to the official Formula One website, Michael Schumacher’s record is unsurpassed at many levels.

To date, the 41-year old German, who hails from Hürth-Hermülheim in the western part of Germany holds a number of records in Formula One, including the most championships; race wins; fastest laps; pole positions; points scored and the most race wins in a single season (2004). He is also the only driver in the sport ever to have completed a full season in either 1st, 2nd or 3rd in all races (2002).

Like most drivers, Schumacher’s racing career started off with go-karts at the tender age of four. It was not long before the teenager started collecting trophies, winning numerous German and European kart championships.

1989 saw Schumacher make the move to single-seater car racing taking part in the German Formula Ford and Formula König series. After winning the latter, the opportunity came to race with Willi Webber’s WTS Formula 3 Team, where he eventually took the title in 1990.

Joining rivals Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Karl Wendlinger by the close of the year, Schumacher took the unusual route joining the Mercedes junior racing programme in the World Sports-Prototype Championship. Though most of his compatriots chose Formula 3000 en route to Formula One, the young German chose to instead compete in long distance races with powerful sports cars with the conviction that it would ultimately benefit his career. That experience certainly stood the young and upcoming driver in good stead when chance came by way of Mercedes’ support for him to race with the Jordan Formula One team at the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix.

A Stellar Debut
Despite a non-finish in that race, his work ethic combined with his talent had impressed those around him. The same season, Benetton came knocking to sign the rookie striking up a relationship that would cement Schumacher’s place in Formula One.

1992 saw Schumacher snatch his first podium at the Mexican Grand Prix before going on to take his maiden Formula One race win at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium, ironically the same track he had made his debut at a year earlier. By then, the pundits were convinced that it would not take long before the German would stamp his authority on the championship.

And stamp he would. In 1994, Michael Schumacher etched his name into the champion’s honour roll, taking his first Drivers’ Championship title, though the season was marred by the tragic deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger at Imola. Despite the controversy of the first title-win, the German went on to retake the title again in 1995.

The Prancing Horse
In 1996 Schumacher made the move to the then under-performing Scuderia Ferrari team. Keen to turn the team’s fortunes around, the Italian squad also acquired the services of ex-Benetton Rory Byrne and Ross Brawn. It did not take long before the quartet of Michael Schumacher, Rory Bryne and Ross Brawn combined with Jean Todt established a partnership that would become Formula One’s ultimate dream team.

Formula One’s power quartet certainly delivered as the new millennium became Schumacher’s best, taking five consecutive drivers’ titles from 2000 to 2004.

Having claimed the most records in Formula One, the 2006 season was touted to be Schumacher’s final season. Through the year, the German was never far from an unprecedented 8th drivers’ crown until Japan. The outcome of the year’s epic title bout with Alonso came down to an engine failure for Schumacher with 16 laps to go at the Japanese Grand Prix. Eventually conceding the title to Alonso, Schumacher bid an emotional farewell in Brazil, drawing the curtains on an impressive and illustrious career in Formula One.

His relationship with the Italian squad however was not severed as the German continued playing an advisory role in the team concerning the selection of drivers and car development.

The break had also allowed Schumacher to indulge in other pursuits including taking part in the IDN Superbike series on board a Ducati.

The Return of the King
Three years on from his infamous Monza retirement announcement, his break away from the sport seemed permanent but for a series of events that had the rumour-mills working overtime. Sparked off by Felipe Massa’s horrific accident at the Hungarian Grand Prix, this led to talk that the German would be drafted in to replace the injured Brazilian.

Plans were eventually shelved due to the severity of Schumacher’s neck injuries he had sustained in a motorcycle accident earlier in the year. Rumours of Schumacher’s imminent return, rather than subside instead intensified towards the end of the 2009 season.

Meanwhile, the winter off-season proved to be a busy one for the Brawn GP that had claimed the 2009 Constructors' championship title. As a follow on from Mercedes’ decision to bring the silver arrow marquee back to Formula One, the Brawn GP team were re-branded as the MERCEDES GP PETRONAS Formula One Team. The rumours about Schumacher were also put to rest with the announcement days before Christmas that the King had indeed returned.

Stepping into formula one with Mercedes, the return to the sport with Mercedes 19 years later has brought Michael Schumacher’s illustrious career to a full circle. The move also re-united Schumacher with the same team principal that had helped the revival of the prancing horse in the late 1990s and the first decade of the new millennium.

In the press, Schumacher’s return has been compared to Niki Lauda’s return in 1982 at the age of 33 and Nigel Mansell’s return in 1994 at 41. More interestingly, his return comes on the back of prospects of an eighth title comparable with the record set by Juan Manuel Fangio, the sport’s oldest F1 champion who was 46 when he claimed his fifth title.  

Factbox: MICHAEL SCHUMACHER