The Minardi PS04 was a Formula One racing car of the Italian racing team Minardi , which was developed in autumn 2003, but was not used in any Formula One race in this form. Instead, the team contested the 2004 season with the Minardi PS04B , which was a completely separate construction and had no relation to the PS04.
111-592: The PS04 was not technically related to the Minardi PS01, PS02 and PS03 models developed and used between 2001 and 2003. Rather, it was largely identical to the Arrows A23 that the British Formula 1 team Arrows, which had since been dissolved, used in the 2002 Formula One World Championship for Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Enrique Bernoldi. After the insolvency proceedings against Arrows had been opened,
222-623: A Honda CBR1000RR . At the Hungarian Grand Prix on 25 July 2009, Ferrari's Felipe Massa was seriously injured after being struck by a suspension spring during qualifying. Ferrari announced that they planned to draft in Schumacher for the European Grand Prix and subsequent Grands Prix until Massa was able to race again. Schumacher tested a modified Ferrari F2007 to prepare himself as he had been unable to test
333-581: A fold-up bike he brought with him. In his debut, Schumacher impressed the paddock by qualifying seventh; he did so in a midfield car, the Jordan 191 , which he drove half a day of testing and at a track he had never raced at. This also matched the team's season-best grid position, and Schumacher outqualified veteran de Cesaris. Motor Sport journalist Joe Saward reported that, after qualifying, "clumps of German journalists were talking about 'the best talent since Stefan Bellof ' ". Schumacher retired on
444-466: A formation finish —a feat derided as near-impossible in a sport where timings are taken to within a thousandth of a second. After the end of the season, the FIA banned "team orders which interfere with the race result"; the ban was lifted for the 2011 season because the ruling was difficult to enforce. Schumacher broke Fangio's 46-year record of five Drivers' Championships by winning the drivers' title for
555-404: A broken leg from a brake failure in 1999 . He and Ferrari won five consecutive titles from 2000 to 2004 , including unprecedented sixth and seventh titles, while breaking several records. After finishing third in 2005 and second in 2006 , Schumacher retired from the sport, although he later made a brief return with Mercedes from 2010 to 2012 . Schumacher was noted for pushing his car to
666-606: A crash he had in the final free practice, and by the time his car was rebuilt, it had started to rain; this ended his 56-race streak of outqualifiyng his teammates that started in 1992, after he missed a gear in qualifying in Adelaide in 1991 and was outqualified by Nelson Piquet. In 1996 , Schumacher joined Ferrari, a team that had last won the Drivers' Championship in 1979 and the Constructors' Championship in 1983 , for
777-506: A disastrous downturn in the early 1990s, partially as its famous V12 engine was no longer competitive against the smaller, lighter, and more fuel-efficient V10s of its competitors. Various drivers, notably Alain Prost, had given the vehicles disparaging labels, such as "truck", "pig", and "accident waiting to happen". Furthermore, the poor performance of the Ferrari pit crews was considered
888-503: A lap he was a tenth or two tenths slower than I was. How do you do that? And then of course a couple of laps later he's half a second quicker and – it's just impossible. It's really really annoying, but it was an honour to be able to see his telemetry and see the things he could do with a car." After missing six races, he made his return at the inaugural Malaysian Grand Prix , qualifying in pole position with his career's greatest pole margin, with his time faster than Eddie Irvine by almost
999-723: A license in Luxembourg at the age of 12. In 1983, he obtained his German license, a year after he won the German Junior Kart Championship. Schumacher joined Eurokart dealer Adolf Neubert in 1985, and by 1987 was the German and European kart champion, then he quit school and began working as a mechanic. In 1988, he made his first step into single-seat car racing by participating in the German Formula Ford and Formula König series, winning
1110-441: A one-off Formula One appearance with Jordan at the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix . He was signed by Benetton for the rest of the 1991 season, winning his first and second drivers' titles consecutively in 1994 and 1995 with the team. Schumacher moved to the struggling Ferrari team in 1996 . During his first few years with the team, Schumacher lost out on the title in the final race of the season in 1997 and 1998 , and suffered
1221-609: A point due to reliability issues. Ferrari took a 1–2 finish at the French Grand Prix , the first Ferrari 1–2 finish since 1990, and at the Italian Grand Prix , which tied Schumacher with Häkkinen for the lead of the Drivers' Championship with 80 points. There were two controversies during the 1998 season. At the British Grand Prix , Schumacher was leading on the last lap when he turned into
SECTION 10
#17328013291361332-425: A row, he also broke Fangio's record of consecutive titles that had stood for nearly fifty years. Rule changes for the 2005 season required tyres to last an entire race, tipping the overall advantage to teams using Michelins over teams like 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. The most notable moment of
1443-534: A running joke. At the end of 1995, although the team had improved into a solid competitor, it was still considered inferior to front-running teams like Benetton and Williams. Schumacher declared the Ferrari F310 good enough to win a championship, although afterwards his teammate Eddie Irvine labelled the F310 "an awful car", a "piece of junk", and "almost undriveable", while designer John Barnard admitted that
1554-414: A salary of $ 60 million over two years. 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. In 1997, Schumacher lured Benetton employees Rory Byrne (designer) and Ross Brawn (technical director) to Ferrari. Ferrari had previously come close to the championship in 1982 and 1990 . The team had suffered
1665-418: A season for the runner-up (121 out of 180, 2006), wins in a season for the runner-up (7, 2006), races for same car and engine builder (180, Ferrari), wins at Indianapolis (5), wins at Monza (5), wins in a season (13, 2004), fastest laps in a season (10, 2004), points scored in a season (148, 2004), podium finishes in a season (17, 2002), championship won with most races left (6, 2002), and consecutive years with
1776-455: A second job renting and repairing karts, while his mother worked at the track's canteen. Nevertheless, when Schumacher needed a new engine costing 800 DM , his parents were unable to afford it; he was able to continue racing with support from local businessmen. Regulations in Germany require a driver to be at least 14 years old to obtain a kart license. To get around this, Schumacher obtained
1887-537: A second. He then assumed the role of second driver, helping Irvine to victory and assisting his teammate's bid to win the Drivers' Championship for Ferrari, with Irvine leading the championship by one point. About Schumacher's role, Irvine stated: "He is not only the best driver in the world, he is also the best number two in the world." In the last race of the season, the Japanese Grand Prix , Häkkinen won his second consecutive title after he beat him off
1998-673: A seventh Drivers' Championship at the Belgian Grand Prix . Earlier in July at the French Grand Prix , Schumacher beat polesitter Fernando Alonso with a four-stop strategy. He finished the season with a record 148 points, 34 points ahead of the runner-up Barrichello, and set a new record of 13 race wins out of a possible 18, surpassing his previous best of 11 wins from the 2002 season. Between 2000 and 2004, Schumacher achieved five Drivers' Championships, 48 wins, and almost all Formula One records. With his fifth Drivers' Championship in
2109-559: A slow lap resulting in lost time for Schumacher. As retaliation for Warwick being in his way, Schumacher swerved his Sauber into Warwick's car, hitting the Jaguar's nose and front wheel. Enraged by Schumacher's attitude, Warwick drove to the pits and chased Schumacher on foot. He eventually caught up with Schumacher, and it took intervention from several mechanics and Schumacher's teammate Jochen Mass to prevent Warwick physically assaulting Schumacher. Schumacher made his Formula One debut with
2220-671: A trophy to Schumacher for his achievements in Formula One. A fuel pressure problem prevented Schumacher from completing a single lap during the third qualifying session, forcing him to start the race in tenth position. Early in the race, Schumacher moved up to sixth place but suffered a puncture caused by the front wing of Giancarlo Fisichella 's Renault. Schumacher fell to 19th place, 70 seconds behind teammate and race leader Felipe Massa . Schumacher recovered and overtook both Fisichella and Räikkönen, his successor at Ferrari following his retirement, to secure fourth place. His performance
2331-761: A win (15). During the 2007 season, Schumacher acted as Ferrari's adviser and Jean Todt's super assistant. Schumacher also helped Ferrari with their development programme at the Jerez circuit. He focused on testing electronics and tyres for the 2008 season. During 2008, Schumacher also competed in motorcycle racing in the IDM Superbike series. At a Superbike cup race at the Pannónia-Ring , Schumacher finished third out of twenty-seven—behind professional motorcycle racers Martin Bauer and Andreas Meklau —riding
SECTION 20
#17328013291362442-468: Is a German former racing driver , who competed in Formula One from 1991 to 2006 and from 2010 to 2012 . Schumacher won a record-setting seven Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles , a record which was tied by Lewis Hamilton in 2020. At the time of his retirement, Schumacher held the records for most wins (91), pole positions (68), and podium finishes (155), while he maintains
2553-571: Is possible that Orange were due to terminate their sponsorship around the same time anyway due to making huge financial losses. Following the demise of Arrows, the A23 chassis and intellectual property rights to them were bought by Paul Stoddart , then the head of the Minardi team, as a potential replacement for his own team's PS03 chassis. The chassis was renamed the Minardi PS04, although it
2664-439: The 1996 Spanish Grand Prix In 1996, Schumacher finished third in the Drivers' Championship and helped Ferrari to second place in the Constructors' Championship ahead of his old team Benetton. During the season, the car had reliability problems; Schumacher did not finish in 7 of the 16 races. At the French Grand Prix , Schumacher took pole position but suffered engine failure on the formation lap. He won three races, more than
2775-473: The Asiatech unit used in the previous year's Arrows A22 . The car was completely designed around Jos Verstappen , who had a contract to race for the 2002 season. However, due to financial problems the team replaced him with Heinz-Harald Frentzen on a race by race deal because he could bring more sponsorship money. Rinland designed the car around the twin keel concept he had perfected at Sauber . The A23
2886-457: The Belgian Grand Prix , he used well-timed pit stops to fend off Williams' Jacques Villeneuve . He also took first place at the Italian Grand Prix to win in front of the tifosi (Ferrari fans). Schumacher and Villeneuve competed for the title in 1997 , despite never sharing a podium and almost never battling directly on the track, in what has been described as the sport's most dramatic and controversial season finale. Villeneuve, driving
2997-472: The Belgian Grand Prix , in a wet race at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, which by 2003 he would call "far and away my favourite track". That also marked as the last Formula One car to win a Grand Prix while sporting a H-pattern manual gearbox . From the 1992 Portuguese Grand Prix to the 1998 Monaco Grand Prix , Schumacher was not beaten by his teammate when both cars finished. 1992 was also
3108-465: The British Grand Prix , the mid-season was dominated by Williams drivers Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya , who each claimed two victories. After the Hungarian Grand Prix , Schumacher led Montoya and Räikkönen by only one and two points, respectively. Ahead of the next race, the FIA announced changes to the way tyre widths were to be measured: this forced Michelin , supplier to Williams and McLaren among others, to rapidly redesign their tyres before
3219-463: 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. The McLaren software, which was a gearbox program that allowed automatic shifts,
3330-480: The French Grand Prix saw both drivers deliberately fail to qualify as the team cut back on engine mileage and repair. On-board data acquisition showed the car to be quick in the first two sectors but noticeably slower in the third and final sector. The team's last actual entry was the following at the 2002 German Grand Prix at a new for 2002 heavily revised and shortened version of the Hockenheimring . It
3441-441: The Italian Grand Prix , his 41st career win. At the post-race press conference, after equalling the number of wins won by his idol Ayrton Senna, Schumacher broke into tears. The championship fight came down to the penultimate race of the season, the Japanese Grand Prix . Starting from pole position, Schumacher lost the lead to Häkkinen at the start. After his second pit stop, Schumacher came out ahead of Häkkinen and went on to win
Minardi PS04 - Misplaced Pages Continue
3552-537: The Italian Grand Prix , where he announced his retirement at the end of the season, and at the Chinese Grand Prix , in what would be his 91th and final career win, Schumacher led in the championship standings for the first time during the season. After his win in Italy, Ferrari issued a press release stating that Schumacher would retire from racing at the end of the 2006 season but would continue working for
3663-523: The Italian Grand Prix . Schumacher, running on Bridgestone tyres, won the next two races. After Montoya was penalised in the United States Grand Prix , only Schumacher and Räikkönen remained in contention for the title. At the final round, the Japanese Grand Prix , Schumacher needed only one point whilst Räikkönen needed to win. By finishing the race in eighth place, Schumacher took one point and assured his sixth Drivers' title, ending
3774-543: The Jerez circuit ) with a one-point advantage. In qualifying, Schumacher set the same fastest lap as Villeneuve and Heinz-Harald Frentzen. He started in second position as Villeneuve set his fastest lap first but was able to jump him at the start. Towards the end of the race, Schumacher's Ferrari developed a coolant leak and loss of performance indicating he might not finish the race. As Villeneuve approached to pass his rival on lap 48, Schumacher turned in on him but retired from
3885-629: The Mercedes-Benz junior racing programme in the World Sportscar Championship . This was unusual for a young driver, as most of Schumacher's contemporaries competed in Formula 3000 on the way to Formula One . Weber advised Schumacher that being exposed to professional press conferences and driving powerful cars in long-distance races would help his career. In the 1990 World Sportscar Championship season, Schumacher won
3996-568: The Portuguese Grand Prix where he beat Prost, and had nine podium finishes; he retired in seven of the other 16 races. He finished the season in fourth, with 52 points, beating Patrese as teammate, so much so that Briatore and his team thought that Patrese was washed up and that they had no problem with their car. Schumacher won his first Drivers' Championship in 1994 . Driving the Benetton B194 , which has been called
4107-467: The Silverstone circuit . Schumacher's manager Weber assured Jordan that Schumacher knew the challenging Spa-Francorchamps circuit well, although in fact he had only seen it as a spectator. 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
4218-470: The United States Grand Prix in a 1–2 finish with Rubens Barrichello. Before that race, the Michelin tyres were found to have significant safety issues. When no compromise between the teams and the FIA could be reached, all but the three teams using Bridgestone tyres dropped out of the race after the formation lap, leaving only six drivers on the grid. Schumacher retired in 6 of the 19 races, and finished
4329-402: The 17 races, including the French Grand Prix , and finished on the podium 11 times. It was only once that he qualify worse than fourth; at the Belgian Grand Prix , he qualified 16th but nevertheless went on to win the wet-dry race, finishing 16 seconds ahead of Hill, with whom he had ferocious wheel-to-wheel racing and involved some crucial strategic calls. His bad qualifying was a result of
4440-594: The 25 minutes limit, and rejected McLaren's protest. At the Belgian Grand Prix , Schumacher was leading the race by 40 seconds in heavy spray but collided with Coulthard's McLaren when the Scot, a lap down, slowed on the racing line in poor visibility to let Schumacher past. His Ferrari lost a wheel but could return to the pits, although he was forced to retire. Schumacher leaped out of his car and headed to McLaren's garage in an infuriated manner and accused Coulthard of "trying to kill" him. Coulthard admitted five years later that
4551-502: The A23's competitiveness. While the car had pace, reliability was again its achilles heel although Frentzen felt that the car had good potential however. Mounting debts and legal issues forced the team to pull out of Formula One following the 2002 German Grand Prix . Craig Pollock , who had just been ousted from BAR offered to buy the team, but terms could not be reached. Arrows and by extension TWR were declared insolvent shortly afterwards and folded. The team's penultimate entry at
Minardi PS04 - Misplaced Pages Continue
4662-731: The Arrows A23. This article incorporates material derived from the " Minardi PS04 " article on the Formula 1 Wiki at Fandom (formerly Wikia) and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License (2023-12-07). Arrows A23 The Arrows A23 is a Formula One racing car, used by the Arrows team during the 2002 Formula One season . It was designed by Mike Coughlan , Sergio Rinland and Nicolò Petrucci with engines supplied by Jaguar-works Cosworth customer rather than
4773-643: The Arrows and the current Minardi PS03. Minardi's mechanics completed an Arrows chassis for this purpose using Minardi's electronics, their own suspension parts and a few other components. This vehicle received the designation Minardi PS04. A first test was carried out in Mugello by Minardi's regular driver Nicolas Kiesa . Although the test team had no experience with the Arrows chassis, the PS04 painted in Minardi colors
4884-582: The Brazilian Ayrton Senna . According to Jo Ramírez , a close friend of Senna, the Brazilian considered Schumacher "the next big threat, way ahead of all the other drivers around at the time". The Williams FW15C of Damon Hill and Alain Prost dominated the 1993 season as well. Benetton introduced their own active suspension and traction control early in the season, last of the frontrunning teams to do so. Schumacher won one race,
4995-448: The Drivers' Championship by winning the final two races despite Schumacher being the polesitter both times, continuing Ferrari's longest World Championship drought. In 1999 , Schumacher's efforts helped Ferrari win the Constructors' Championship, the team's first title since 1983. He lost his chance to win the Drivers' Championship at the British Grand Prix at the high-speed Stowe Corner; his car's rear brake failed, sending him off
5106-438: The Drivers' Championship, he equalled the record set by Juan Manuel Fangio of five World Championships. Ferrari won 15 out of 17 races, and Schumacher won the title with six races remaining in the season, which is still the earliest point in the season for a driver to be crowned World Champion. Schumacher broke his own record, shared with Nigel Mansell, of nine race wins in a season, by winning 11 times and finishing every race on
5217-466: The Drivers' Championship. He also competed at the 1991 24 Hours of Le Mans , finishing fifth in a car shared with Wendlinger and Fritz Kreutzpointner . He further competed in one race in the 1991 Japanese Formula 3000 Championship , finishing second. During the 1991 430 km of Nürburgring , Schumacher was involved in an incident with Derek Warwick . While trying to set his flying lap in qualifying, Schumacher encountered Warwick's Jaguar XJR-14 on
5328-462: The Irish Jordan - Ford team at the 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
5439-526: The Minardi PS03, the basic features of which go back to 2001. Paul Stoddart sold the Arrows chassis to Aguri Suzuki in the winter of 2005/2006, who used it to develop the first models of his new Formula 1 team, Super Aguri . The cars competed temporarily in the 2006 Formula One World Championship as the Super Aguri SA05 . The SA06 , presented a little later, also still used the chassis of
5550-520: The World Championship in 1995, and they could not believe how Schumacher had won with it, calling it "the ugly ducking" for being so ugly to drive and having many crashes. In a 1999 interview with his 1994 and 1995 World Championship rival Damon Hill, Schumacher recalled: "You remember when I left Benetton, and [Jean] Alesi and [Gerhard] Berger took their first steps in that Benetton? You remember how many crashes they had? ... I mean, that car
5661-451: The accident had been his mistake. From a possible three-point lead, Schumacher was still seven points behind Häkkinen. Heading into the final race, the Japanese Grand Prix , Häkkinen held a four-point advantage over Schumacher, who started on pole but stalled and caused the start to be aborted, which meant he had to start from the back of the field. He made a comeback up to third but retired after hitting debris from an accident. Häkkinen won
SECTION 50
#17328013291365772-492: The block. The two-race ban punishment was seen by many observers as petty and insignificant, and that it was a result of Benetton feud with the FIA, with Schumacher being a victim and the FIA trying to deny him his first World Championship. These incidents helped Damon Hill close the points gap, and Schumacher led by a single point going into the final race at the Australian Grand Prix . On lap 36, Schumacher hit
5883-477: The car "wasn't very good". Irvine also later commented: "The '96 [Ferrari] car was a disaster and was nearly undriveable. Only someone of Michael Schumacher's ability − and maybe Senna – could have driven it." During winter testing, Schumacher first drove a Ferrari, their 1995 Ferrari 412 T2 , and was two seconds faster than former regulars Jean Alesi and Gerhard Berger had been. Alesi and Berger were allowed to drive Schumacher's Benetton B195 with which he won
5994-412: The case as they had not yet signed a final contract. Schumacher finished the 1991 season with four points out of six races. His best finish was fifth in his second race, the Italian Grand Prix , in which he finished ahead of his teammate and three-time World Champion Nelson Piquet . He also outqualified Piquet four times out of five in the season run-in, and scored only half a point less than him in
6105-519: The early season for Schumacher was his battle with Renault R25 driver Fernando Alonso at the San Marino Grand Prix , where he started 13th and finished only 0.2 seconds behind Alonso. Less than halfway through the season, Schumacher stated: "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." Schumacher's sole win in 2005 came at
6216-438: The favour in several races to help him finish second in the standings. At the United States Grand Prix , Schumacher returned the favour, by giving Barrichello the win by 0.011 seconds, the second-closest margin on the finishing line in Formula One history in a failed dead heat finish. In an unplanned finish, Schumacher's explanation varied between it being him "returning the favour" for Austria, or trying to engineer
6327-540: The first lap of the race with clutch problems. Following his Belgian Grand Prix debut, despite an agreement in principle between Jordan and Schumacher's Mercedes management that would see the German race for the Irish team for the remainder of the season, Schumacher was engaged by Benetton -Ford for the next race. Jordan applied for an injunction in the British courts to prevent Schumacher driving for Benetton but lost
6438-454: The first of many times that Schumacher beat his teammate through a full season, and Martin Brundle was fired as a result. Benetton team boss Flavio Briatore later regretted this decision, saying that he had underestimated the ability of both his drivers. Schumacher finished third in the Drivers' Championship in 1992 with 53 points, three points behind runner-up Patrese and three in front of
6549-537: The first time since the French Grand Prix , ending a 58-race sequence without a mechanical retirement, handing Alonso the victory. He also conceded the title; to win the Drivers' Championship, Schumacher would have had to win the final race and Alonso had to fail to score any point, and he did not wish to win the title like that. During the pre-race ceremonies of the season's last race, the Brazilian Grand Prix , former football player Pelé presented
6660-575: The fourteenth race of the season, the FIA banned Renault's mass damper, with the superior Renault R26 suddenly no longer as competitive. By the Canadian Grand Prix , the ninth race of the season, Schumacher was 25 points behind Alonso; he then won the following three races, including at Hockenheim, to reduce his disadvantage to 11, and to 10 by Turkey. Since Canada, Ferrari won six out of seven races, including at Monza , with Schumacher winning in five of them. After further victories at
6771-493: The gap in the standings. At the German Grand Prix qualifying session, which was largely decided in the opening 10 minutes of semi-dry weather, Schumacher was able to improve his time in the final seconds and qualified second. In the race, he retired after crashing out at the start, as his new teammate Rubens Barrichello took his maiden win from 18th. Häkkinen then took another two victories, before Schumacher won at
SECTION 60
#17328013291366882-530: The greatest driver of his era". In 2001 , Schumacher took his fourth Drivers' title. Four other drivers won races but none sustained a season-long challenge for the championship. Schumacher scored a record-tying nine wins and clinched the World Championship with four races yet to run. He finished the championship with 123 points, 58 ahead of runner-up Coulthard. Season highlights included the Spanish Grand Prix , where he won after Häkkinen retired on
6993-557: The greatest record that stood in the sport, and was a reversal of the 2005 race. Schumacher was stripped of pole position at the Monaco Grand Prix and started the race at the back of the grid, as he stopped his car and blocked part of the circuit while Alonso was on his qualifying lap; he still managed to work his way up to fifth place on the notoriously cramped Monaco circuit. Before the Turkish Grand Prix ,
7104-460: The guardrail on the outside of the track while leading. Hill attempted to pass but as Schumacher's car returned to the track there was a collision on the corner causing them both to retire. As a result, Schumacher won the Drivers' Championship, the first German to do so— Jochen Rindt (the only posthumous Drivers' Champion) was German but raced under the Austrian flag, and whose domination in 1970
7215-702: The hospital in Grenoble for further rehabilitation at the Lausanne University Hospital , before being relocated to his home to receive medical treatment and rehabilitation privately in September 2014. Michael Schumacher was born in the West German town of Hürth , North Rhine-Westphalia , on 3 January 1969, to working-class parents Rolf—a bricklayer who later ran the local kart track—and Elisabeth Schumacher (1948–2003), who operated
7326-510: The last lap due to his car's engine blowing up leading Schumacher to say he was sorry for him and that they had been "bloody lucky"; Canadian Grand Prix , where Schumacher finished second to his brother Ralf , thus scoring the first-ever 1–2 finish by brothers in Formula One; and the Belgian Grand Prix , in which Schumacher scored his 52nd career win, breaking Alain Prost's record for most career wins that had stood since 1993. In 2002 , Schumacher retained his Drivers' Championship. In winning
7437-581: The latter. In 1989, Schumacher signed with Willi Weber 's WTS Formula Three team. Funded by Weber, he competed in the German Formula Three Championship , winning the 1990 German Formula Three Championship . He also won the 1990 Macau Grand Prix under controversial circumstances. He placed second behind Mika Häkkinen in the first heat, three seconds behind. At the start of the second heat, he overtook Häkkinen, who only had to finish within three seconds of Schumacher to clinch
7548-439: The line. Schumacher later said that Häkkinen was "the best opponent I've had" and the one he respected the most. in 2000 , Schumacher won his third Drivers' Championship, his first with Ferrari, after a year-long battle with Häkkinen. Schumacher won the first three races of the season and five of the first eight. Midway through the year, Schumacher's chances suffered with three consecutive non-finishes, allowing Häkkinen to close
7659-554: The overall win. In the closing laps, Schumacher made a mistake, allowing Häkkinen to attempt to overtake. Schumacher changed his line immediately before Häkkinen did the same as the latter moved to overtake, and Häkkinen crashed into the back of Schumacher's car. While Häkkinen's race was ended, Schumacher drove to victory without a rear wing. Schumacher gave the prize money from winning the race to his family as they had debts. During 1990, along with his Formula Three rivals Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Karl Wendlinger , Schumacher joined
7770-430: The pit lane, crossed the start-finish line, and stopped to serve his ten-second stop-go penalty , which was a result of overtaking the lapped car of Alexander Wurz during a safety car period. There was some doubt whether this counted as serving the penalty; because he had crossed the finish line when he came into the pit lane, the win was valid. The FIA rescinded the penalty due to taking 31 minutes, rather than within
7881-485: The podium. He finished with 144 points, a record-breaking 67 points ahead of the runner-up, his teammate Barrichello. This pair finished nine of the 17 races in the first two places. During the 2002 season, there was some controversy at the Austrian Grand Prix , where Barrichello was leading but in the final metres of the race, under team orders , slowed down to allow Schumacher to win the race. Although
7992-576: The race and the Drivers' Championship; he later described it as the fight of his life. Although Schumacher won more than twice as many Grands Prix as Häkkinen, BBC Sport journalist Andrew Benson stated that "the challenge from Mika Hakkinen and McLaren-Mercedes was far stronger than the raw statistics suggest" and that the Adrian Newey -designed McLaren was "the fastest car in F1 for the third straight year". Benson also hailed Schumacher as "unquestionably
8103-475: The race. Villeneuve went on and scored four points to take the championship. Despite public outcry, the race stewards did not initially award any penalty, as they had deemed it a racing incident; two weeks after the race, in an unprecedented move, Schumacher was disqualified from the entire 1997 Drivers' Championship after an FIA disciplinary hearing found that his "manoeuvre was an instinctive reaction and although deliberate not made with malice or premeditation, it
8214-518: The reason for this is that the Arrows chassis did not harmonize well with the Bridgestone tires. In addition, some regulatory changes would have had to be made to the A23. Instead, in 2004 Minardi again used their own construction, which was given the name Minardi PS04B. Apart from a few aerodynamic detail solutions, the PS04B had nothing in common with the PS04. Rather, it was a further development of
8325-465: The record for most fastest laps (77), among others . Born in Hürth to a working-class family, Schumacher started his career in kart racing aged four. He won his first karting title two years later in a kart built from discarded parts. After having enjoyed success in karting—such as winning the direct-drive Karting European Championship in 1987—and in several single-seater series, Schumacher made
8436-424: The same Renault engine as Williams ; according to Motor Sport magazine, Benetton had the better team, while Williams had the superior car. Schumacher accumulated 33 more points than second-placed Hill. With Herbert as teammate, he took Benetton to its first Constructors' Championship , breaking the dominance of McLaren and Williams, and became the youngest two-time World Champion in Formula One history. The season
8547-535: The season finale at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in a Sauber – Mercedes C11 , and finished fifth in the Drivers' Championship despite only driving in three of the nine races. 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
8658-413: The season in third with 62 points, fewer than half the points of World Champion Alonso. 2006 became the last season of Schumacher's Ferrari career. After three races, Schumacher had just 11 points and was already 17 points behind Alonso. He won the following two races; his pole position at San Marino Grand Prix was his 66th, breaking Ayrton Senna's 12-year-old record, which was described as perhaps
8769-560: The season two points ahead of Räikkönen. In 2004 , Schumacher won a record 12 of the first 13 races of the season, including the inaugural Bahrain Grand Prix and the Japanese Grand Prix , only failing to finish in Monaco after an accident with Montoya during a safety car period. In August 2004, Schumacher's win at the Hungarian Grand Prix contributed to Ferrari's sixth consecutive Constructors' Championship, and he later clinched
8880-500: The sixth race of the season, which he would have won anyway, a view also shared by Jean Todt and Ross Brawn in retrospect, particularly given that he had already won four of the previous five Grands Prix, and that Barrichello had dominated the race weekend up to that point. At the podium ceremony, Schumacher pushed Barrichello onto the top step, and the Ferrari team incurred a $ 1 million fine for this disturbance. Schumacher vowed to pay back Barrichello, and later that same year returned
8991-476: The sixth time in 2003 , after a closely contested battle with his main rivals, which was also a result of lobbying regarding the Michelin tyres. Before the season started, the FIA introduced new regulations and a new points system to make the championship more open. The biggest competition came from the McLaren-Mercedes and Williams- BMW teams. In the first race, Schumacher was run off track, and he
9102-432: The stewards and the team. Schumacher was also disqualified after winning the Belgian Grand Prix , after his car was found to have illegal wear on its skid block , a measure used after the accidents at Imola to limit downforce and hence cornering speed. Benetton protested that the skid block had been damaged when Schumacher spun over a kerb; the FIA rejected their appeal because of the pattern of wear and damage visible on
9213-873: The superior McLaren MP4/13 , Häkkinen won the first two races of the season, gaining a 16-point advantage over Schumacher, who then won the Argentine Grand Prix . With the Ferrari improving significantly in the second half of the season, Schumacher took six victories and had five other podium finishes. One of his victories was at the Hungarian Grand Prix , a track where overtaking is difficult and that favoured McLaren; Schumacher drove 19 consecutive qualifying-like laps to make Ross Brawn's alternative three-stop strategy work and to go from third to first place. Brawn had told him: "Michael, you have 19 laps to pull out 25 seconds. We need 19 qualifying laps from you." Schumacher ultimately came nine seconds ahead of David Coulthard . Häkkinen, who started on pole, achieved only
9324-419: The superior Williams FW19 , led the championship in the early part of the season. Schumacher first win of the season came at the wet Monaco Grand Prix , in which he took a six-second lead after one lap. By mid-season, despite possibly driving not even the second-fastest car on the grid, Schumacher had taken the championship lead, winning five races, and entered the season's finale (the European Grand Prix at
9435-401: The switching of positions did not break any actual sporting or technical regulation, as Ferrari did the same at the Austrian Grand Prix the previous year where Schumacher finishe second and Barrichello third, it angered fans and it was claimed that the team's actions showed a lack of sportsmanship and respect to the spectators. Many argued that Schumacher did not need to be given wins in only
9546-407: The team's equipment was publicly auctioned off in early summer 2003. Paul Stoddart , the owner of the Minardi team, acquired five Arrows A23 vehicles in addition to some pieces of equipment. Initially, Stoddart aimed to have the cars examined by Minardi's design department to gain insights that could improve future models. In September 2003, however, several comparative tests were carried out between
9657-415: The team's total tally for the period from 1991 to 1995, despite a poor chassis. He took his first win for Ferrari at the Spanish Grand Prix , where he lapped the entire field up to third place in the wet. After a bad start, which saw him dropping from third to sixth place, before taking the lead on lap 19, he consistently lapped five seconds faster than the rest of the field in the difficult conditions. At
9768-468: The team. 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. After qualifying second, Schumacher led the Japanese Grand Prix in what could have seen him heading into the season finale with two points ahead of Alonso. With only 16 laps to go, his car suffered an engine failure for
9879-516: The time they were together. At the start of the 1992 season the Sauber team, planning their Formula One debut with Mercedes backing for the following year, invoked a clause in Schumacher's contract that stated that if Mercedes entered Formula One, Schumacher would drive for them. It was eventually agreed that Schumacher would stay with Benetton; Peter Sauber stated that "[Schumacher] didn't want to drive for us. Why would I have forced him?" The year
9990-448: The title: first with Damon Hill at the 1994 Australian Grand Prix , and with Jacques Villeneuve at the 1997 European Grand Prix . Appointed UNESCO Champion for Sport in 2002, Schumacher has been involved in humanitarian projects and has donated tens of millions of dollars to charity. In December 2013, Schumacher suffered a severe brain injury in a skiing accident. He was placed in a medically induced coma until June 2014. He left
10101-401: The track into the barriers and resulting in a broken leg. During his 98-day absence, he was replaced by Finnish driver Mika Salo . About his return, Schumacher's Eddie Irvine teammate recalled: "It was amazing. I remember me and Mika Salo were testing at Mugello, which is one of the hardest circuits in the world – and he [Schumacher] hadn't driven for eight months. He got in the car and within
10212-509: The track's canteen. When Schumacher was four, his father modified his pedal kart by adding a small motorcycle engine . After he crashed it into a lamp post in Kerpen , his parents took him to the karting track at Kerpen-Horrem, where he became the youngest member of the karting club. His father built him a kart from discarded parts; at the age of six, Schumacher won his first club championship. To support his racing, Schumacher's father took on
10323-1010: The transformation of the Ferrari team was Schumacher's greatest feat. During his time at the team, Schumacher became the byword for Formula One and motorsports in general. At the end of 2006, Schumacher's 91 wins were 40 more than Alain Prost, who was his nearest rival. Schumacher held at least thirty-one records, including for most championship titles (7), consecutive titles (5), race victories (91), consecutive wins 7 (2004), wins with one team (72, Ferrari), wins at same Grand Prix (8, France), wins at different Grands Prix (20), time between first and last wins (14 years, 1 month, and 2 days), second places (43), podiums (154), consecutive podium finishes (19, 2001–2002), points finishes (190), laps leading (4.741, or 22,155 km), pole positions (68), front row starts (115), fastest laps (76), doubles (pole and win, 40), hat-tricks (pole, fastest lap, and win, 22), championship points (1,369), consecutive race finishes (24, 2001–2003), consecutive points finishes (24), points in
10434-433: The turn and ended up in the gravel. In later years, Villeneuve himself admitted that he "would never have made that corner without [Schumacher's] push", and Schumacher stated in 2009 that if he could have his career over again, he would "do some things differently", citing Jerez 1997 as something that he would have changed in his career. In 1998 , Finnish driver Mika Häkkinen became Schumacher's main title rival. Driving
10545-409: The very limit for sustained periods during races, a pioneering fitness regimen, and ability to galvanise teams around him. He and his younger brother Ralf are the only siblings to win races in Formula One and the first siblings to finish first and second in the same race, a feat they repeated in four subsequent races. Schumacher was twice involved in collisions in the final race of a season that decided
10656-407: The worst car to have won a Formula One World Championship and was difficult to drive, so much so that Schumacher had three different teammates ( JJ Lehto , Jos Verstappen , and Johnny Herbert ) due to crashes, Schumacher won the first four races and finished the season with eight wins. He won six of the first seven races, including the Brazilian Grand Prix in which he lapped the entire field, and
10767-404: Was a serious error." Initially feeling wronged, Schumacher accepted the decision and admitted having made a mistake, upon seeing the footage when he got out of the car and adrenaline had worn off. His actions were widely condemned in British, German, and Italian newspapers. Another view is that Villeneuve went into the corner too fast; without Schumacher turning into him, he would have overshot
10878-610: Was called the Minardi PS04B . Four years later, in 2006, the new Super Aguri F1 team bought remaining unmodified A23 cars and from Minardi. Super Aguri ran them, with some minor modifications, as the Super Aguri SA05 during the first half of the 2006 Formula One season . ( key ) (results in bold indicate pole position) Michael Schumacher German racing driver Family Rivalries Eponym Media Michael Schumacher ( German: [ˈmɪçaːʔeːl ˈʃuːmaxɐ] ; born 3 January 1969)
10989-461: Was deemed legal. By contrast, the Benetton software was deemed to be a form of launch control that would have allowed Schumacher to make perfect starts, which was explicitly outlawed by the regulations; Benetton and Willem Toet , a Formula One aerodynamicist for over thirty years who worked at Benetton until 1994, stated that traction control was legally achieved through rotational inertia . There
11100-498: Was directly behind Senna, and that of Roland Ratzenberger during the San Marino Grand Prix ; there were also allegations of cheating during the 1994 Formula One season involving several teams, most particularly Schumacher's Benetton, having allegedly broken the sport's technical regulations. Following the San Marino Grand Prix, the Benetton, Ferrari , and McLaren teams were investigated on suspicion of breaking
11211-581: Was dominated by the Williams FW14B of Nigel Mansell and Riccardo Patrese , featuring powerful Renault engines, semi-automatic gearboxes , and active suspension to control the car's ride height. In the conventional Benetton B192 , Schumacher took his place on the podium for the first time, finishing third in the Mexican Grand Prix . Through what has been described as a tactical masterstroke, he went on to take his first victory at
11322-465: Was introduced late and had very little pre season testing as a result. Most of the testing and set up work was done by Verstappen before he was abruptly replaced by Frentzen. Driven by Frentzen and Enrique Bernoldi , the car scored only two championship points. Both cars were disqualified at the opening race. Bernoldi grabbed headlines for taking the fight to Michael Schumacher in Malaysia, proving
11433-439: Was involved in collisions in the following two. He fell 16 points behind McLaren's Kimi Räikkönen . Despite the death of his mother Elisabeth just hours before the race, Schumacher won the San Marino Grand Prix despite losing the first position going into turn one. He also won the next two races and closed within two points of Räikkönen. Aside from Schumacher's victory at the Canadian Grand Prix and Barrichello's victory at
11544-537: Was largely unchanged from its condition as raced in the 2002 season. A comparison test next to the Minardi PS03 proved it to have similar performance to the PS03, but possibly more potential. However Minardi was worried about the negative PR from running a "pure-Arrows" and the decision was made to modify the PS03 using Arrows intellectual property and elements from the Arrows A23 for the 2004 season. The resulting car
11655-481: Was later equalled by Schumacher. The race stewards judged it as a racing accident and took no action against either driver. Although the Drivers' Championship had been decided in a similar manner in 1989 and 1990, public opinion was divided over the incident, and Schumacher was vilified in the British media. At the FIA conference after the race, Schumacher dedicated his title to Senna. In 1995 , Schumacher successfully defended his title with Benetton, which now had
11766-402: Was leading the Spanish Grand Prix , before a gearbox failure left him stuck in fifth gear for most of the race. Schumacher made two pit stops without stalling and finished the race in second place. Benetton boss Flavio Briatore stated that Schumacher's drive was one of the best he had ever seen. The 1994 season was marred by the death of Ayrton Senna , which was witnessed by Schumacher who
11877-409: Was marred by several collisions with Hill, in particular an overtaking manoeuvre by Hill took them both out of the British Grand Prix on lap 45, and again on lap 23 of the Italian Grand Prix ; it also saw one of his career's best ovetakes, with the one over Jean Alesi giving him the win at the European Grand Prix , after he reduced the half a minute gap in the final dozen laps. Schumacher won 9 of
11988-417: Was no evidence to suggest the software was used. At the British Grand Prix , Schumacher was penalised for overtaking Hill on the formation lap . He and Benetton then ignored the penalty and the subsequent black flag , which indicates that the driver must immediately return to the pits, for which he was disqualified and later given a two-race ban. Benetton blamed the incident on a communication error between
12099-492: Was no slower than Minardi's own identically motorized PS03. In particular, Kiesa praised the significantly better downforce of the PS04. Two weeks later, Minardi's second driver, Jos Verstappen , conducted another test. The Dutchman, who deeply hated the PS03, was also positive about the Arrows construction. At the end of 2003, Minardi was considering contesting the 2004 season with the PS04. Ultimately, however, Paul Stoddart decided against using this model. Most sources state that
12210-527: Was praised, as he had the pace to win the race by a lap, and was variously classified in the press as "heroic", an "utterly breath-taking drive", and a "performance that ... sums up his career". During the following weeks, Schumacher, Brawn, Byrne, and Todt were credited for turning the struggling Ferrari team into the most successful team in Formula One history, with Schumacher scoring 72 Grand Prix wins at Ferrari and winning five consecutive Drivers' titles. Three-time World Champion Jackie Stewart believed
12321-411: Was really unbelievable. Really difficult to drive. It was so edgy. But it was fast when you just drove it exactly on that edge. Now, though, there have been a lot of aerodynamic improvements to the cars and so the cars I have driven have been a lot more stable. And that applies to most of the cars today." "It was not a race. It was a demonstration of brilliance." Stirling Moss about Schumacher at
#135864