Everything about Michael Schumacher totally explained
German
| Years = –
| Team(s) =
Jordan,
Benetton,
Ferrari
| Team =
Ferrari
| Races = 250 (249 starts)
| Championships = 7 (,,,, )
| Wins = 91
| Points = 1,369
| Podiums = 154
| Poles = 68
| Fastest laps = 76
| First race =
1991 Belgian Grand Prix
| First win =
1992 Belgian Grand Prix
| Last win =
2006 Chinese Grand Prix
| Last race =
2006 Brazilian Grand Prix
| Last season = 2006
| Last position = 2nd (121 pts)
}}
Michael Schumacher (
, (born
January 3,
1969, in
Hürth Hermülheim,
Germany) is a former
Formula One driver, and seven-time world champion. According to the official Formula One
website, he's "statistically the greatest driver the sport has ever seen". He is the first German to win the
Formula One World championship, and is credited with popularising Formula One in Germany. In a 2006
FIA survey, Michael Schumacher was voted the most popular driver among Formula One fans.
After winning two championships with
Benetton, Schumacher moved to
Ferrari in 1996 and won five consecutive drivers' titles with them from 2000–2004. Schumacher holds many records in Formula One, including most drivers' championships, race victories, fastest laps,
pole positions, points scored and most races won in a single season. Schumacher is the only Formula One driver to date, to have an entire season of podium finishes. His driving sometimes created controversy—he was twice involved in collisions that determined the outcome of the world championship, most notably his disqualification from the
1997 championship for causing a collision with
Jacques Villeneuve. After the
2006 Formula One season Schumacher retired from race driving.
Off the track, Schumacher is an ambassador for
UNESCO and a spokesman for driver safety. He has been involved in numerous humanitarian efforts throughout his life. He is the elder brother of former F1 driver
Ralf Schumacher, currently racing in
Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters.
In Germany the regulations require the driver to be at least 14 years old in order to obtain a kart license.
In 1983 he obtained his German license and the year after he won the German Junior Kart Championship.
From 1984, Schumacher won numerous German and
European kart championships. He joined Eurokart dealer Adolf Neubert in 1985. By 1987 he was the German and European kart champion, at which point he withdrew from school and began working as a mechanic. In 1988 Schumacher made his first step into single-seat car racing by racing in the German
Formula Ford and
Formula König series, winning the latter.
In 1989 Michael signed with
Willi Weber's WTS
Formula 3 team. For the next two years, funded by Weber, he competed in the German Formula 3 series, winning the title in 1990. Towards the end of 1990, along with his Formula 3 rivals
Heinz-Harald Frentzen and
Karl Wendlinger, he joined the
Mercedes junior racing programme in the
World Sports-Prototype Championship. This was an unusual move for a young driver: most of Schumacher's contemporaries would instead compete in
Formula 3000 on their way to Formula One. However, Weber advised Schumacher that exposure to professional press conferences and driving powerful cars in long distance races would help his career. Some of Schumacher's best performances occurred in such conditions, earning him the title "
Regenkönig" (rain king) or "Regenmeister" (rain master). He is known as "the Red Baron", due to his red Ferrari and in reference to the German
Manfred von Richthofen, the famous
flying ace of
World War I. Schumacher's nicknames include "Schumi", "Schuey" and "Schu".
Schumacher is often credited with popularising Formula One in Germany, where it was formerly considered a fringe sport. In the latter part of his Formula One career, and as one of the senior drivers, Schumacher was the president of the
Grand Prix Drivers' Association.
Debut
Schumacher made his Formula One début with the
Jordan-
Ford team at the
1991 Belgian Grand Prix as a replacement for the imprisoned
Bertrand Gachot. Schumacher, still a contracted Mercedes driver, was signed by
Eddie Jordan after Mercedes paid Jordan $150,000 for his début. The week before the race, Schumacher impressed Jordan designer Gary Anderson and team manager Trevor Foster during a test drive at
Silverstone. His manager
Willi Weber assured Jordan that though Schumacher had only seen the challenging
Spa track as a spectator, he knew it well. During the race weekend, team-mate
Andrea de Cesaris was meant to show Schumacher the circuit but was held up with contract negotiations. Schumacher then learned the track on his own, by cycling around the track on a fold-up
bike he'd brought with him. He impressed the by qualifying seventh in this race, his first race in a Formula One. This matched the team's season-best grid position, and out-qualified 11-year veteran de Cesaris. Motorsport journalist Joe Saward reported that after qualifying "clumps of German journalists were talking about 'the best talent since
Stefan Bellof'". Schumacher retired on the first lap of the race with
clutch problems.
Benetton
After his debut, and despite Jordan's signed with Schumacher's Mercedes management for the remainder of the season, Schumacher was signed by
Benetton-
Ford for the following race. Jordan applied for an injunction in the UK courts to prevent Schumacher driving for Benetton, but lost the case as they hadn't yet signed a contract. Schumacher finished the
1991 Formula One Season with four points in six races. His best finish was fifth in his second race, the
Italian Grand Prix, in which he outpaced his team-mate and three-time World Champion
Nelson Piquet.
At the start of the
1992 Formula One season the
Sauber team, planning their Formula One début with Mercedes backing for the following year, invoked a clause in Schumacher's contract which stated that if Mercedes entered Formula One, Schumacher would drive for them. It was eventually agreed that Schumacher would stay with Benetton,
Peter Sauber said that "[Schumacher] didn't want to drive for us. Why would I've forced him?". The year was dominated by the Williams of
Nigel Mansell and
Riccardo Patrese, featuring powerful Renault engines,
semi-automatic gearboxes and
active suspension to control the car's ride height. Schumacher was grabbed by the throat by Ayrton Senna, during a test for the
1992 German Grand Prix. In the 'conventional' Benetton B192 Schumacher took his place on the
podium for the first time, after finishing third in the
1992 Mexican Grand Prix. He went on to take his first victory at the
1992 Belgian Grand Prix, in a wet race at the
Spa-Francorchamps circuit, which by 2003 he'd call "far and away my favourite track". He finished third in the Drivers' Championship in 1992 with 53 points, three points behind runner-up Patrese.
The Williams’ of
Damon Hill and
Alain Prost also dominated the season. Benetton introduced their own active suspension and traction control early in the season, last of the frontrunning teams to do so. Schumacher's teammate was
Riccardo Patrese, who was in his last year in F1. Schumacher won one race, the
Portuguese Grand Prix where he beat Prost, and had nine podium finishes, but retired in seven of the other 15 races. He finished the season in fourth, with 52 points.
1994–1995: World Championship years
The season was Schumacher's first
Drivers' Championship. The season, however, was marred by the deaths of
Ayrton Senna and
Roland Ratzenberger during the
San Marino Grand Prix and by allegations of cheating.
Schumacher won six of the first seven races and was leading the
Spanish Grand Prix, before a gearbox failure left him stuck in fifth gear. Schumacher finished the race in second. Following the San Marino Grand Prix, the Benetton, Ferrari and McLaren teams were investigated on suspicion of breaking the
FIA-imposed ban on electronic aids. Benetton and McLaren initially refused to hand over their
source code for investigation. When they did so, the FIA discovered hidden functionality in both teams' software, but no evidence that it had been used in a race. Both teams were fined $100,000 for their initial refusal to cooperate. However, the McLaren software, which was a gearbox program that allowed automatic shifts, was deemed legal. By contrast, the Benetton software was deemed to be a form of 'launch control' which would have allowed Schumacher to make perfect starts, which was explicitly outlawed by the regulations. At the
British Grand Prix, Schumacher was penalised for overtaking on the formation lap. He 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 fiasco on a communication error between 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
skidblock, a measure used after the accidents at Imola to limit
downforce and hence cornering speed. Benetton protested that the skidblock had been damaged when Schumacher spun over a kerb, but the FIA rejected their appeal. These incidents helped
Damon Hill close the points gap. With Schumacher leading by a single point going into the final race in
Australia. On lap 36 of the race Schumacher ran off the track while leading from Hill. After rejoining at a reduced speed, he collided with Hill as he Hill attempted a pass him, and crashed out of the race. The damage he caused the Hill's car forced him to retire. As neither he nor Hill scored, Schumacher won the championship. This made him the first German to ever win the Formula One World Championship. A year later, ex-Benetton employees
Rory Byrne and
Ross Brawn, who had been Technical Director at Benetton since 1991, and who was one of the key members behind Schumacher's title successes with the team in 1994 and 1995, decided to join Schumacher at Ferrari. This highlighted Schumacher's enticement to build a more experienced and potentially championship-winning team around him.
Ferrari had previously come close to the championship in 1982 and 1990. The team had suffered a disastrous downturn in the early 1990s, partially as their famous V12 engine was no longer competitive against the smaller, lighter and more fuel efficient V10s of their competitors. Various drivers, notably
Alain Prost, had given the vehicles labels such as "truck", "pig", and "accident waiting to happen". The poor performance of the Ferrari pit crews was considered a running joke. Schumacher declared the
Ferrari 412T good enough to win the championship.
Schumacher,
Ross Brawn,
Rory Byrne, and
Jean Todt (hired in 1993), have been credited as turning this once struggling team into the most successful team in Formula One history. Three-time World Champion
Jackie Stewart believes the transformation of the Ferrari team was Schumacher's greatest feat.
Eddie Irvine also joined the team, moving from
Jordan.
1996–1999
Schumacher finished third in the Drivers' Championship in 1996, and helped Ferrari to second place in the constructors' championship ahead of his old team Bennetton. He won three races, more than the team's total tally for the period from 1991 to 1995. During the initial part of the 1996 season, the car had had reliability trouble and Schumacher didn't finish 6 of the 16 races. 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, using an uncharacteristically flamboyant
oversteering style. However at
Spa-Francorchamps, Schumacher used well-timed pit-stops to fend off the Williams'
Jacques Villeneuve. Following that, at
Monza, Schumacher won in front of the
tifosi. Schumacher's ability, combined with the improving reliability of Ferrari, enabled him to end the season, putting up a challenge to eventual race and championship winner
Damon Hill at
Suzuka.
Michael Schumacher and
Jacques Villeneuve vied for the title in . Villeneuve, driving the superior
Williams FW19, led the championship in the early part of the season. However, by mid-season, Schumacher had taken the Championship lead, winning five races, and entered the season's final Grand Prix with a one-point advantage. During the race, held at
Jerez, Schumacher and Villeneuve collided as Villeneuve passed his rival. Schumacher retired from the race and Villeneuve scored four points to take the championship. Schumacher was held to be at fault for the collision and was disqualified from the Drivers' Championship.
In,
Finnish driver
Mika Häkkinen became Schumacher's main title competition. Häkkinen won the first two races of the season, gaining a 16 point advantage over Schumacher. With the Ferrari improving significantly and being faster in the second half of the season, Schumacher won six races and had five other podium finishes. Ferrari took a 1–2 finish at the
Italian Grand Prix, which tied Schumacher with Häkkinen for the lead of the Drivers' Championship with 80 points, but Häkkinen won the Championship by winning the final two races. There were two controversies; at the
British Grand Prix Schumacher was leading on the last lap when he turned into the pit lane, crossed the start finish line and stopped for a ten second stop go penalty. There was some doubt whether this counted as serving the penalty, but the win stood. At
Spa, Schumacher was leading the race by 40 seconds in heavy spray, but collided with
David Coulthard's McLaren when the Scot, a lap down, slowed in very poor visibility to let Schumacher past. After both cars returned to the pits, Schumacher rushed to McLaren's garage and accused Coulthard of trying to kill him. During his long absence, he was replaced by Finnish driver
Mika Salo. After missing six races, he made his return at the inaugural
Malaysian Grand Prix, qualifying in the pole position by almost a second. He then assumed the role of second driver, assisting team mate
Eddie Irvine's bid to win the Drivers' Championship for Ferrari. In the last race of the season, the
Japanese Grand Prix, Häkkinen won his second consecutive title. Schumacher would later say that Häkkinen was the opponent he respected the most.
2000–2004: World Championship years
Schumacher won his third World Championship in after a year-long battle with Häkkinen. Schumacher won the first three races of the season and five of the first eight. Mid-way through the year, Schumacher's chances suffered with three consecutive non-finishes, allowing Häkkinen to close the gap in the standings. Häkkinen then took another two victories, before Schumacher won at the
Italian Grand Prix. At the post race press conference, after equalling the number of wins (41) won by his idol,
Ayrton Senna, Schumacher broke into tears. The championship fight would come down to the penultimate race of the season, the
Japanese Grand Prix. Starting from pole position, Schumacher had the early lead, but soon lost it to Häkkinen. After his second pit-stop, however, Schumacher came out ahead of Häkkinen and went on to win the race and the championship.
In, 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
Canadian Grand Prix, where Schumacher finished 2nd 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.
In, Schumacher used the
Ferrari F2002, widely considered to be one of the most dominant racing cars in Formula One, to retain his Drivers' Championship.
At the
Austrian Grand Prix his teammate,
Rubens Barrichello was leading but in the final metres of the race, under orders, slowed to allow Schumacher to win the race. He fell 16 points behind
Kimi Räikkönen. Schumacher won the
San Marino Grand Prix and the next two races, and closed within two points of Räikkönen. Aside from Schumacher's victory in
Canada, and Barrichello's victory in
Britain, the mid-season was dominated by Williams drivers
Ralf Schumacher and
Juan Pablo Montoya, who each claimed two victories. After the
Hungarian Grand Prix, Michael Schumacher led
Juan Pablo Montoya and
Kimi 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 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 World Drivers' title, ending the season two points ahead of Räikkönen.
In, Schumacher won a record twelve of the first thirteen races of the season, only failing to finish in Monaco after an accident with Juan Pablo Montoya during a
safety car period when he briefly locked his car's brakes. He clinched a record
seventh drivers' title at the
Belgian Grand Prix. He finished that season with a record 148 points, 34 points ahead of the runner-up, teammate Rubens 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.
2005–2006
United States Grand Prix. Prior to that race, the Michelin tyres, used by most teams, were found to have significant safety issues. When no compromise between the teams and the FIA could be reached, all but the six drivers using Bridgestone tyres dropped out of the race after the formation lap. However, rule changes for the 2005 and 2006 seasons required tyres to last an entire race, tipping the overall advantage to teams using Michelins over teams such as Ferrari that relied on Bridgestone tyres. The rule changes were partly in an effort to dent Ferrari's dominance and make the series more interesting. The most notable moment of the season for Schumacher was his battle with
Fernando Alonso in
San Marino, where he started 13th and finished only 0.2 seconds behind the Spanish driver. Schumacher retired in six of the 19 races. He finished the season in third with 62 points, less than half the points of world champion Alonso.
became the last season of Schumacher's racing career. After three races, Schumacher had 11 points and was already 17 points behind Alonso. He won the following two races, his first wins in 18 months, not including the boycotted
2005 United States Grand Prix.
Schumacher was stripped of pole position at the
Monaco Grand Prix and started the race at the back of the grid. This was due to him stopping his car and blocking part of the circuit while Alonso was on his qualifying lap; he still managed to work his way up to 5th place on the notoriously cramped Monaco circuit.
By the
Canadian Grand Prix, the ninth race of the season, he was 25 points behind Alonso, and the three wins that followed helped him reduce his disadvantage to 11. After his victories in
Italy (in which Alonso had an engine failure) and
China, in which Alonso had tyre problems, Schumacher led in the championship standings for the first time during the season. Although he and Alonso had the same point total, Schumacher was in front because he'd won more races.
The Japanese Grand Prix was led by Schumacher with only 16 laps to go, when, for the first time since the
2000 French Grand Prix, Schumacher's car suffered engine failure. Alonso won the race, which gave him a ten point championship lead. With only one race left in the season, Schumacher could only win the championship if he won the season finale and Alonso scored no points.
Before the
Brazilian Grand Prix, the last race of his career, Schumacher conceded the title to Alonso. In pre-race ceremonies,
football legend
Pelé presented a trophy to Schumacher for his years of dedication to Formula One. During the race's qualifying session, Schumacher had the best time of all drivers through the first two sessions; but a fuel pressure problem prevented him from completing a single lap during the third session, forcing him to start the race in tenth position. Early in the race Schumacher moved up to sixth place. However, in overtaking Alonso's teammate,
Giancarlo Fisichella, Schumacher experienced a tyre puncture caused by the front wing of Fisichella's car. Schumacher pitted and consequently fell to 19th place, 70 seconds behind teammate and race leader
Felipe Massa. Schumacher recovered and overtook both Fisichella and Räikkönen to secure fourth place. His performance was classified in the press as "heroic", an "utterly breath-taking drive", and a "performance that ... sums up his career".
Retirement
While Schumacher was on the podium after winning the
2006 Italian Grand Prix, Ferrari issued a press release stating that he'd retire from racing at the end of the 2006 season. Schumacher confirmed his retirement. This would involve selecting the team's future drivers. After Schumacher's announcement, leading Formula One figures such as
Niki Lauda and
David Coulthard hailed Schumacher as the greatest all-round racing driver in the history of Formula One. The
tifosi and the Italian press, who didn't always take to Schumacher's relatively cold public persona, displayed an affectionate response after he announced his retirement.
Honours
In recognition of his contribution to Formula One racing the
Nürburgring has renamed turns 8 and 9 (the Audi and Shell Kurves) as the
Schumacher S. In a similar act of honouring Schumacher, he was awarded an FIA Gold Medal for Motor Sport in 2006.
The following year the Swiss Football Association appointed Schumacher as the Swiss ambassador for the
2008 European football championship. A month later he presented
A1 Team Germany with the World Cup trophy at the
A1GP World Cup of Motorsport 2007 awards ceremony. He received a standing ovation from the gathered crowd when he was announced on stage.
Schumacher has been honoured during his career. He has won the
Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award twice, in 2002 and 2004 for his performances in the and seasons respectively. He has received nominations for the 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2007 awards. No-one has been nominated more times than Schumacher in the award's 7-year history.
Helmet
Schumacher in conjunction with
Schuberth helped develop the first lightweight carbon helmet. In 2004, a prototype was publicly tested by being driven over by a
tank; it survived intact. The helmet keeps the driver cool by funneling directed airflow through fifty holes.
Schumacher's helmet sports the colours of the
German flag and his sponsor's decals. On the top is a blue circle with white
astroids. After Schumacher joined Ferrari, a prancing horse was added on the back. In 2000 in order to differentiate his colours from new teammate Rubens Barrichello, Schumacher changed the upper blue colour and some of the white areas to red. In his final Grand Prix race, Schumacher wore a special helmet that included the names of his ninety-one Grand Prix victories.
Advisor for Ferrari
2007: advisor
During the
2007 Formula One season Schumacher acted as Ferrari's advisor and Jean Todt's 'super assistant'. He attended several Grand Prixs during the season. Schumacher drove the
Ferrari F2007 for the first time on
October 24 at Ferrari's home track in
Fiorano, Italy. He ran no more than five laps and no lap times were recorded. A Ferrari spokesman said the short drive was done for the Fiat board of directors, who were holding their meeting in
Maranello.
On
13 November 2007 Schumacher, who hadn't driven a Formula One car since he'd retired a year ago, drove in Ferrari's F2007 during a test session for Ferrari. He returned in December, to continue helping Ferrari with their development program at
Jerez circuit. He focused on testing electronics and tyres for the 2009 Formula One season.
2008: development of the car and third driver
In 2007, former Ferrari top manager
Ross Brawn said that Schumacher is very likely and also happy to continue testing in 2008. In January of 2008, Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo confirmed this, stating that Schumacher will be one of the team's third drivers. Michael Schumacher later explained his role further, saying that he'll
"deal with the development of the car inside Gestione Sportiva", and as part of that, will drive the car, but not too often.
Controversy
During his long career Schumacher has been involved in several incidents, which have caused considerable controversy. Schumacher has been vilified in the
British media for his involvement in title-deciding collisions in 1994 and 1997. German and Italian newspapers have widely condemned his actions in 1997.
Championship deciding collisions
Going into the
1994 Australian Grand Prix, the final race of the
1994 season, Schumacher led
Damon Hill by a single point in the Drivers' Championship. Schumacher led the race from the beginning with Hill closely following him. On lap 35, Schumacher went off track, hitting a wall with his right side wheels. It is unknown whether Schumacher's car was damaged, as he returned to the track at reduced speed but still leading the race. At the next corner, when Hill attempted a pass on the inside while Schumacher was turning into the corner, Schumacher and Hill collided. Schumacher's car was tipped up onto two wheels and eliminated on the spot. Hill pitted immediately and retired from the race with unrepairable damage. As neither driver scored Schumacher took the title.
Opinion is divided over the incident. British Formula One journalist and author
Alan Henry has written that Schumacher was blamed by "many F1 insiders" for the incident, however British Formula One commentator
Murray Walker believes it wasn't a deliberate move. The race stewards judged it a racing accident and took no action against either driver.
At the
1997 European Grand Prix at
Jerez, the last race of the
season, Schumacher led another driver, this time Williams'
Jacques Villeneuve, by one point in the Drivers' Championship. Although Schumacher and Villeneuve had set the same time during qualifying, the Canadian driver started the race in pole position due to his being the first to set the time. By the first corner of the race, Schumacher was ahead of Villeneuve. On lap 48, Villeneuve passed Schumacher at the Dry Sac Corner. As he did so, Schumacher turned into the Williams, the right-front wheel of Schumacher's Ferrari hitting the left side pod of Villeneuve's car. Schumacher retired from the race immediately while Villeneuve was able to finish the race in the third place, taking four points and so becoming the World Champion. Schumacher accepted the decision and admitted having made a mistake.
In the same season, after a race-ending collision whilst trying to lap
David Coulthard during the
Belgian Grand Prix, Schumacher stormed into the
McLaren garage and accused Coulthard of trying to kill him.
Historically,
team orders had always been permitted in Formula One. During Schumacher's tenure at Ferrari, the team often employed team orders to benefit one of their drivers over the other. Usually Schumacher, as team leader, benefited. The notable exception came in the 1999 season in which he played a supporting role for
Eddie Irvine after missing part of the season with a broken leg. However, at the
2002 Austrian Grand Prix, Schumacher's teammate, Rubens Barrichello, took pole and led the race from the start. In the final metres of the race, the Brazilian driver, under orders from Ferrari, slowed his car to make way for Schumacher to pass and win the race. This angered fans who were watching the race. At the podium ceremony, Schumacher pushed Barrichello onto the top step, Later in the season at the end of the
2002 United States Grand Prix, Schumacher let Barrichello pass in a similar fashion, causing a similar outcry. The FIA subsequently banned "Team orders which interfere with the race result".
Although Schumacher took the pole position during the qualifying for the
2006 Monaco Grand Prix, there was controversy near the end of the session. Schumacher stopped his car in the Rascasse corner, partially blocking the circuit, while his main contender for the season title,
Fernando Alonso, was on his qualifying lap. Schumacher stated that he simply locked up the wheels going into the corner and that the car then stalled while he attempted to reverse out. Alonso believed he'd have been on pole if the incident hadn't happened. Schumacher was later stripped of pole position by the race stewards and started the race at the back of the grid. and is known to dislike the celebrity spotlight, preferring a simple life. The family currently lives in
Switzerland. Their home is a 7000 ft² (650 m²) mansion with its own underground garage and petrol station, situated on a private beach on
Lake Geneva. The family has two dogs - one stray that Corinna fell in love with in Brazil, and a
German Shepherd "Ed" whose entrance to the family made headlines after Schumacher personally drove a taxi through the Bavarian town of
Coburg so that the family could catch a return flight to Switzerland, for which both Schumacher and the taxi driver would be reprimanded.
In 2005
Eurobusiness magazine identified Schumacher as the world's first billionaire athlete. His 2004 salary was reported to be around
US$80 million.
Forbes magazine ranked him 17th in their "The World's Most Powerful Celebrities" list. A significant share of his income came from advertising. For example,
Deutsche Vermögensberatung paid him $8 million over three years from 1999 for wearing a 10 by 8 centimetre advertisement on his post-race cap. The deal was extended until 2010. He donated $10 million for aid after the
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. His donation surpassed that of any other sports person, most sports leagues, many worldwide corporations and even some countries.
One of his main hobbies is horse riding, and he plays
football for his local team FC Echichens. He has appeared in several football charity games and organised games between Formula One drivers.
Schumacher is a special ambassador to
UNESCO and has donated 1.5 million
Euros to the organization. Additionally, he paid for the construction of a school for poor children and for area improvements in
Dakar,
Senegal. He supports a hospital for child victims of war in
Sarajevo, which specialises in caring for amputees. In
Lima,
Peru he funded the "Palace for the Poor", a centre for helping homeless street children obtain an education, clothing, food, medical attention, and shelter. He stated his interest in these various efforts was piqued both by his love for children and the fact that these causes had received little attention. While an exact figure for the amount of money he's donated throughout his life is unknown, it's known that in his last four years as a driver, he donated at least $50 million. He also played a small role in the movie
Asterix at the Olympic Games.
Racing record
Career summary
Complete Formula One results
(Races in
bold indicate pole position; races in
italics indicate fastest lap)
