Schumacher's first title success: Twenty years on

Michael Schumacher became Formula 1 world champion for the first time twenty years ago today. It started a continuing success that lasted for over a decade, picking up another six titles along the way and finishing with 91 victories.

But 1994 was when he rose up to be king in a season that was tragic, controversial and epic. Everyone expected Ayrton Senna to dominate this season when he joined Williams but he got a surprise when Schumacher in the Benetton was immediately on the pace.

It's such a shame we only had one head to head confrontation that year. The opening race in Brazil was possibly the best race of the year as Schumacher tracked Senna down and began pressuring him. In what would become a trademark, Schumacher got ahead in the pit stops after setting some extraordinary lap times to exit in the lead. Senna tried to get back at him but spun into retirement.

It was a marker, a new challenger in town ready to take the fight to the expected champion. That we didn't get that fight is immensely sad after Senna died at the San Marino Grand Prix. Senna's team mate Damon Hill took up the baton and gave it his best shot, getting to within one point by the final race.

Senna had suspected Benetton to be running illegal traction control and launch control, although the software was found it wasn't proved it was used. Ross Brawn and Pat Symonds technical director and engineer at Benetton both say they didn't run it. But that was just the start of the issues that affected the team. Schumacher was disqualified from Silverstone after ignoring a black flag after he'd jumped ahead of Damon Hill on the formation lap. The team had told him to stay out but he was banned for two races afterwards.

He won the Belgian Grand Prix but again was disqualified for his car running too low to the ground after the wooden plank underneath the car had worn away too much. He had spun over kerbs during the race which likely resulted in the wear, but the stewards were having none of it and again another 10 points were lost handing the victory to Hill. 

Through it all Schumacher remained dignified and focused winning race after race and never commenting on his teams apparent indiscretions. He had eight victories in all, but perhaps his best drive was finishing second to Hill in the Spanish Grand Prix after being stuck in fifth gear for half the race.

Coming back from his ban, he immediately won before Hill brilliantly beat him in the rain in Japan at the penultimate race. So to Australia and the final race separated by one point. Schumacher and Hill immediately took the top two positions and drove away from the rest of the field, in a class of their own.

For most of the season, Schuey had been in a class of one, but finally as the season reached its climax Hill joined him there. They raced for 36 intense laps before for whatever reason, just as he'd pulled a bit of a gap to Hill, Schumacher went off. Hill saw the Benetton come back on the road not realising it was damaged, he immediately went for the inside of the next corner. Schumacher was already turning though, the two collided, the Benetton almost flipping before coming to rest out of the race.

Hill continued but the damage had been done, his suspension was gone and he sat forlornly in the pits. Had Schuey clashed deliberately? Judging from the future, perhaps, but I still believe it's arguable and he's never admitted to this one. 

Despite this, anyone looking to argue Schumacher didn't deserve the title has to remember he won eight out of the 12 races he could score in. In two others he was disqualified and a further two, harshly banned. Hill had 16 races to fall one point short.

As I've said, Schumacher truly emerged as the next major driver in Formula 1 during 1994, he was the one that all others would be judged by and that didn't stop until 2006 when he retired for the first time. Schumacher showed a flaw that would emerge every now and then over the years, but he also showed just how brilliantly he could drive on the edge. 1994 was a tough year for the sport, but through it emerged a new hero and one of the best showdowns the sport has seen.

If Abu Dhabi in just over a weeks time can come close to this race, it's going to be quite the ride.

#keepfightingmichael #forzaJules

Ten years since Schumacher's last title glory

The Belgian Grand Prix, Spa-Francorchamps, 29^th August 2004. Sitting second on the grid Michael Schumacher must have been thinking another win would come his way, after all he’d spent the previous five months almost winning everything; 12 wins from 13 races. Surely he’d wrap up his inevitable seventh title in victorious style.

It wasn’t to be, although it would have been so appropriate to claim his last title at the track which was always so intertwined with his career; his debut for Jordan in 1991, his first win a year later, a controversial disqualification, the defeat of Damon Hill on a wet track while on dry tyres, several classic strolls into the distance and another mesmeric destruction of the field in the rain.

Spa did give him the title, he finished second to Kimi Raikkonen after slipping back at the start, but after having won the title so many times, I guess in a year of supremacy the only way you’d want to clinch the championship is in style, and second wasn’t the style he was accustomed to.

Schumacher dominated the sport for so long it seems incredible that today marks ten years ago that he wrapped up his final and seventh world championship. Even now for those who have only a peripheral knowledge of the world of Formula 1 he is the name that is conjured up. So complete was his hold on the sport that many people thought he was still out there winning.

Perhaps that is because he so embodied everything about the world of Formula 1, its good and its bad points. He took it to a whole new level of professionalism and brought or established new things which many would now consider essential tools in the driver trade.

His absolute dedication to his fitness, his ability to motivate and be a full part of the team driving them in a positive direction, his constant search for perfection, being one of the first drivers who would twist and turn various instruments during the race which is now common place.

Schumacher was a class apart, his commitment to his goals was unmatched. Nothing was left unturned in his pursuit to be the best out there. Many people at the time became dissatisfied with his constant glory but I thought it was great to be watching a legend do his work right before us. His seven titles (1994, 95 & 2000-2004) and 91 wins could well be matched but it’s going to take someone of complete single minded determination to maintain a win rate such as Schuey had.

The alarming thing is he could well have won a lot more. The titles he missed out on could be said to be even better than some of the championships he took. To my mind at least his 1997 season was majestic. For a modern day comparison think of Fernando Alonso taking the championship to the wire in 2012 except that in ’97 the Ferrari was even more of a dog of a car.

He lead the points into the final race but obviously to the greater world his year was tarnished when faced with the possibility of losing to a car and driver which should have had the title sewn up several races ago if it weren’t for the efforts of Schumacher he swiped into the side of the Williams of Jacques Villeneuve.

A bad ending and one of his professional fouls which he actually admitted to, but to me it takes nothing away from the fact that he had no real right to be challenging for the title that year anyway. The following season he was up against the equally superior McLaren of Mika Hakkinen as the Williams had been before. Again he managed to take the title to the final race. Finally, while leading the 2006 Japanese Grand Prix ahead of Alonso he was just 17 laps away from taking a two point lead into the final race of the year when his engine failed. His luck which had always been so good was finally deserting him as his first career came to a close.

Of course it possibly should have continued at Ferrari for another year or two. For reasons which remain unclear Kimi was signed without Schumacher’s knowledge and he was ushered into a retirement he wasn’t really ready for. Can we speculate what might have happened? Well you can never be sure, but I’m pretty sure nevertheless. 2007 wouldn’t have been the three way classic between Kimi, Alonso and Lewis Hamilton. It would have been a final Schuey title.

The way those three capitulated and the fact Kimi and Felipe Massa were so evenly matched when Schumacher had mostly had the beating of Massa pretty comprehensively leads me to believe he’d have used the 2007 Ferrari to devastating effect. It certainly would have been interesting to witness the following year, Hamilton against Schumacher in equally matched cars. It's a missing highlight just like the lack of a proper full title fight between Schumacher and Ayrton Senna, it's added to the long list of what could have beens.

We caught a glimpse of how good it might have been in the 2011 Italian Grand Prix with an epic dual between Hamilton and Schumacher which was an utter joy and also beautifully aggressive. Because of course Schuey did retire at the end of 2006 before coming back in a blaze of glory in 2010 for Mercedes.

It didn’t work out quite as well as had been hoped, the luck I mentioned earlier was practically non-existant this time around. Despite Mercedes spawning from the ashes of 2009 championship winners Brawn GP, the car wasn’t up to it. In fact the car, the tyres, the competition had all moved on. Schumacher was also faced with ageing, even he couldn’t hold back time. There were stupid accidents, moments of indecision and several poor races. But there were highs too, that battle with Hamilton, fourth in Canada 2011, the pole lap of the season in Monaco 2012, his podium in Valencia and a comeback charge from the back to seventh in his final final race.

He said later his Mercedes comeback taught him how to lose, but you could see that mostly he was still enjoying it, I think gone was the total commitment to winning, he still wanted to certainly and some of his on track manoeuvres proved that, but he was a more relaxed individual in the public eye and seemed happy enough to be racing and working towards something.

The rewards never came but as we’ve come to appreciate, his comparison to Nico Rosberg is nothing at all to be ashamed of as Nico matches Hamilton in this years championship. Schumacher was often faster on race pace, so despite not demonstrating the devastating winning habit that characterised his first career it wasn’t quite as bad as some make out and when analysed properly doesn’t take anything away from his legacy. 

Not only is it ten years since his last title but later on this year it will be twenty since his first title. No one else has managed to sustain such comprehensive success to stay at the top of the sport for season after season, he will forever be talked about amongst the greats.

Of course there were the controversial moments, including questionable driving methods, favouritism from his team and the sports governing bodies. With regards to the team favouritism, he worked himself into that position so why should he not have benefitted? But these controversies are not what should be remembered about his career.

It should be just how exceptional he was, how much of a racer he was and how much he loved the sport he dominated. I remember the first time I saw him win live at the 1998 British Grand Prix in the pouring rain which encapsulated his career for me as it showed the racer and the controversy. It was mesmeric watching his hands dancing on the steering wheel as you could see him delicately balancing the car coming through club, driving hard through the spray but to win in the pit lane created uproar at the time.

You always knew something would happen when Michael Schumacher was racing. Since he retired for the second time he was still looking for challenges, looking for fun and thrills while also helping extensively with charities which wasn't overly publicised. I truly hope he can make as good a recovery as possible from the horrible skiing accident at the end of last year that left him in a coma for nearly six months. So now is the time to remember his success and continue to wish him well for more success in the future. Keep fighting Michael.

For some of my favourite Schumacher moments, please click here

all photo's taken from autosport.com

Silverstone 50: The Best British Grand Prix

It’s that time of year, Wimbledon is into its second week, a major Football tournament is going on, Tour de France is about to start, so it must mean the British Grand Prix is on its way. It has such a great atmosphere come rain or shine, or actually usually bits of sun and very windy! The crowd is enthusiastic and friendly, the racing is usually pretty decent, the Grandstands and general admission mostly give a good view of the track and the weather always gives it that air of unpredictability.

I’ve been lucky enough to attend several Grand Prix at Silverstone since 1995, many of them have been exceptional races, so as this year it is a celebration of Silverstone’s 50^th Grand Prix I’m going to give my five best races that I’ve attended. Just so you know I’m not deliberately leaving races out which should be regarded as classics so here’s the years I’ve attended; 1995, 96, 97, 98, 99, 2003, 04, 07, 10, 11, 12.

There’s a few good races I’ve left out, but here’s my five that were the best to me at least.

2004

It wasn’t the best race in the world, but it was a decent one. As a Schumacher fan back then I enjoyed it immensely, mainly because it was an uncontroversial win and he just drove the car hard all the way to the flag despite some intense Kimi Raikkonen pressure.

Schumacher started fourth on a full tank of fuel. Back then you qualified with your race fuel load, his had been more than anyone’s. At the start he circulated in fourth just behind the pole sitting Kimi, Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button. As one by one they came into the pits, Schuey was released and put the hammer down. You could see just how hard he was pushing. He exited the pits in the lead. But it wasn’t the end, a late safety car put Kimi back onto him, and he harried Schuey to the flag.

It was a year Schumacher won pretty much everything, he was in the middle of a seven race winning streak, I’d have felt a bit cheated if he hadn’t managed Silverstone too!

2010

‘Not bad for a number 2 driver’. Yes, I thought about whether to put this or 2012 in, but I preferred this one. Mark Webber had suffered in qualifying after having his newer front wing taken off his car and given to his team mate Sebastian Vettel.

At the start Webber charged ahead of Vettel forcing him wide. Lewis Hamilton made minor contact with Vettel giving the German a puncture. He fell to the back of the field and was only three seconds ahead of Webber on the road before a safety car allowed him to catch the back of the pack.

What followed was a fantastic charge through the pack to end up seventh, with some particularly forceful moves going on. At the front Webber held off Hamilton by just over a second as they fought to the flag. But it was the way Webber battled against the suggested favouritism that Red Bull showed Vettel. It was a stirring drive full of Aussie Grit and a satisfying riposte to the events of the previous day.

1995

We were at the height of the Schumacher and Damon Hill rivalry here. Hill lead away from pole position while Schumacher fell to third behind Jean Alesi. Hill tore away from Alesi but was on a two stop strategy. While everyone came into the pits, Schumacher marched on until half distance and took the lead when Hill made his second stop. Hill quickly caught Schumacher and attacked him for several laps, the tension was immense. It ended when Hill dived for a gap that was always going to close taking them both off.

Behind, the Benetton and Williams battle continued as David Coulthard fought with Johnny Herbert, a penalty dropped Coulthard out of contention, and it was a popular first win for Herbert at his home Grand Prix.

Right in front of me though was a spectacular accident between Mark Blundell and Rubens Barrichello on the last lap as they battled for fifth, which ended the race in a lively fashion.

1998

Rain, lots of rain. It’s always fantastic to see Formula 1 cars in the wet even if the weather conditions don’t exactly make it the most comfortable viewing conditions. Sitting on the top of the hill by Club corner, we had a spectacular view as the drivers strove to keep the cars on the track, their hands dancing on the steering wheel.

Mika Hakkinen lead at the start, but spun off allowing Schumacher to take the lead. He edged away but was handed a stop go penalty for overtaking under yellows. He attacked to pull out a gap, but Ferrari were smart and pulled Schumacher in to the pits to serve his penalty on the last lap. He crossed the line to win before taking his penalty. It was in the rules and this crazy win was allowed.

But what really makes this special is the ability of these drivers controlling 800bhp cars in pouring rain. It was incredible.

2003

Rubens Barrichello won a dramatic race which had so many drivers out of position due to an early safety car as a mad catholic priest ran out on to the track. The two Toyota’s of Olivier Panis and Christiano da Matta lead for a long time as the big guns tried to fight back through the field.

It was Rubens day though, his passing was incisive and fast and he rose to the front of the field brilliantly to lead from Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya. Schumacher had got back up to fourth but it was his Ferrari team mate who stole the day with a fantastic performance.

There was action all the way down the field, not a single driver was left to race on his own as the entire grid put on a show to remember.

all photo's taken from autosport.com apart from 1995 GP taken from grandprix247.com