Michael Schumacher will be remembered in Formula 1 for many reasons.
He is not only an incredibly talented driver, but also a driver that has caused a lot of controversy.
Michael Schumacher was born January 3 1969, to Rolf and Elizabeth Schumacher. His younger brother, Ralph, is also an F1 driver.
Michael holds almost all the records in the sport at the moment and, it would seem, many of them will not be broken at any time soon.
Michael famously started his racing career in carting when he was four.
The cart was built by his father, and he raced this at his home cart track at Kerpen.
At the age of 12, Michael obtained his licence and started to race competitively winning various European cart championships. He moved onto the Formula Ford championship in 1988, where he also competed in the Formula 3 series. It was here that he won the German championship in 1990.
In 1991, Mercedes Benz picked up the young Michael and he raced in the World Endurance Championship, winning in Mexico and Autopolis while driving a Sauber Mercedes C291.
Michael's F1 debut was at the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix, where he drove in a Jordan Ford, replacing the troubled Bertrand Gachot. Michael was signed by Eddie Jordan after showing incredible pace at the Silverstone test the week before the Belgian race. He stunned the paddock by qualifying 7th, ahead of his team mate Andreas de Cesaris, an 11-year veteran. Michael was unfortunate however: he failed to finish due to a clutch failure.
The next race started Michael's controversy. Benetton Ford signed Michael, which angered Eddie Jordan. He claimed that Benetton had stolen him from the Jordan team.
Michael, however, put the controversy behind him and showed great speed and skill in the Benetton team.
At the 1992 Belgian GP Michael won his first race. This marked the point at which Michael started to indicate what a talent he would become. The 1992 season saw him finish third in the championship, ahead of the great Ayrton Senna.
The 1993 season was expected to be a good one, not only for the Benetton team but for Michael as well. However, the Williams of the year was a massive step up from anything that had gone before it. This, and the fact that the Benetton was a troubled car in terms of reliability, did not bode well for the season.
Article comments
1 - Allan Yeow
Yes, we will all miss him. At least he knows when to retire and not wait untill he is no longer the best. But I've heard that his retirement is actually Ferrari's desire. What do you think?
2 - Naveen
That was a good one in chronological order! Ya Schumi will surely be missed on track. But I guess he timed his retirement perfectly. He went into retirement fighting like a legend. He did more things right than wrong. Read some of him @ my blog.