Wednesday was the 55th birthday of Formula One legend Michael Schumacher. Upon retiring from Formula One for the second time in 2012, the German driver became the greatest of all time, according to statistics.
At retirement, Schumacher held the records for most wins (91), fastest laps (77), podium finishes (155), and pole positions (68). Lewis Hamilton was the only driver to match his seven titles and break his pole position, win, and podium records.
His 19-year Formula 1 career included 306 races from 1991 to 2012. Three of his many successes stand out in his outstanding career.
1996 Spanish Grand Prix
Schumacher won two world titles in five seasons with Benetton. He joined Ferrari in the early 1990s after decades of upheaval after winning the championship. Ferrari was competitive by 1996, even if it no longer competed for the title.
Schumacher started the season with three podium results and two pole positions at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain, before the seventh race, despite driving “a piece of junk,” according to his teammate. Due to harsh weather, only six of the twenty Spanish Grand Prix cars finished.
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Schumacher, who started third, had to start from the back owing to a clutch issue. Five drivers withdrew due to his sluggish start. Good thing he finished sixth on his inaugural lap.
The world champion, Jacques Villenueve, passed him after twelve laps after several top cars spun early on. Despite the heavy rain and poor visibility, Schumacher continued to race and held a three-second lead after each lap.
One of Formula One’s largest winning margins was 45 seconds. Schumacher won his first of seventy-two Ferrari races at this race, proving he could be part of a dominant team in the early 2000s.
The 1995 Belgian Grand Prix
chumacher’s racing career in one event is summarised here.
At Round 11 of the 1995 Formula One season in Belgium, defending world champion Michael Schumacher led the drivers’ championship after five wins. Since Schumacher started his Formula One career there in 1991 and won his first race there in 1992, the Belgian Grand Prix is precious to him.
He qualified fifth after crashing in practice and started the race in fifteenth. On lap 16, Schumacher passed every driver in front of him to take the lead, making that nearly irrelevant. Schumacher kept driving on slick tyres, which work best in dry circumstances. That was risky since most drivers had chosen grooved, wet-weather tyres to cope. Williams’ season opponent, Damon Hill, could lap six seconds faster on wet tyres.
Schumacher resisted Hill’s pass. He led the front, although he sometimes overreacted defensively, earning him a one-race suspension that was later extended for blocking. After the rain stopped, Hill pitted for slick tyres, and Schumacher won by over 20 seconds.
His lightning acceleration, agility, and questionable defence made him one of Formula One’s greatest.
Hungarian Grand Prix 1998
Nowadays, Formula One pit stops take two or three seconds plus twenty to twenty-five seconds to enter and exit the pit lane. A 1998 rule changed automobile pit stops to 30 seconds.
Schumacher took a risk when Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn gave him an extra pit stop at the 1998 Hungarian Grand Prix instead of the other drivers. That was risky halfway through the race.
Schumacher had less fuel and was lighter because he pitted faster than Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard, the leading McLaren team, on lap 43. Brawn informed Schumacher over the driver’s radio that he led the two McLaren drivers by 25 seconds with 19 laps left.
His reply? No problem. Formula One radio lingo sometimes uses “thank you.” He ran accurate, qualifying-calibre laps for 30 minutes, and it paid off. Schumacher led fifteen circuits and won the race after his third and final pit stop.
Michael Schumacher is where?
Schumacher’s second retirement ended badly in the first year. Schumacher lost his balance and hit his head on a rock while skiing with his son Mick in the French Alps on December 29, 2013. That damaged the brain severely. Surgery and coma medicine followed his transfer to Grenoble Hospital.
His coma was lifted in March 2014, and he began recovery in June. Claims that he was ignorant, crippled, and memory-challenged surfaced months later. Although Schumacher was improving, longtime manager Sabine Kehm said in May 2015 that a full recovery would take months.
Even his two-year Formula One driver son, Mick Schumacher, did not reveal his ailment. They ignore rumours about 2020 stem cell therapy. Bed rest can cause osteoporosis and muscle loss. Jean Todt, former Ferrari team principal, told L’Équipe on Thursday that Schumacher “is simply not the Michael he used to be,” despite still watching races with him. “He is unique, and his wife and kids, who watch out for him, are amazing role models.”
Schumacher shunned the spotlight after the skiing accident.
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