Michael Schumacher (; born 3 January 1969) is a German former racing driver who competed in Formula One from to and from to . Schumacher won a record-setting seven Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, tied by Lewis Hamilton in 2020, and—at the time of his retirement—held the records for most wins (91), pole positions (68), and podium finishes (155), while he maintains the record for most fastest laps (77), among others.
Born in Hürth to a working-class family, Schumacher began competitive kart racing at age four in a pedal kart built from discarded parts. After a successful karting career—culminating in his victory at the European Championship in 1987—Schumacher graduated to junior formulae. He dominated Formula König in his debut season, before graduating to German Formula Three in 1989, where he finished third. He won the title in 1990, also claiming the Macau Grand Prix and becoming a race-winner in the World Sportscar Championship with Sauber Mercedes. Schumacher made his debut Formula One appearance with Jordan at the in ; his qualifying performance saw Benetton sign him for the remainder of the season. In , he achieved his maiden victory in Belgium amongst several podiums, which he repeated at the in . Schumacher won his maiden World Drivers' Championship with eight victories in , following a collision with his rival Damon Hill at the last race of the season. He won a further nine Grands Prix as he defended his title in .
Schumacher moved to the struggling Ferrari for his campaign, where he took several victories and finished third overall. He was involved in title battles in and , being disqualified from the former for a collision with Jacques Villeneuve and finishing runner-up to Mika Häkkinen in the latter. His rivalry with Häkkinen continued into , when Schumacher broke his leg following a brake failure whilst second in the championship. He returned to beat Häkkinen to his first title with Ferrari in , their first in 21 years, which he successfully defended in . His campaign—during which he won a then-record 11 Grands Prix—saw him claim a record-equalling fifth title with an unparalleled perfect podium rate. He then claimed his unprecedented sixth and seventh titles in and , holding off Kimi Räikkönen and Juan Pablo Montoya in the former before winning 13 of 18 Grands Prix during the latter, breaking several further records. After dropping to third in and narrowly finishing runner-up to Fernando Alonso in , Schumacher announced his retirement from Formula One. He later returned with the resurrected Mercedes from to , claiming his final podium at the latter , and has been credited with elevating the project to championship-winning form.
Schumacher was noted for pushing his machinery to the limit for sustained periods, as well as his pioneering fitness regimen, win-at-all-costs mentality, and ability to galvanise teams around him. Appointed a UNESCO Champion for Sport in 2002, Schumacher has been involved in several humanitarian projects and has donated over million to various charities. In December 2013, Schumacher suffered a traumatic brain injury in a skiing accident and was placed in an induced coma for six months. He received further rehabilitation in Lausanne before being relocated to receive private treatment at his home in September 2014; he has not appeared publicly since.
Early life and career Family Schumacher was born in the West German town of Hürth, North Rhine-Westphalia, on 3 January 1969, into a working-class family. His father Rolf was a bricklayer who later ran the local kart track, while his mother Elisabeth operated the track's canteen.
Karting 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 a second job renting and repairing karts, while his mother worked at the track's canteen. 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 circumvent this, Schumacher obtained 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 won the direct-drive Karting European Championship (ICA). By 1987, he was the German and European kart champion, and quit school to begin working as a mechanic. Upon clinching his second World Drivers' Championship, Schumacher returned to top-level karting in 1996, winning both the Monaco Kart Cup in Formula A and the Masters of Paris-Bercy.
Lower formulae and sportscar racing In 1988, Schumacher moved into single-seat car racing by participating in the German Formula Ford and Formula König series, winning 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. When the second heat began, he passed Häkkinen, who needed to finish within three seconds of Schumacher to win the race overall. In the closing laps, Schumacher made a mistake, allowing Häkkinen to attempt to overtake. As soon as Schumacher changed his line, Häkkinen followed suit, attempting to pass him, and then crashed into the rear 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 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 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 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. Schumacher lost time in qualifying after encountering Warwick's Jaguar XJR-14 on a slow lap while attempting to set his flying lap. As retaliation for Warwick impeding him, Schumacher swerved his Sauber into the Jaguar, hitting the front wheel and nose. Enraged by Schumacher's attitude, Warwick drove to the pits and chased Schumacher on foot. He eventually caught up with Schumacher, and his teammate Jochen Mass and several mechanics intervened to prevent Warwick from physically assaulting Schumacher.
Formula One career Jordan (1991)
Schumacher made his Formula One debut with the Irish Jordan-Ford team at the , 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 the Silverstone Circuit. Despite having only spectated the challenging Spa-Francorchamps Circuit, Schumacher's manager Weber reassured Jordan that Schumacher knew it well. During the race weekend, teammate Andrea de Cesaris could not show Schumacher the circuit because he was delayed by contract negotiations. Schumacher then rode a foldable bike around the track to become familiar with it on his own.
Schumacher impressed the paddock in his debut, qualifying seventh in the midfield Jordan 191 car, which he tested for half a day, at a circuit where he had never raced. This also matched the team's season-best grid position, and Schumacher outqualified 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 the race's first lap with clutch problems.
Benetton (1991–1995) 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 the case as they had not yet signed a final contract.
1991–1993: Maiden points, podiums, and wins Schumacher finished the season with four points out of six races. His best finish was fifth in his second race, the , 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, scoring only half a point less than him during their time together.
At the start of the 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 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 finished third in the , his first podium finish. Through what has been described as a tactical masterstroke, he went on to take his first victory at the , 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. The year 1992 was also 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 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".