Michael
Schumacher

Michael Schumacher was born in Hürth on 3 January 1969. He started karting at the age of four and by 1987 was German and European kart champion. In 1988 he moved into single-seaters and won the Formula König series. In 1990 he took the German Formula Three title and won the Macau Grand Prix. He also raced for Sauber-Mercedes in the World Sportscar Championship.

He made his Formula One debut for Jordan at the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix, qualifying seventh before retiring on the opening lap with clutch trouble. For the very next race he was in a Benetton. In 1992 he won in Belgium for the first time and finished third in the championship. He became world champion with Benetton in 1994 and 1995. The first of those titles was settled at the final round in Australia, after a collision with Damon Hill.

He joined Ferrari in 1996 and won three races that year. In 1997 he fought Jacques Villeneuve for the title, but after a collision at the finale in Jerez he was later excluded from the championship standings. In 1998 he finished runner-up to Mika Häkkinen. In 1999 he missed several races after a crash at the British Grand Prix. From 2000 to 2004 he won five consecutive titles, the first of them Ferrari's first drivers' crown since 1979. In 2002 he finished on the podium in all 17 races, and in 2004 he won 13 of 18. He was third in the 2005 championship and runner-up to Fernando Alonso in 2006. He announced his retirement at the Italian Grand Prix and took his 91st and final win in China.

He returned with Mercedes from 2010, alongside Nico Rosberg, and finished ninth, eighth and thirteenth in the standings. He was third at the 2012 European Grand Prix, his only podium after the comeback. His last race was the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix. In total he made 306 starts from 308 entries, with 91 wins, 155 podiums, 68 pole positions and seven world titles. His brother Ralf and his son Mick also raced in Formula One.

Source: Wikipedia, “Michael Schumacher”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.