The Michael SCHUMACHER we know lesser about

Joining Formula 1, mid season in 1991 at the age of 20, Michael showed early promise. In his first race, Michael qualified seventh. At the end of the season, he was signed up by Benetton’s Flavio Briatore to race for Benetton Ford in which he finished an impressive fifth at Monza on his Benetton debut.
In 1993, he and Benetton began challenging the front runners. With one race victory in the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa under heavy rains, they were surely headed for the top.
1994 officially marked the beginning of the Schumi era in F1. The Benetton B193B, designed by Ross Brawn began the season with a bang by winning the first three races. The third race of the season, at Imola was marked by the tragic death of Ayrton Senna, one of the greatest drivers and one of the most aggressive drivers who ever held the wheels of an F1 car. The year would also be remembered for the number of times Schumi and Benetton were penalized, Schumi was black flagged when on the lead at Silverstone for overtaking pole sitter Damon Hill during the formation lap. Michael ignored the black flag and was stripped of points in the British GP, he was also banned for the next 2 races, both of which were won by his closest rival Damon Hill. Michael’s 21 point lead before going into the ban was reduced to just one point. Michael won the next 2 races at Hungary and Spa. His misfortunes however had not come to an end yet -the undercarriage wooden plank on his car was found to be too thin. Michael was disqualified from the Belgian Grand Prix. In order to bolster their chances at the world championship, Frank Williams brought back former world champion and world record holder (for most races in a year, 9) Nigel Mansell for the last three races. The season now moved to Suzuka for the penultimate race, with Michael 5 points ahead of Hill. In torrential rainfall, Hill took the chequered flag ahead of Michael. With Michael on 92 points and Hill on 91 points, the season finale at St. Alberta Park, Australia, was going to decide the World Championship of drivers. After a close qualifying session on Saturday, Michael qualified on pole with Hill second. Leading from the start, Michael slid off the track and in an ambitious attempt to keep Hill from overtaking him, ended up crashing into Hill. Michael retired from the race immediately after ramming headfirst into the tire barrier; Hill retired a lap later with a broken suspension. Michael Schumacher was Champion of the world at the age of 23. This was the beginning of what would be Michael Schumacher’s decade. The season ended with Benetton getting penalized $ 500,000 for using an illegal traction control system and Nigel Mansell scoring his last F1 victory.
The following year, Benetton switched from Ford to the much more reliable 3.0 liter Renault engine. Michael began the 1995 season as a clear favorite, winning the first race at Brazil after Hill retired early from the race. The race was however not without controversy. After the race, questions were raised over the weight of the Michael’s car, which was above the stipulated limit. Michael lost the Championship lead after Hill won the next 2 races at Argentina and San Marino. Schumi dominated the rest of the season with a total of eleven podium finishes, including nine victories in the season, equaling the record set by Nigel Mansell in 1992, driving a Williams. Michael won both races held in Germany, at Hockenheim and Nurburgring, with Hill not finishing either of the races. The year also saw David Coulthard win his first GP at Estroil, Portugal and Frenchman Jean Alesi winning the Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal after Michael was forced into the pits from the lead for more than a minute due to technical problems. Benetton’s No:2 driver Johnny Herbert won the British and the Italian grand prixs after both Hill and Schumacher collided into each other in both the races. The race of the year was at Spa under torrential rains when Michael, starting from the 16th place on the grid went on to lead the Belgian Grand Prix on the eighth lap and eventually won the race after one of the longest dogfights in recent times. Hill pitted four times as compared to Michael’s 2, he also suffered a ten second stop- go penalty for speeding in the pit lane and eventually lost the race. The season concluded with Hill winning his fourth race of the season at the Australian Grand Prix.
In 1996 Michael moved in to rebuild Ferrari which was in total disarray after a fairly poor 95 season. Along with him, Benetton’s chief designer Ross Brawn also moved to Ferrari as their technical director. This season saw the arrival of French- Canadian Jacques Villeneuve who qualified on pole on his debut and scored a victory in only his third race. The Williams Renault FW 18 was by far in a class of its own. Williams won 12 of the 16 races with Hill taking 8 of them. Michael with a very unreliable Ferrari won only three races, at Spain, Italy and Belgium to be third in the driver’s Championship and placed Ferrari second in the Constructor’s title. Olivier Panis won the other race at Monaco. Hill won the championship from team mate Jacques Villeneuve by 19 points. He was sacked by team boss Frank Williams at the end of the season and moved to Arrows and then to Jordan, where he won one race at Belgium in 1998. Damon Hill retired the following year from F1.
From there, Michael Schumacher as we all know has won a record equaling 5 consecutive championships. In doing so he has also broken one of the oldest and most coveted formula1 records, winning seven championships to date, a record previously held by the great Juan Manuel Fangio. To sum up his recent domination of F1, it would be appropriate to quote Eddie Jordan, boss of the Jordan team who said “We are waiting for Michael to retire”.