Michael Schumacher

Michael Schumacher, former German driver. He is considered one of the best drivers of all time in Formula 1. Together with Lewis Hamilton, he is the most successful in the history of Formula 1 with 7 world titles, the first two with Benetton (1994 and 1995) and then five consecutive with Ferrari ( 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004), the latter absolute record.

Nicknamed Kaiser, Schumacher holds some Formula 1 records, having obtained, in addition to the world championships, also the highest number of fastest laps and triplets or pole positions, victory and fastest lap in the same Grand Prix. Until 13 October 2013 he also held the absolute record for career points, surpassed on that occasion by Fernando Alonso and subsequently by four other drivers. He is the second of all time in terms of number of wins (91), podiums (155) and pole positions (68), in all three records behind the only driver Hamilton. Natural talent combined with refinements able to refine the course of the race, adapt one’s driving style to changing conditions and plan in advance any eventuality, all while maintaining a driving at the limit; this is also thanks to the hard training to which he subjected his own body, superior to that of his colleagues of his generation.

To this he added a marked sensitivity for his own limits as well as for those of his single-seaters, an aspect that made him a driver who rarely made mistakes as well as being able to better manage, through his feedback and judgments, the work of the team’s men; engineers first of all, starting with Ross Brawn with whom he formed a long-term technical partnership that lasted for almost his entire career. In addition to being a complete driver in every respect, he also had great test driving skills capable of growing machines. Additionally, Schumacher was the first German to be crowned Formula 1 world champion – she was the most popular icon in Formula 1 until 2006, according to an FIA world poll. In 2002 he was crowned world champion with six Gran Presses ahead (an all-time record), eventually becoming the only driver to get on the podium in every race of a scheduled season, 17 that year. On 12 October 2003, winning his sixth world championship, he became the most titled Formula 1 driver, beating Juan Manuel Fangio’s record, and in 2004 he set a further record by winning the fifth world title with 13 wins out of 18 races.

Retired for the first time at the end of 2006, he decided to return to racing in the 2010 season, at the age of 41, with Mercedes, to then retire permanently at the end of 2012. On 29 December 2013 he was seriously injured in an accident on a ski slope in Méribel, as a result of which he spent several months in an induced coma.