Michael Schumacher is a seven time F1 Drivers' champion; his remarkable achievements rank him alongside not only the best drivers but also the very best sportsmen. He retired at the end of 2006, but amidst great excitement and anticipation, Schumacher returned to F1 in 2010. He joined the newly reformed Mercedes team that had been absent from F1 for 54 years. His return, particularly working once again with Ross Brawn, was a topic of much debate before the 2010 season and a cause of much comment throughout 2010. Michael and Mercedes did not meet the high expectations that his fans had hoped.

Schumacher has stated on several occasions that he is not content with his 2010 performance, but that his return was a three year project, and that he would be competing for an eight title in that time. Regardless of Schumacher's form in 2010, the Mercedes car was not competitive, and it seems unlikely that a manufacturef of Mercedes pedigree will not make huge progress in 2011.      

The debate of who is the greatest driver of all time will always feature Michael Schumacher. If such were decided by statistics alone he would be the clear winner after a racing career that rewrote the record books, including winning the most championships, most race victories, most fastest laps, most pole positions, most points scored and most races won in a single season. His dominance of the era is best illustrated by his 2002 results when he became the only driver to complete an entire season finishing 1st, 2nd or 3rd in all races. Some F1 aficionados will argue that others have more of a claim to be known as the greatest, some will cite the early giants, Jim Clark and Juan Menuel Fangio, others Jackie Stewart from the late 60's early seventies, or the titans of the 80's Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna. The debate will continue, but Michael is undoubtedly the greatest of his generation.

Schumacher's absolute commitment to winning has divided opinion, some believe that he has used questionable tactics, others that in the heat of battle he has overstepped. The two most controversial incidents occurred in final races that would decide the outcome of the championship, with Damon Hill in 94 and Jacques Villeneuve in 97. However, when faced with FIA action he has always accepted the decisions with good grace, without resorting to trying to misrepresent the situation.
 
Off the track he is very private, avoiding the glare of the media. He is enormously generous with financial gifts to numerous humanitarian causes; reportedly donating more than $50M to charity in the four years immediately prior to his retirement in 2006.

Nationality & DoB	German , 03-01-69
Team	Mercedes
Car Number	7
Prior Teams	Ferrari (06, 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96)
	Benetton (95, 94, 93, 92, 91)
	Jordan (91, [one race])
Championships	7 (2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1995, 1994)
Races	269 (268 starts)
Wins	91
Podiums	154
Pole Positions	68
Fastest Laps	76
First Race	1991 Belgian Grand Prix
First Win	1992 Belgian Grand Prix
Last Win	2006 Chinese Grand Prix

Schumacher was born in West Germany to hard working parents of modest means. Introduced to karting by his father at four years old, he won his first club championship at six, and the German Junior Kart Championship at 14, and German and European senior Champion at 18.

From 1988 to 1991 Schumacher raced in numerous single seater races in various formula's including winning the Formula König and the German Formula 3 series. In 1991 Michael moved to F1. His first race was at the Belgian GP, driving for Jordan as a replacement driver. Remarkably he qualified in seventh outperforming Jordan driver Andrea de Cesaris, but had to retire on the first lap due to mechanical failure. Despite Eddie Jordan's attempts to keep him with the team for the remainder of the season, he finished the season with Benetton gaining his first points by most notably finishing fifth at the Italian GP ahead of team mate and three time world champion Nelson Piquet. Schumacher had his first podium for Benetton in 92 finishing third in the Mexican GP, the first victory shortly afterwards in a wet race at the famous Spa Francorchamps circuit Belgium.

Schumacher finished his first full season in F1 in third place in the point standings. The 1993 season was mixed, with nine podiums including victory in Portugal, however seven retirements resulted in a fourth place finish in the championship.
The 1994 season is remembered most for the tragic deaths in separate incidents of  three times world champion Ayrton Senna and the team Simtek driver Roland Ratzenberger  during the San Marino GP weekend. Ayrton Senna was an immensely influential figure in F1 and his death had a profound effect on the sport.

Schumacher had an incredible start to the 94 season, winning six of the first seven races. The FIA investigated three teams, McLaren Ferrari and Benetton for use of electronic aids on their cars. After some procrastination by McLaren and Benetton, viewed by the FIA as failure to cooperate, (for which both teams were fined $100,000) it was ruled that the Benetton software was a form of 'launch control' giving Benetton drivers an advantage at the start which was outlawed by the regulations.

Schumacher was disqualified from the British GP for ignoring a Black flag issued for ignoring a penalty. Benetton stated the cause to be a communication error between the stewards and the team. The incident resulted in a two race ban. Pressure on Schumacher's point lead increased again when disqualified from the Belgian GP, he was judged to have too much wear on his car's skidblock.

The final race of the 1994 season in Australia resulted in one of the more contentious incidents in Schumacher's career, and to some, illustrated his passion for winning sometimes overstepped into un-sportsmanlike conduct. Going into the race Schumacher was one point ahead of the British driver Damon Hill (Williams). On lap 36 Schumacher was leading with Hill second, Schumacher clipped the wall, and with his race over seemed to steer his car into the path of  Damon Hill as Hill was overtaking the near stationary Schumacher forcing a crash that took Hill out of the race. With neither driver scoring any points Schumacher won his first Drivers World Championship. The incident certainly didn't endear Michael to the British fans or press, but many more independent voices, importantly including the race stewards, judged it was just a racing accident.

Schumacher won the 1995 season by 33 points over once again Damon Hill. Hill and Schumacher crashed with each other twice during the season at the British and Italian GP, but with Schumacher's nine wins and 11 podiums the seasons result was never in doubt. Michael's team mate the affable Brit Johnny Herbert helped ensure Benetton's first Constructors title. Michael was the youngest driver to win the world championship twice. (In 2006, Fernando Alonso took this record).

With the benefit of hindsight Schumacher's decision to move to Ferrari may seem without risks, however, at the time of his move in 1996 a Ferrari driver had not won the championship since Jody Sckeckter in 1979 or the Constructors since 1983, thus for a highly ambitious driver, Ferrari at that time was far from a straight-forward choice of team. Many considered Ferrari to be a poor joke, with drivers such as Alain Prost variously describing the cars as, "trucks", "pigs" and an "accident waiting to happen".

Schumacher's presence in the team had an immediate effect, and with the guiding hand of team principle Jean Todt, results improved rapidly after reliability issues at the start of the season. Notably, Michael's first Ferrari win was at the Spanish Grand Prix, where he lapped the entire field up to third place in the wet, and a win in Belgium and memorable a win in Monza in front of the adoring Tifosi.    

Highly significantly, in 1997, Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne, who had worked with Michael at Benetton joined Ferrari, the three of them along with Jean Todt are credited with the transformation of  Ferrari into the most successful team in F1history. However, 1997 was not to be the breakthrough year, and became for Michael the most challenging to his reputation. The Canadian driver Jacques driving for Williams had established an early season lead, but by the last race of the season at Jerez, Schumacher's five race victories meant he led the championship by one point. Schumacher was leading Villeneuve and looked certain to take the championship, however, his car developed a coolant leak that reduced performance and would likely mean he not finish the race. As Villeneuve approached to pass, Michael turned into the Williams, the right-front wheel of Schumacher's Ferrari hitting the left side pod of Villeneuve's car. Schumacher retired from the race immediately while Villeneuve was able to finish the race in the third place, taking four points and so becoming the World Champion. Schumacher was disqualified from the results for the season by the FIA. The FIA judged that his "manoeuvre was an instinctive reaction and although deliberate not made with malice or premeditation. It was a serious error". Schumacher is the only driver to be disqualified from a world championship already run, however, it is a measure of the man that he accepted the FIA's decision and admitted having made a mistake.

Mika Häkkinen, (McLaren) was a stereotypical Finnish racing driver, very fast, very calm, very brave and very, very good. 1998 and 1999 were his years, with two races to go in the 1998 season Häkkinen was level on points with Schumacher, but winning the last two races secured the Finn his first Drivers' title. An incident on the track resulted in a very amusing scene after the race: Schumacher was leading the Belgium GP by 40 seconds, the conditions were dreadful with heavy rain causing much spray; as Michael was fast approaching to lap the British driver David Coulthard (McLaren), Coulthard slowed to let the much faster driver past, but Schumacher had not anticipated such a move and the cars collided. When both cars had returned to the pits Schumacher ran down the pit lane to the McLaren garage to confront the shocked Coulthard. Schumacher accused Coulthard of trying to kill him, Schumacher was held off hitting the hapless McLaren driver by McLaren mechanics, the whole event played out to millions watching on television.      

Ferrari won the Constructors' title in 1999, but the season for Schumacher was dominated by a crash at the British GP that resulted in a broken leg and a 98 day absence from racing, - missing six Grand Prix. Despite Schumacher's best efforts to help his team mate Eddie Irvine win the title by playing number two driver, the mighty Finn, Häkkinen was just too strong and took his second championship at the last race of the year, the Japanese GP.   

The 2000 season was the start of a period of unmatched Ferrari/Schumacher dominance.

Once again Mika Häkkinen was a worthy adversary in the 2000 season, but to stay in contention for the title at the penultimate race of the season in Japan he would have to beat Michael. Starting from pole position, Schumacher lost the lead to Häkkinen at the start. After his second pit-stop however, Schumacher came out ahead of Häkkinen and went on to win the race and the championship. His third, equalling his hero Ayrton Senna, and also the records of Jackie Stewart, Jack Brabham, Niki Lauda and Nelson Piquet but still one fewer than Alain Prost and two less than Fangio.

Prosts championship record was equalled the next year 2001 when Schumacher took the title with four races yet to run, winning nine races in the year that included the Belgium GP when he surpassed Prost's record of race wins. (Belgium 2001 was Schumacher's 52nd race win).

In 2002 Michael Schumacher and Ferrari rewrote the record books, such was their supremacy over all others. Schumacher won eleven races and was on the podium at every race. Ferrari won 15 of the 17 races with nine 1-2 finishes with teammate Rubens Barrichello. Michael's fifth championship equalled that of the almost mythical figure of Juan Manuel Fangio.

The 2003 season was once again back to a competition, with McLaren and Williams contesting strongly. The early season point leader was Kimi Räikkönen (McLaren), but by the mid-season Juan Pablo Montoya (Williams) was just one point behind Räikkönen who in turn trailed Schumacher by a point. A FIA rule change relating to tyres affected Williams and McLaren running with Michelin's but did not affect Ferrari's who were supplied by Bridgestone. At the final race of the season in Japan, Schumacher needed only one point whilst Räikkönen needed to win. Michael finished in eighth gaining one point and thereby winning his record breaking his sixth World Drivers' title, ending the season two points ahead of Räikkönen.

The 2004 season was once again a demonstration of Schumacher's brilliance on the track, and Ferrari's engineering skills. Schumacher won twelve of the first thirteen races of the season, only failing to finish in Monaco after an accident with Juan Pablo Montoya.

The truly remarkable seventh driver's title was secured at the Belgian GP, and a season with 13 wins out of a possible 18 was even better than 2002.

All great runs of form must come to an end, and 2005 was a disappointing season for Schumacher and Ferrari. Rule changes relating to tyres changed the balance of advantage away from teams, such as Ferrari, that used Bridgestone's. Fernando Alonso (Renault) won the championship and Michael finished in third with less than half the points accumulated by Alonso. The 2005 season is remembered also for a ridiculous race in the United States, when due to a dispute between the FIA and teams using Michelin tyres all but the six cars running Bridgestone tyres dropped out after the formation lap. (Schumacher 'won' the race). The dispute was a disgraceful example of not thinking about the bigger issue; that of letting down the loyal F1 fans, many of whom would have looked forward with great and eager anticipation for the race.   

The first F1 driving career of Michael Schumacher ended at the end of the 2006 season.  Schumacher hotly contested the title with Alonso; with just two races of the season to run they were tied top in the point standings, (Schumacher headed the table because he had more wins). Schumacher led the Japanese GP with 16 laps to go, when he retired due to engine failure. Alonso won the race and thus had a ten point lead going to the last race of the year in Brazil. To win the title Schumacher had to win and Alonso fail to score any points.

During the race's qualifying session, Schumacher had the best time of all drivers through the first two sessions; but a fuel pressure problem prevented him from completing a single lap during the third session, forcing him to start the race in tenth position. Early in the race Schumacher moved up to sixth place. However, in overtaking Alonso's teammate, Giancarlo Fisichella, Schumacher experienced a tyre puncture caused by the front wing of Fisichella's car. Schumacher pitted and consequently fell to 19th place, 70 seconds behind teammate and race leader Felipe Massa. Schumacher recovered and overtook both Fisichella and Räikkönen to secure fourth place. His performance was classified in the press as "heroic" an "utterly breath-taking drive", and a "performance that ... sums up his career".

Following his retirement from driving Michael became a special advisor to Ferrari, and attended many F1 races and helped in Ferrari's development program.

Whilst a return to F1 was rumoured, and in 2009 looked possible with Ferrari to replace the injured Massa, few would have predicted a sequence of events that has led the 2010 season to be graced by the great German driver racing for the greatest German car manufacturer, Mercedes, and working once again with Ross Brawn.

Schumacher's 2010 season was the first since his debut season in 1991 that he did not achieve a podium finish and or a fastest lap. His three fourth place finishes in Spain, Turkey and Korea were encouraging for Michael's legions of fans but his teammate, Nico Rosberg out performed him, finishing the season in seventh position and 142 points, to Michael's ninth place with 72 points.

What will be concerning for Schumacher is that even after the car was completely redesigned from the Spanish GP to match his driving style he continued to struggle against Rosberg. Clearly, this might be a reflection of Rosberg's talent as much as Schumacher's lack of speed, but many would have suggested before the season that Schumacher would have somewhat easily bested his teammate. 

Schumacher has often caused controversy and his driving in Hungary illustrated he has lost none of his aggression; whilst defending a tenth place position against Rubens Barrichello he was judged by the stewards to have attempted to close the gap Barrichello had, and push the Brazilian too close to a concrete wall whilst travelling at 290 km/h. Schumacher accepted with good grace his tenth place grid penalty for the next race.

Schumacher was involved in a potentially terrible accident in Abu Dhabi. He was forced wide by his teammate and spun 180 degrees so his car was facing the oncoming cars. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Force India) ploughed into the Mercedes head-on, and as the Force India car rode over the top of the Mercedes, it missed Schumacher's head by a few centimetres.

The 2011 season is set to be an even greater test for the middle aged German, the car will almost certainly be better, and he has had time to adjust back into the race seat. It was notable and laudable that he made few excuses in 2010, but if the comeback is not to be viewed as a mistake, he must be competing at the front of the grid.

F1 record

Season	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
1991	Jordan	1	0	0	0	0	0	-
1991	Benetton	5	0	0	0	0	4	14th
1992	Benetton	16	1	0	2	8	53	3rd
1993	Benetton	16	1	0	5	9	52	4th
1994	Benetton	14	8	6	8	10	92	1st
1995	Benetton	17	9	4	8	10	92	1st
1996	Ferrari	16	3	4	8	11	102	3rd
1997	Ferrari	17	5	3	3	8	59	DSQ
1998	Ferrari	16	6	3	6	11	86	2nd
1999	Ferrari	10	2	3	5	6	44	5th
2000	Ferrari	17	9	9	2	12	108	1st
2001	Ferrari	17	9	11	3	14	123	1st
2002	Ferrari	17	11	7	7	17	144	1st
2003	Ferrari	16	6	5	5	9	93	1st
2004	Ferrari	18	13	8	10	15	148	1st
2005	Ferrari	18	1	1	3	5	62	3rd
2006	Ferrari	18	7	4	7	12	121	2rd
2010	Mercedes	19	0	0	0	0	72	9th

Michael Schumacher holds the following F1 records: (As of '1st' retirement 2006)

Championship titles	7 (1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004)
Consecutive titles	5 (2000-2004)
Race victories	91
Consecutive wins	7 (2004, Europe - Hungary)
Wins with one team	72 (Ferrari)
Wins at same GP	8 (France)
Wins at different GPs	22
Longest Time between first and last wins	14 years, 1 month and 2 days
Second places	43
Consecutive podium finishes	19 (US 2001-Japan 2002)
Points finishes	190
Consecutive points finishes	24 (Hungary 2001-Malaysia 2003)
Laps leading	4741 (22,155 km)
Pole positions	68
Front row starts	115
Fastest laps	76
Doubles (Pole and win)	40
Perfect Score (Pole, fastest lap and win)	22
Championship points	1,369
Most points in a season for a runner-up	121 (2006)
Most wins in a season for a runner-up	7 (2006)
Wins at Monza	5
Wins in a season	13 (72%) (2004)
Fastest laps in a season	10 (2004)
Points scored in a season	148 (82% of Max available) (2004)
Podium finishes in a season	17 (100%) (2002)
Championship won with most races left	6 (2002)
Consecutive years with a win	15 (1992-2006)
Consecutive days as champion	1813 (from 8 October 2000 until 25 September 2005)