Michael Schumacher at 50: Top 10 Drives

The legendary Michael Schumacher turned 50 today and while he is still fighting the biggest battle of his life, he has fought many drivers and drive some incredible races in his sensational F1 career. 91 wins, 77 fastest laps, 68 pole positions and 7 world championships. I believe, he is the greatest of all time.

In this article, I look at 10 of Schumacher’s best drives from his 306 race career. There are so many to choose from which is a great problem to have. Here is the Top 10…

2004 French GP – Four pitstops to victory

It’s very rare to make four pitstops to win an F1 race. You would certainly not see it these days. But, back in the refuelling days it was possible on the right track but more importantly with car speed. Magny-Cours is a tough track to overtake on but it does have a short pitlane, therefore you don’t lose too much time in the pits. It allowed Ferrari and Schumacher to execute a four stop strategy to beat a mighty Fernando Alonso to the surprise of the Renault team.

2000 Japanese GP – First Ferrari Championship

The race that saw Schumacher clinch his first Ferrari title, and Ferrari’s first drivers’ championship, since Jody Schekter in 1979. It saw one of many battles between the German’s great rival, Mika Hakkinen, as the Finn got the start and put Schumacher under serious pressure. At the second round of pitstops, Schumacher did the overcut by pumping in some blistering laps under the greatest of pressure and with light drizzle making things very treacherous to add to the tension. Schumacher emerged well clear of Hakkinen after his second stop and managed to hold on to the win. It gave Ferrari there dream!

2005 San Marino GP – No win, but a spectacular second

A bad Saturday for Schumacher meant he started down in 13th. His race began poorly as well as he was stuck behind Jarno Trulli for the first 20 laps or so. Then, Schumacher got his foot down and pumped in the laps again as he does so brilliantly with light fuel. After the first pitstops, he emerged third (Ferrari electing to short fuel him). He made great use of the clean air by catching Jenson Button and overtaking him, having been 20 seconds behind. The final 10 laps saw Schumacher do battle with Alonso and it took a wise and fast Spaniard to hold off the German. The fact that Schumacher was only just 0.2 behind at the chequered flag and was able to mount a challenge on Alonso in the first place was impressive.

1995 European GP – The hunter

Schumacher’s greatest drivers often come from chasing down the leader and overtaking them. The 1995 European Grand Prix is a fine example of this. He battled with Damon Hill, not for the first time that season, and came out on top but Jean Alesi in his Ferrari was having a storming race having started on slicks whilst nearly everyone else started on wets and was 24 seconds ahead of Schumacher with 16 laps to go. Alesi felt the pressure and made a mistake at the Veedol chicane which cost him precious seconds. Meanwhile, Schumacher was smashing in fastest laps and made a daring move around the outside of Alesi at the final chicane with just two laps to go. Heartbreak for Alesi, but joy for Schumacher as he won his first of five Grand Prix at the Nürburgring circuit.

2006 Brazilian GP – The final hurrah

It was Schumacher’s final race in his first career (having retired from F1 at the end of 2006, only to come back in 2010) and his final race for Ferrari. He also still had a slim chance of winning an 8th world championship, but needed to win the race with Alonso not scoring any points. He made a good start from 10th but disaster struck as he made contact with Giancarlo Fisichella at the first turn on lap 7. Schumacher suffered a puncture and had to crawl around most of the lap. He was now nearly a lap down. Amazingly, he would fight back and leave F1 with some sort of a bang. He made his was thorough the field magnificently, including a great pass on Kimi Raikkonen as he squeezed his Ferrari between the McLaren and the pit wall to get down the inside at turn one in the closing laps. This move somehow gave him a 4th place result, just 24 seconds behind teammate Felipe Massa who won his home race. It kind of sums up one of Schumacher’s biggest strengths; blisteringly quick laps over a long period of time without making any mistakes, especially when it mattered most in a Grand Prix.

1995 Belgian GP – Driving on slicks in the wet

Schumacher started down in 16th but somehow found himself in the lead as he stayed out on slick tyres when rain was falling whilst others, including Damon Hill, pitted for wets. Hill was 5+ seconds a lap faster than his German rival but Schumacher brilliantly defended and was able to stop Hill from getting passed until he made a mistake. The time he kept Hill behind was still magical on the tyres he was on and the conditions he was encountered. Hill then had to serve a ten-second stop-go penalty for pit lane speeding, a penalty he served with six laps to go which prevented an on-track battle between the two rivals but it would have been hard to beat the hard racer that is Michael Schumacher

1997 Monaco GP – Mastering Monaco

A wet Monaco Grand Prix was dominated by Schumacher as he drove clear of the carnage that happened in the pack behind. After five laps he was 22 seconds ahead and was over a minute ahead of the rest of the field but then chose to back off and ease to victory. It was Schumacher’s third win at the circuit and Ferrari’s first win in Monaco since 1981.

1994 Spanish GP – Stuck in 5th gear

Schumacher was leading early on but his gearbox got jammed in 5th gear. Unbelievably, Schumacher managed to finish 2nd, just 24 seconds behind Damon Hill and was able to match Hill’s pace at times despite the huge handicap. He had to change his driving style to find new trajectories and corner apexes and it is just out of this world as to how the German kept the pace high and didn’t start going backwards. Many would have called it a day and retired.

1998 Hungarian GP – Give me 19 qualifying laps please

A personal favourite of mine. McLaren were the benchmark and it took a masterstroke by Ross Brawn and incredible pace from Schumacher to win the 1998 Hungarian Grand Prix. He was stuck behind the McLaren paid of Hakkinen and Coulthard so the call was made to give him a 3-stop strategy. To make it work he needed to make a gap of 25 seconds in just 19 laps in a car which did not have a pace advantage over the McLarens. It was all driver stuff and it was just glorious to see Schumacher drive the wheels of his Ferrari; it was visible to see him push every single ounce of that car to the limit. He used every bit of road, smashed over the apexes and was just on the edge of having an off. You can’t not love it. Schumacher did it and triumphed with room to spare.

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1996 Spanish GP – The Rain Master

One of the best ever drives you will see in motorsport. The rain was torrential to say the least, it wouldn’t be ran if we had rain like that nowadays, and Schumacher saw it as an opportunity to destroy the field and do something special. That 1996 Ferrari was not a good car, I would rank it 4th best in the field (possibly even 5th). Schumacher was 8th after turn one on lap one but by lap 13, he was first after overtaking Jacques Villeneuve. Overtaking anyone in those conditions is scary as you can just lock up and hit the car on the outside.

I rank this race higher than Senna’s 1993 Donnington victory (both special and amazing don’t get me wrong) but to just drive away from the rest of the field in a car that should not be winning races is just something else. At times, he was 2-3 seconds quicker than everyone else. A staggering display. It was his first win of 72 wins for Ferrari and one of the greatest ever drivers you will see in F1.

So then, that is my top 10 of Michael Schumacher’s best drives. Some honourable mentions that aren’t in the list include: winning at Imola in 2003 just hours after his mother died – to do that under such circumstances is just unthinkable. He so easily could have not raced. 1997 Belgium and China 2006 are also good picks and lets not forget some of the outstanding qualifying laps, none less than his 1996 pole position lap at Monaco where he took 0.7 out of Hill in the final sector alone to take pole by 0.5 in a car which shouldn’t have been able to even be on the first couple of rows. And of course, his final pole position at Monaco in 2012 at the age of 43 was something as well. Another moment of magic, something we sadly got less of in his return to F1 in 2010-2012.

Michael Schumacher is a once in a generation driver. Sadly, that unfortunate skiing accident he suffered at the end of 2013 has meant we have not seen him in public for more than five years and we may never see him again. It would be one of the greatest things that could happen to F1 and sport if Schumacher wins his fight and shows his face again. His condition has remained private, and so it should, it is the family’s choice and there’s only.

We can all speculate but there has been nothing official so I wait, still hope, and still believe that Schumacher can come through this. Until then, lets remember the magic he made on the racetrack and the glorious races and memories that he has given to many.