Formula One driver Michael Schumacher was born on 3 January 1969 in Germany. At the tender age of 4 he began using his father’s homemade kart in races. A whiz behind the wheel of the simple pedal-kart with a motorcycle engine, Michael won his first championship when he was 6 years old. His racing talents were soon recognized by his parents and others who sought to sponsor him. As a youngster he went on to claim a number of European and German kart championships. In the year 1988 Michael Schumacher competed in the Formula Ford series and later won the German Formula 3 series in 1990. At the end of that year he became a member of the Mercedes junior racing program. He gained victory in both 1990 and 1991.

Schumacher as a F1 driver for Benetton won two championships. In 1996 he joined Ferrari. In no time at all Schumacher turned the flailing team around, winning a number of championships for them. What made Michael Schumacher such a remarkable Formula One driver? He became renowned for taking his car to its limits, for creating fast laps at vital times and excellent driving skills even in wet conditions. In fact his mastery over wet tracks gained him the title “Regenmeister” or “Rain Master”. Throughout his career Michael Schumacher has taken home a number of awards and titles. In 2002 and 2004 he was the recipient of the prestigious Laureaus World Sportsman of the Year. The FIA Gold Medal for Motor Sports was awarded to Schumacher. Currently Michael Schumacher has gained practically every F1 record including most races won in a season, fastest laps, most drivers’ championships, pole positions and race victories.

Schumacher announced that he would be retiring as a Formula 1 driver on 10 September 2006. In 2007, Schumacher acted as an adviser to Ferrari. The next year he competed in the IDM Superbike-series. The announcement was made on 23 December 2009 that Michael Schumacher would be returning to F1 racing for the 2010 season as a member of the Mercedes GP team.

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Formula One (F1) racing is ranked as the highest class of auto racing by the FIA. Participants in F1 racing have to ensure that both drivers and vehicles meet certain requirements before being allowed to compete. Both equipment and salaries are high in the sport and so only a small minority are actually able participate in the sport and to own teams. The vehicles used are single-seat vehicles which need to be negotiated around a variety of tracks a number of times at top speeds. Because the tracks are not set in one fixed shape, drivers need to have full command of their thinking faculties during a race – the immense speed at which they drive allows little room for error.

The F1 World Championship consist of a series of races which are called Grand Prix’s. Drivers need to be in top form to win as many of these Grand Prix races as possible or to place well, in order to claim the World Championship title. Thus, only the select few who posses a combination of natural talent, guts, intuition, intelligence and athleticism are able to claim this much coveted title and make their way into the history books.

This section of Autoracing.com is dedicated to the many heroes of Formula One racing. It covers both current and previous racing legends who have left their mark on the sport. Some showed excessive brilliance on the F1 racing track, whilst others, such as Nikki Lauda, are remembered more for their impressive courage and persistence than their outstanding race performances. We cover notable drivers from every corner of the globe and those who are leading today as well as drivers who were present at the very beginning of the sport. We are confident that you will enjoy learning about these racing greats.

Famous drivers:

• Adrian Sutil
• Alain Prost
• Ayrton Senna
• Bruno Senna
• Emerson Fittipaldi
• Felipe Massa
• Fernando Alonso
• Gerhard Berger
• Gilles Villeneuve
• Graham Hill
• Heikki Kovalainen
• Jack Brabham
• Jackie Stewart
• Jacques Villeneuve
• Jaime Alguersauri
• James Hunt
• Jarno Trulli
• Jenson Button
• Jim Clarke
• Jody Scheckter
• Juan Manuel Fangio
• Kamui Kobayashi
• Karun Chandhok
• Keke Rosberg
• Lewis Hamilton
• Lucas Di Grassi
• Mario Andretti
• Mark Webber
• Michael Schumacher
• Mika Hakkinen
• Nelson Piquet
• Nico Rosberg
• Nicolas Hulkenberg
• Nigel Mansell
• Niki Lauda
• Pedro de la Rosa
• Phil Hill
• Riccardo Patrese
• Robert Kubica
• Rubens Barrichello
• Sebastien Buemi
• Sebastian Vettel
• Stirling Moss
• Timo Glock
• Vitaly Petrov
• Vitantonio Liuzzi

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Germany put together one of the first Kaiserpreis races in 1907 at the Taunus Circuit, where entries were limited to engines with less then eight litres. Italian Felice Nazzaro won the race in his Fiat. Like the Prinz-Heinrich-Fahrt held in 1908 to 1911, these races were predecessors to the German Grand Prix. The first national event in German Grand Prix motor racing took place at the AVUS racecourse as a sports car race in southwest Berlin. The event was officially recognized in 1929. Rudolf Caracciola won the race in heavy rain.

The Grand Prix moved to the new Nurburgring track, 28-kilometre track, when it was inaugurated on the 18th of June 1927. The German Grand Prix failed to take place in 1930 and 1933 because of the country’s failing economy, but started a year later in 1934. Although there were many races taking place throughout the country, it was only the Grand Prix at Nurburgring that was considered the national Grande Epreuve, which counted toward the European Championships.

Meanwhile a new track was being built at Dresden, called the Deutschlandring, and it was to be the host of the 1940 German Grand Prix, but this never happened because of World War II. Hockenheimring has become the German Grand Prix’s permanent location since 1977, except for 1985 when the race took place at the new 4.5km Nurburgring. With the success of Michael Schumacher on the international Formula One scene, the Nurburgring track became the venue for a second annual Formula One race in Germany. The first event, called the European Grand Prix, or as it is also known, the Luxembourg Grand Prix, took place in 1995.

Setting out plans for the future of F1 racing in Germany, in 2006 it was announced that the German Grand Prix would take place at Nurburgring in 2007 and 2009, with Hockenheimring hosting the event in 2008 and 2010. The 2010 German Grand Prix has been scheduled for 23-25 July, although there is an element of uncertainty as to whether it will take place, with high F1 licensing costs and problems in resolving issues with Bernie Ecclestone being cited as reasons for possible withdrawal as hosts. Despite the obstacles, the 2010 German Grand Prix was included in the F1 season schedule.

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Imola proves to be the perfect setting for Formula One racing. For decades it has been surrounded by numerous racing car manufacturers such as Maserati, Ferrari and Lamborghini. San Marino hosted its first car race in 1954, and several years later, in 1963, San Marino held a race with F1 cars. This non-championship race was won by Lotus’ Jim Clark and set a precedent for things to come. By the year 1980, the Italian Grand Prix was transferred to Imola from Monza after an awful startline pile-up in 1978. This amazing Formula One race was won by Nelson Piquet. The Italian Grand Prix moved back to Monza in 1981, with Imola creating its own race, namely the San Marino Grand Prix.

Unfortunately, the history of the San Marino Grand Prix was marked by 3 large accidents in 1994. That year was sadly marred by the death of F1 legend Ayrton Senna as well as great driver Roland Ratzenberger. However, there have been many exciting events at the San Marino Grand Prix. One of the most notable was the duel between Didier Pironi and Gilles Villeneuve in 1982.

The San Marino Grand Prix runs for 62 laps around the 4.93 km circuit of Autodomo e Dino Ferrari. Thus the race totals 305.61 km. Michael Schumacher has won the San Marino Grand Prix in the following years: 2006, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2000,1999 and 1994. Fernando Alonso gained victory in 2005 and Ralf Schumacher took the lead in 2001.

Unfortunately, the facilities at Imola deteriorated to the point that the San Marino Grand Prix was excluded from the 2007 calendar and has not featured since.

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The Race of Champions was started in 1986 in Paris as a battle of international rally drivers. Now it is one of the best off-season auto racing attractions in the world. There are two parts to the competition – the two-man teams and an individual shootout. The drivers entered into the race start side-by-side in opposite lanes as they get ready to tackle the almost 1-mile lap that will take them back to the starting line. The lap takes the various drivers on separate paths and there are two laps. There is a team event which follows a best-of-three format, while the individual portion of the race works on a win and advance system. Both of the different races involve bracket racing and to keep things interesting, there are five types of cars that are rotated during the four-hour event. The prize for the teams is glory for your country and a great day of stress-free racing. According to seven-time Formula One Champion Michael Schumacher, ‘The World doesn’t go bad if you lose. It just means you get to have a drink earlier.’ Drivers come from both sides of the Atlantic to compete and fun is the main focus of the day. Some of the cars used this year included an Audi-powered KTM X-Bow track machine, a World Rally Championship Ford Focus, an Abarth 500 Assetto Corse, an open-wheel buggy that looks like a sprint car and another open-wheel vehicle resembling something more ungainly – like a praying mantis. Certainly such a selection of vehicles keeps drivers on their toes and helps to even out the playing field.

And that is exactly what they did do. Carl Edwards attended the event in London for the first time this year to see what all the fuss was about. He found himself inspired by a great day of racing and hopes to return soon. He did quite well, managing to reach the semi-finals in the individual driver’s category, even beating Michael Schumacher in a head-to-head race. Understandably, that was the highlight of Edwards’ trip. In the end it was the German team of Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel who took the team trophy for the second consecutive year. Sebastian Loeb proved to be the ultimate individual winner yet again, taking home the trophy for the third time. He did, however, get stiff competition from David Coulthard who went home with bruised hands from some intense driving but a big smile on his face.

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Tommy Byrne is a short Irishman who once showed promise of absolutely crushing every racing driver there ever was. He may no longer be racing Formula One, but he’s still alive and well and living in the United States where he works as a driver coach. His recent autobiography is appropriately entitled “Crashed and Byrned – The Greatest Racing Driver You Never Saw”. The book was written by Byrne himself in conjunction with Mark Hughes and has that never-put-it-down quality that is rare in autobiographies. In his book, Byrne discusses his jaded past, his back luck and his poor judgment. As a youngster in Ireland, Byrne was raised in a troubled household at a time when sectarian violence regularly affected him. Before long he dropped out of school and ended up becoming a thief, drunk and womanizer. Perhaps it was this troubled past that later prevented him from reaching the glory that he was clearly capable of. The book goes on to tell how eventually Byrne managed to quit drinking and stealing and make his way to England to seek his fortune as a racing driver.

On the track, Byrne was the driver every other driver hated but respected. He was feared – the guy that other promising drivers like Senna avoided competing against as much as possible. He simply blew away the competition. Unfortunately his past continued to plague him since it meant he continued to have contempt for any form of authority. He also tended to look gift horses in the mouth and so missed out on many great opportunities. In the end his F1 career was limited to only a handful of races which he performed as part of the badly-funded Theodore team. He also did a test outing for McLaren that is now legendary. The book packs one heck of a riotous punch and is filled with women, billionaires, guns, fights and wild parties. It is a definite must-read for F1 fans.

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In addition to Michael Schumacher as Chairman, the fund’s management committee includes Max Mosley, FIA President; Jean Todt, Member of the Board of Ferrari; Nic Craw, President of the Automobile Competition Committee for the USA; and Norbert Haug, Vice President of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport.

As the name of the fund suggests, it will ensure that the money is used in the interests of motor sport safety. Working hand-in-hand with the FIA Institute, the Motor Sport Safety Development Fund will establish a Young Driver Safety Scholarship Program, a Facility Safety Improvement Consultancy Program and an Officials Skills Safety Training Program.

Expressing his viewpoint with regard to his appointment as Chairman of the Motor Sport Safety Development Fund and the role it will play, Michael Schumacher has been quoted as saying: “I’m proud to be able to help with the further development of safety in motor sport across the world. The FIA has achieved a great deal already in its safety activities but the grants available from this new Fund will make a huge contribution to improving motor sport safety, especially in emerging motor sport markets.”

Jean Todt stated that he was pleased that the unfortunate events of last year had been resolved and that it had resulted in a worthy project. As a long-standing member of Ferrari’s Board of Directors, Todt would have been acutely aware of the ins-and-outs of the so-called “spy scandal” in which McLaren stood accused of, and was found guilty for, cheating by using data obtained from a Ferrari employee to improve its own car. The $100 million fine has gone down in motor sport history as the harshest punishment ever given to a team since the sport began 57 years ago. Additionally, the FIA stripped McLaren of all its constructor’s points for the entire 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship season.

Norbert Haug said that the money entrusted to the Motor Sport Safety Development Fund would be used to ensure that the sport had strong foundations. FIA President, Max Mosley confirmed that the intention had always been to use any money received from the McLaren-Mercedes fine for the benefit of motor sport at grass-roots level. Now that the money has been allocated, it will be invested in a safer future for motor sport.

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The F1 Championship for 2007 has been a racing season filled with rivalry, disappointment, elation, shocking events and pleasant moments of surprise. It has been a year for F1 Grand Prix like no other. Many fans were concerned when the legendary Michael Schumacher announced his retirement, wondering if the famous tension between Ferrari and McLaren would slip into the pages of history. But those fears were laid to rest during the 2007 F1 racing season.

On 21 October 2007, at the Brazilian Grand Prix, the F1 racing season will come to a dramatic end. The points log for the Drivers’ Championship has not been this close in years, and it cannot be judged or ruled at this time who will walk away victorious. The second last race for the season, held in Shanghai, made the predictions for the Brazilian Grand Prix much more interesting. Felipe Massa, once the supporting driver for Michael Schumacher and now the teammate for Kimi Raikkonen, has shown his worth consistently throughout the season. In the Chinese Grand Prix, Kimi Raikkonen won the race with great ease, while his main rival, Lewis Hamilton of team McLaren, was less fortunate by crashing out of the race after thirty-one laps. Many of the Formula 1 drivers struggled in the wet weather in Shanghai. Kovalainen of Renault was having difficulty with his tires, and if that was not enough, he collided with Nico Rosberg from the Williams team. Rosberg later suffered a setback with a punctured tire during the 29th lap.

What makes this last race so interesting is the Drivers’ Championship log. At present, Lewis Hamilton is in first position with 107 points. In second and third position is Fernando Alonso with 103 points and Kimi Raikkonen with a 100. Coming in fourth is Felipe Mass with 86 points, pitting Ferarri and McLaren against each other, yet again. The worst-case scenario for Lewis Hamilton would be if he gets caught behind both Ferraris, with Alonso in the lead. If Massa were in the lead, with Alonso second, then his victory would be secured.

Due to the F1 Grand Prix industry being rocked by the spy allegations between Ferrari and McLaren, it leaves the Constructor’s Championship open for Ferrari that has accumulated 186 points so far, with BMW in second place with 93 points. Another upset, which took the F1 racing world by surprise, was the retirement announcement of Alexander Wurz from the Williams Team. The Brazilian Grand Prix will be his last race, and his replacement is still to be announced. The 2007 F1 Championship has definitely been one of unexpected events and nail biting excitement. The 21st of October is going to be even more gripping, if this season is anything to go by.

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There has been a lot of speculation and rumors in regard to the intentions Michael Schumacher might have to purchase the Formula One Team Scuderia Toro Rosso. Schumacher’s manager has been hinting at the possibility for months. For Michael Schumacher to have an interest, in a different role, in the sport he loves does not come as a big surprise. After his retirement from Formula One as a driver, the legendary seven-time world champion has been an adviser for his former Ferrari team.

The Scuderia Toro Rosso Team is owned by Gerhard Berger and Dietrich Mateschitz. Together they purchased the outfit from Paul Stoddart in 2005. The outfit raced under the name of Minardi from 1985, but due to budget restraints, Stoddart made the decision to sell the outfit to new owners that would be capable of ensuring a future for the team. And so the Red Bull car launched onto the circuit in 2006.

While the multi-million deal still has most people guessing and wondering, the entire Formula One community has already welcomed the idea with open arms. With such a brilliant reputation and a profound knowledge of the sport, most insiders feel that such a move can only be an asset to the Formula One Industry. As a team owner, Schumacher will still be able to be a part of the world that he took by storm and hopefully carry on doing so.

It has also been said, that not only does Michael Schumacher have his eyes on the Scuderia Toro Rosso outfit, but has also targeted Ross Brawn to assist him. Ross Brawn is known as a technical genius and was also the driving force behind Schumacher’s successful championship titles. Together they will definitely be a team to be reckoned with and breathe new life into the Formula One circuit, from a different point of view.

As the world waits in anticipation, for the truth to be revealed, fans and friends in the Formula One circles, eagerly look forward to welcoming Michael Schumacher back. And to support the loved and respected World Champion in his new seat, as team boss and owner.

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A slew of impressive kart performances jumpstarted his career: winning the German Junior Championships again in ’85, Second Place in the Junior World Championships in Le Mans, 3rd place in the 1986 German Senior Kart Championships, and finally capping his learning curve by winning both the German and the European Senior Kart Championships in 1987).

In 1988, Schumacher transitioned into the big leagues: embarking on his first season in a Formula racing car, drawing the attention of Willi Weber, who was looking for up-and-coming talents. During a Formula Ford race on the rain-soaked Salzburgring, Michael stormed from 7th to 1st place during just one lap.

In his first Formula 3 season in 1989, Michael Schumacher won two races and ended the championships just one point behind in third place, after Heinz-Harald Frentzen. The champion was Karl Wendlinger. The rest, as they say, is history. But the truth is, in nearly 20 years of continuous driving, you’re only as good as your last performance on the track.

Michael Schumacher is a five-times World Champion F1 driver and tops the list of most Grand Prix wins in the history of Formula One.

Currently 21 points behind series leader Fernando Alonso, and with 11 races still ahead of him, Michael Schumacher faces his most challenging season yet.

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