Michael Schumacher

EARLY LIFE 

Michael Schumacher was born in Hürth, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany on January 3, 1969 to Rolf Schumacher, and his wife Elisabeth.

When Schumacher was four, his father attached a motorcycle engine to his pedal kart. The contraption didn’t work so well and Michael crashed it into a lamp post, however he started getting interest in motor sport from that time.

The same year, Michael's parents took him to the karting track at Kerpen-Horrem, where he became the youngest member of the karting club.

Michael Schumacher at the 2012 Chinese Grand Prix. By emperornie - 

Michel's father built him a kart from discarded parts and at the age of six Schumacher won his first club championship.

His brick layer father took another job of renting and repairing karts, while Michael's mom worked at the kart track canteen to support their son's dream for racing.

In 1982, Michael won the German Junior Kart Championship for the first time. From then on, he won many German and European kart championships.

RACING CAREER 

After success in karting as a child, Schumacher won titles in Formula König and Formula Three before joining Mercedes in the World Sportscar Championship.

Michael Schumacher made his Formula One debut on August 25, 1991 in the Belgian Grand Prix.  He was a replacement for Bertrand Gachot, who missed the race as he was in prison for spraying a taxi driver with CS gas. Schumacher impressed many fans as he qualified seventh, but at the start he burnt the clutch and was forced to retire.

Schumacher won the Belgian Grand Prix on August 30, 1992, the first of his 91 Formula One Grand Prix wins. Schumacher started the race from pole position and led for most of the race. He was briefly challenged by Nigel Mansell in the Williams-Renault, but Schumacher was able to hold on to win the race by over 20 seconds.

Schumacher used the Bell helmet for nine years in Formula One, from the 1992 Canadian Grand Prix to 2001 Australian Grand Prix.

Schumacher's bell helmet By F1fans

Michael Schumacher won his fifth consecutive Formula One Drivers' championship (and 7th overall) at the 2004 Belgian Grand Prix by finishing second to Kimi Räikkönen on August 29, 2004. In doing so, he beat the 47-year-old record held by Juan Manuel Fangio.

As well as being a joint record seven-time Formula One champion (1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004), Schumacher also holds the records for fastest laps (77), and joint holder for most wins in a single season (13).

Schumacher's record for the most pole positions (68), was beaten by Lewis Hamilton in 2017 and most Grand Prix victories (91) also by Hamilton in 2020.

Michael's younger brother Ralf Schumacher was also a Formula 1 driver between 1997 and 2007.

In 2003, Michael and Ralf's mother passed away during the week of the San Marino Grand Prix. After attending her funeral on Saturday, the brothers still took part in the race the next day. Michael went on to win the race and dedicated it to his mom.

Michael and Ralf Schumacher are the only siblings to win races in Formula One, and they were the first brothers to finish first and second in the same race, a feat they repeated in four subsequent races.

His motor racing career was not without controversy. During the May 12, 2002 Austrian Grand Prix, Schumacher's teammate Rubens Barrichello was set for a dominating race win. However, due to team orders from Ferrari he had to withdraw his position to give Schumacher the win to improve his championship points. This was one of the most controversial Formula 1 wins ever and was met with much hostility from fans and the FIA.

Barrichello makes way for Schumacher at the end of the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix

Schumacher was twice involved in collisions in the final race of a season that determined the outcome of the World Championship, with Damon Hill in 1994 in Adelaide, and with Jacques Villeneuve in 1997 in Jerez.

Disney’s animated movie Cars features a Ferrari F430 voiced by Schumacher. Director John Lasseter wanted professional drivers to do guest appearances in the film and got Ferrari to connect him to the driver. His part was quickly recorded at 2005’s Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.

PERSONAL LIFE

At the time of his 2013 skiing accident, Schumacher owned a Fiat 500 Abarth as a personal car and a Fiat Croma as a family car. He did own a Ferrari FXX, but it was a gift from the car manufacturer after announcing his retirement from Formula One competitions.

In August 1995, Michael married Corinna Betsch. Corinna earlier dated another Formula One driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen for a brief period.

They have two children, a daughter Gina-Marie, born in 1997 and a son Mick, born two years later.

The Schumacher family owns a horse ranch in Switzerland and another one in Texas. They all enjoy horse-riding, but his daughter Gina-Maria has made a career of it as an equestrian European master. She competes in different shows and championships around Europe and America.

Schumacher loves watching movies. His favorite film is Silence of the Lambs.

Michael Schumacher donated $10 million in aid after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. This surpassed the amount given by any other individual, sports team/league, corporation, and even some countries. Schumacher's bodyguard Burkhard Cramer, and Cramer's two sons, were killed in the disaster.

SKIING ACCIDENT

Michael Schumacher had a terrible skiing accident in the French Alps that left him with traumatic brain injuries on December 29, 2013. After recovering from a coma, the former Grand Prix champion was moved to his residence in Lake Geneva where he is undergoing rehabilitation.

He owns an African beaded bracelet, a gift from his wife, which Schumacher always carried with him on every race. The charm was actually found buried in the snow on the site of his skiing accident in 2013.

Sources PPcorn, Mid-Day