Ralf Schumacher

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Ralf Schumacher
Formula One World Championship career

Born	30 June 1975 (age 39) Hürth, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany
Nationality	Germany
Active years	1997–2007
Teams	Jordan, Williams, Toyota
Races	182 (180 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	6
Podiums	27
Career points	329
Pole positions	6
Fastest laps	8
First race	1997 Australian Grand Prix
First win	2001 San Marino Grand Prix
Last win	2003 French Grand Prix
Last race	2007 Brazilian Grand Prix

Ralf Schumacher (born 30 June 1975) is a retired German racing driver, and the younger brother of seven-time Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher.^[1] His own Formula One career spanned 11 seasons from 1997 to 2007, during which time he won six races from 180 starts and achieved 27 podium finishes, before retiring from Grand Prix racing after failing to secure a drive for 2008. He made the switch to the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters series, competing in five seasons with Mercedes before announcing his retirement from motorsport ahead of the 2013 season.

Early career

Schumacher was born in Hürth, North Rhine-Westphalia.^[2] He started racing at age three on his parents' go-kart track in their home town of Kerpen. After finishing runner-up in the national karting series, Schumacher graduated to the German Formula Three championship in 1995. Finishing runner up in this series was not the highlight of the year for him though, as he also won the Macau street race, a feat also accomplished by his brother Michael. In the race, he beat future F1 teammate Jarno Trulli, Pedro de la Rosa and Norberto Fontana, the driver he finished runner-up to in German Formula 3.
Schumacher then moved on to the Japanese Formula Nippon series in 1996, which he won.

Formula One career

Jordan (1997–1998)

Ralf Schumacher made his Formula One debut in 1997 with the Jordan team. In his first race, Ralf qualified 12th on the grid. He made up a few positions in the race and was holding 8th place before retiring with a gearbox failure after just two laps. The young Schumacher finished on the podium in just his third race, at Argentina. However Schumacher retired in 10 out of his 17 races that season and ended up behind team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella having also been out-qualified 10-7 during the season by the Italian, although he finished ahead in most races that the pair of them finished. ^[3] The two had an uneasy relationship after Schumacher took Fisichella out of the Argentine Grand Prix when they were competing for 2nd place. They collided again at the Luxembourg Grand Prix later in the season. Schumacher finished 11th in the drivers championship standings with 13 points, behind Fisichella.
The following season, Jordan was powered by Honda and proved capable of race wins when Schumacher followed team mate Damon Hill to second place in the rain-soaked Belgian Grand Prix. Schumacher was reportedly unhappy at not being allowed to pass Hill late in the race as team orders demanded he hold station. He finished 3rd in the next race at the Italian Grand Prix. He outqualified his more experienced teammate 11-5, but Hill scored more points in the championship. Ralf finished 10th overall in his second Formula One season.

Williams (1999–2004)

1999

Schumacher driving for Williams at the 1999 Canadian Grand Prix

In the knowledge that a deal had been done with BMW in 1999 he changed to the Williams team and scored three podium finishes and sixth in the World Drivers Championship with the underpowered, obsolete Supertec engine. A tyre puncture at the European GP prevented him from achieving his first Grand Prix win. Schumacher was regarded among the paddock as the next future star for his determination in an underachieving Williams car. However, Heinz-Harald Frentzen who replaced him at Jordan scored two wins and four podiums that year.

2000

Schumacher's performance in the 2000 season surprised many. Running the new BMW engine, he was expected to suffer countless mechanical problems with little expectation of the engine, but he was able to match the three podium finishes of the previous year, and suffered only four mechanical failures. He outqualified Jenson Button 11-6 and finished ahead of him in the championship scoring twice as many points, the 20-year old Button improving over the season putting in some strong performances at Spa and Suzuka.

2001

In 2001, Ralf emerged as a future star achieving his first three Grand Prix wins at Imola, Montreal and Hockenheim. The San Marino Grand Prix was the first win for the Williams team since 1997. Montreal was the first sibling 1-2 in the history of Formula 1. This time Michael Schumacher was out-raced by his younger brother Ralf who had a much more powerful car for this race. The Schumacher brothers would finish 1-2 in the 2003 edition as well. At his home Grand Prix, Ralf earned an easy win finishing 46 seconds ahead of Rubens Barrichello.
Ralf Schumacher finished the 2001 Drivers Standing in 4th position ahead of team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya.

2002

Ralf Schumacher in 2002 during his tenure with Wiliams

In 2002, Williams was left fighting for podiums as Ferrari's domination prove to be unstoppable during the season. Still Ralf managed to score Williams only win of the season at the Malaysian Grand Prix from 4th on the grid. This race marked as one of only 2 of the 17 races not won by Ferrari that year. Ralf collected another 5 podiums including a second place at the Brazilian Grand Prix. He finished the championship again in 4th, this time behind team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya.

2003

Ralf Schumacher driving for the Williams-BMW F1 team in 2003

After a slow but confident start and despite scoring at every race, Ralf did not manage to get onto the podium until the eighth round in Montreal, where he finished 2nd. By then, he seemed, for much of the European season, to have perhaps the only realistic shot at the drivers' title of his career after he won the European Grand Prix (at the Nürburgring) and the French Grand Prix within the space of a week. However, his form and luck eluded him subsequently and his challenge had faded by the time of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. The final six races of the season yielded just one points finish. An accident in testing at Monza ended his championship hopes. Schumacher finished the season 5th and his contribution, alongside Juan Pablo Montoya did, however, help the Williams team to finish second in the Constructors Championship in 2002 and 2003, narrowly missing out on the title to Ferrari on the latter occasion.

Crash at Indianapolis

On 20 June 2004, Schumacher was seriously injured in an accident at the United States Grand Prix. The deceleration was measured at 78 g (765 m/s²), resulting in a concussion as well as two minor fractures to his spinal column. He was taken to a nearby hospital and spent almost four days there and several months at home in bed. This caused him to be sidelined for the majority of the season. He crashed in almost the same manner during practice for the 2005 event, revealing the tyre troubles that would lead to the fiasco at the race itself.

Schumacher being attended to by Professor Sid Watkins after impacting the wall on the outside of turn 12 on lap 9 of the 2004 United States Grand Prix.

Toyota (2005–2007)

Schumacher driving for Toyota at the 2005 Canadian Grand Prix, where he finished sixth

In 2005, Schumacher transferred to the Toyota F1 team after Williams refused his salary demands. In the first races of the season he was out-performed by team mate Jarno Trulli, however in Spa-Francorchamps, he was able to challenge for the lead most of the race and ended up setting the fastest lap. Schumacher earned his first podium with Toyota F1 at the Hungarian Grand Prix, finishing in third place, less than a second behind his brother. The Toyota team brought the "B" specification of their TF105 car to the last three races of the season. Schumacher took pole position in Japan after a wet one-shot qualifying session prevented many drivers from setting competitive laps. He then finished the Chinese Grand Prix in third position a week later. This modified version of the car secured sixth position in the Drivers' Championship for Schumacher, two points ahead of Trulli, and helped the team finish fourth in the constructors championship, 12 points behind Ferrari.

Schumacher leading Jarno Trulli at the 2006 Canadian Grand Prix

Schumacher remained with Toyota for 2006, however the team was off the pace in early races, though he managed eighth in Malaysia. At the third race of the season in Australia he finished a strong third. He never mounted the podium again that season, although opportunities to do so were lost through mechanical failure. A fourth position in France was his only other significant finish in 2006, while he scored 6th place in Hungary, and earned seventh place in both Turkey and Japan. Overall, he outscored Trulli again, but admitted it was a disappointing season for himself and for the Toyota F1 team, as he finished only 10th in the drivers' championship.
Ralf Schumacher earned Toyota their first point of the 2007 season by finishing in eighth place in the Australian Grand Prix, one place ahead of team-mate Jarno Trulli. However, Trulli then finished in seventh place in both of the following two races in Malaysia and Bahrain, scoring 2 points in each. Schumacher, meanwhile, failed to score in either. In the Spanish Grand Prix, he was involved in a collision with Alexander Wurz of Williams, dropping him to the back of the field. He eventually retired with a mechanical problem. Monaco proved to be another struggle for Schumacher, as he qualified 20th and finished the race in 16th, 0.9 seconds behind Trulli. It was rumoured at this point that the Toyota team were unhappy with his performance, and seemed likely to drop the driver when his contract expired at the end of the 2007 season.^[4]

Schumacher in his third season with Toyota, at the 2007 British Grand Prix

Schumacher scored a point by finishing 8th in the Canadian Grand Prix, a race from which Trulli was forced to retire after crashing out. This was not enough to prevent Toyota Motorsport vice-chairman Tadashi Yamashina publicly urging Schumacher to up his game or risk losing his seat,^[5] having only qualified for the race in 18th place. He then lost control at the first corner of the next race, removing himself from the race as well as the cars of Rubens Barrichello and David Coulthard. In an attempt to retain his place at Toyota for 2008, he offered to accept a $17m pay cut.^[6] He retired from top 10 positions in both the British Grand Prix and the European Grand Prix. The first was due to mechanical failure and the latter was caused by a collision with the BMW Sauber of Nick Heidfeld.
A change in fortunes seemed to occur at the Hungarian Grand Prix (the scene of his first podium finish for Toyota). Schumacher started 5th on the grid after setting the 6th fastest time (Fernando Alonso was relegated to 6th). He held off Alonso for much of the race until the third sector and went on to finish 6th. This fortune, however, was short lived as at the Turkish Grand Prix Schumacher put in an inexplicably poor qualifying performance to start 16th for the race while Trulli was up in 9th. Schumacher finished 12th and ahead of his team mate but only after Trulli was punted off the track at the first corner of the race by Giancarlo Fisichella.
On 1 October, Schumacher announced that he would be leaving Toyota at the end of the 2007 season for a new challenge. That year, he had the second biggest salary after Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen.[1] ^[7]^[8]

Retirement from Formula One

Before and after Schumacher's official resignation from Toyota, there were rumours linking him to several Formula One teams. He approached McLaren to enquire about the seat being vacated by Fernando Alonso, but was turned down.^[9] He held talks with long-time mentor and Scuderia Toro Rosso team boss Franz Tost about a possible drive for that team,^[10] but Toro Rosso instead opted for Sebastian Vettel and Sébastien Bourdais. Despite this, Schumacher remained certain he would be racing in Formula One in 2008.^[11]
Schumacher's final outing in a Formula One car came in December 2007 when he participated in a test for the Force India outfit in a bid to secure the second race drive alongside Adrian Sutil. However, after being the slowest of all the Force India testers on the day he tested, Schumacher stated that he was no longer interested in driving for that team,^[12] and that he would likely not be back into another Formula One car in 2008.^[13] The seat eventually went to Giancarlo Fisichella, Schumacher's team mate during his debut Grand Prix season in 1997.
After two seasons away from the sport, Schumacher's experience made him a target for new teams US F1, Hispania (HRT), Virgin and Lotus for 2010, all of whom he rejected.^[14]

DTM career

Schumacher at Brands Hatch in 2008 with (Mücke Motorsport) AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2007 DTM car.

On 17 January 2008, Schumacher participated in a test for the Mercedes Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) team at Estoril Circuit in Portugal.^[15] It was his first outing with an AMG Mercedes since 20 July 1997 when he was a guest driver in a race of the FIA GT Championship in Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium with an AMG Mercedes CLK-GTR. This was also Schumacher's last opportunity to drive a race car with a roof.
Early in February Schumacher participated in a second test for the Mercedes team at Estoril. Later in the month, he announced that he would race for Mercedes during the 2008 DTM season.^[16]
About his switch to DTM for the 2008 season, Ralf had much to say:
"Of course I know that neither the media nor the spectators consider me the greatest race driver of all times and this is not what I'm aiming for." "During my last three years in Formula 1, I didn't have much success and it almost sounded strange to me when Norbert mentioned in our conversation, that short before this time I had managed to win two Formula 1 Grands Prix within only eight days." "However, I am still the same Ralf as at those times, the same racer who has fun in motor sports and who wants to compete with the best."

Schumacher at the 2010 season-opener at Hockenheim.

"Now I am able to do so in the DTM which I know very well since the mid-nineties when I was a young up-coming driver racing in Formula Junior and Formula 3 which had been staged as a supporting programme of the DTM. Then I dreamed of racing in the main event sometime." "I like the series, I like the environment, I like the enthusiastic and positive spectators. And I like Mercedes – with them I got my first chance to test a Formula 1 car in 1996 and who knows how my Formula 1 career had turned out if I had accepted the McLaren Mercedes offer to become their test driver for 1997."
"But then I wanted to drive races, and that's what I still want today, more than ten years later." "I will learn in the DTM, I will work hard and I will put it behind me if people will criticize me if I should have problems during the first couple of races."^[17]
Ralf made 2 point-scoring appearances in the 2008 DTM season, highlighting a 7th place in Barcelona and 8th place at the Nurburgring. He quietly finished his rookie DTM season in 14th place, with 3 points as the second best driver in a year old Mercedes C-Class behind Gary Paffett.

Helmet

Ralf Schumacher helmet's design is similar to his brother's, Ralf's helmet being yellow with a black top circled with astroids, rather than white with a blue top. Like Michael, Ralf changed helmet colour in 2000, changing the top circle colour from black to yellow.

Personal life

In October 2001, Schumacher married Cora-Caroline Brinkmann, a former model. On 23 October 2001, their son David was born.^[18]

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team Name	Races	Poles	Wins	Points	Final Placing
1992	Formula BMW Junior	?	10	?	?	66	6th
1993	Formula BMW Junior	?	?	?	?	?	2nd
1994	German Formula Three	Opel Team WTS	19	2	1	158	3rd
	Macau Grand Prix	Mild Seven WTS Racing	1	0	0	N/A	4th
	Grand Prix de Monaco F3	Opel Team WTS	1	0	0	N/A	15th
	Masters of Formula Three	WTS Motorsport	1	0	0	N/A	30th
1995	German Formula Three	Opel Team Weber-Trella Stuttgart Racing	15	2	3	171	2nd
	Macau Grand Prix	Mild Seven Opel Team WTS	1	1	1	N/A	1st
	Grand Prix de Monaco F3	Opel Team WTS	1	0	0	N/A	2nd
	Masters of Formula Three	WTS Motorsport	1	1	0	N/A	2nd
1996	Formula Nippon	X Japan Team Le Mans	10	2	3	40	1st
1996	All-Japan GT Championship	Team Lark	6	4	3	60	2nd
1997	Formula One	Benson & Hedges Jordan Peugeot	17	0	0	13	11th
1997	FIA GT Championship	AMG Mercedes	1	0	0	2	29th
1998	Formula One	Benson & Hedges Jordan	16	0	0	14	10th
1999	Formula One	Winfield Williams F1 Team	16	0	0	35	6th
2000	Formula One	BMW Williams F1 Team	17	0	0	24	5th
2001	Formula One	BMW Williams F1 Team	17	1	3	49	4th
2002	Formula One	BMW Williams F1 Team	17	0	1	42	4th
2003	Formula One	BMW Williams F1 Team	15	3	2	58	5th
2004	Formula One	BMW Williams F1 Team	12	1	0	24	9th
2005	Formula One	Panasonic Toyota Racing	18	1	0	45	6th
2006	Formula One	Panasonic Toyota Racing	18	0	0	20	10th
2007	Formula One	Panasonic Toyota Racing	17	0	0	5	16th
2008	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters	Mücke Motorsport	11	0	0	3	14th
2009	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters	HWA Team	10	0	0	9	11th
2010	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters	HWA Team	11	1	0	3	14th
2011	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters	HWA Team	10	0	0	21	8th
2012	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters	HWA Team	10	0	0	10	17th

Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	WDC	Points
1997	Benson & Hedges Total Jordan Peugeot	Jordan 197	Peugeot A14 3.0 V10	AUS Ret	BRA Ret	ARG 3	SMR Ret	MON Ret	ESP Ret	CAN Ret	FRA 6	GBR 5	GER 5	HUN 5	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	AUT 5	LUX Ret	JPN 9	EUR Ret			11th	13
1998	Benson & Hedges Jordan	Jordan 198	Mugen-Honda MF-301 HC 3.0 V10	AUS Ret	BRA Ret	ARG Ret	SMR 7	ESP 11	MON Ret	CAN Ret	FRA 16	GBR 6	AUT 5	GER 6	HUN 9	BEL 2	ITA 3	LUX Ret	JPN Ret				10th	14
1999	Winfield Williams	Williams FW21	Supertec FB01 3.0 V10	AUS 3	BRA 4	SMR Ret	MON Ret	ESP 5	CAN 4	FRA 4	GBR 3	AUT Ret	GER 4	HUN 9	BEL 5	ITA 2	EUR 4	MAL Ret	JPN 5				6th	35
2000	BMW WilliamsF1 Team	Williams FW22	BMW E41 3.0 V10	AUS 3	BRA 5	SMR Ret	GBR 4	ESP 4	EUR Ret	MON Ret	CAN 14	FRA 5	AUT Ret	GER 7	HUN 5	BEL 3	ITA 3	USA Ret	JPN Ret	MAL Ret			5th	24
2001	BMW WilliamsF1 Team	Williams FW23	BMW P80 3.0 V10	AUS Ret	MAL 5	BRA Ret	SMR 1	ESP Ret	AUT Ret	MON Ret	CAN 1	EUR 4	FRA 2	GBR Ret	GER 1	HUN 4	BEL 7	ITA 3	USA Ret	JPN 6			4th	49
2002	BMW WilliamsF1 Team	Williams FW24	BMW P82 3.0 V10	AUS Ret	MAL 1	BRA 2	SMR 3	ESP 11	AUT 4	MON 3	CAN 7	EUR 4	GBR 8	FRA 5	GER 3	HUN 3	BEL 5	ITA Ret	USA 16	JPN 11			4th	42
2003	BMW WilliamsF1 Team	Williams FW25	BMW P83 3.0 V10	AUS 8	MAL 4	BRA 7	SMR 4	ESP 5	AUT 6	MON 4	CAN 2	EUR 1	FRA 1	GBR 9	GER Ret	HUN 4	ITA PO	USA Ret	JPN 12				5th	58
2004	BMW WilliamsF1 Team	Williams FW26	BMW P84 3.0 V10	AUS 4	MAL Ret	BHR 7	SMR 7	ESP 6	MON 10	EUR Ret	CAN DSQ	USA Ret	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA PO	CHN Ret	JPN 2	BRA 5		9th	24
2005	Panasonic Toyota Racing	Toyota TF105	Toyota RVX-05 3.0 V10	AUS 12	MAL 5	BHR 4	SMR 9	ESP 4	MON 6	EUR Ret	CAN 6	USA PO	FRA 7	GBR 8	GER 6	HUN 3	TUR 12	ITA 6	BEL 7	BRA 8			6th	45
2005	Panasonic Toyota Racing	Toyota TF105B	Toyota RVX-05 3.0 V10																		JPN 8	CHN 3	6th	45
2006	Panasonic Toyota Racing	Toyota TF106	Toyota RVX-06 2.4 V8	BHR 14	MAL 8	AUS 3	SMR 9	EUR Ret	ESP Ret														10th	20
2006	Panasonic Toyota Racing	Toyota TF106B	Toyota RVX-06 2.4 V8							MON 8	GBR Ret	CAN Ret	USA Ret	FRA 4	GER 9	HUN 6	TUR 7	ITA 15	CHN Ret	JPN 7	BRA Ret		10th	20
2007	Panasonic Toyota Racing	Toyota TF107	Toyota RVX-07 2.4 V8	AUS 8	MAL 15	BHR 12	ESP Ret	MON 16	CAN 8	USA Ret	FRA 10	GBR Ret	EUR Ret	HUN 6	TUR 12	ITA 15	BEL 10	JPN Ret	CHN Ret	BRA 11			16th	5

Complete DTM results