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Bring Back V10s: The best of Michael Schumacher

3 min read

A decade ago today, Formula 1 was shaken by news its seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher had sustained what turned out to be life-changing injuries in a skiing accident a year into his second retirement from racing.

Given his domination of much of F1's V10 era - whether on track, in storyline terms, or both - Schumacher has always been a massive part of our Bring Back V10s podcast series about 1989-2005 F1.

We've gathered some episodes that celebrate the best of Schumacher to mark a very sad anniversary by remembering the incredible difference he made to F1. Keep fighting, Michael.

DAYS HE CHANGED F1

Schumacher's stunning debut with Jordan at the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix immediately sparked a frantic fight over his future, eventually won by Benetton.

In Bring Back V10s series two, we delved into the full story of Schumacher's arrival in F1 with Gary Anderson - who was in the thick of it all as Jordan's technical director at the time.

Gary was also present when Michael's son Mick had an emotional run in the Jordan 191 in 2021. You can read Gary's account of that day and more of his Spa 1991 thoughts here.

Schumacher's move away from Benetton turned out to be an epic storyline as well - less controversial than his swift Jordan exit, but a long driver market saga that ended up involving most of the grid as Ferrari's big-money offer led to Schumacher heading for the legendary, but then long struggling, team for 1996. We were joined by ex-F1 driver Karun Chandhok to explore it all in series four.

Schumacher and Ferrari ultimately dominated F1 together in an incredible five-year title sweep at the start of the 21st century. It came after a run of near-misses and controversies in preceding seasons.

In series eight, we looked at the race where it started to become really, really clear that Schumacher and Ferrari weren't underdogs to Williams or McLaren anymore - the 2000 Australian GP.

GREAT DRIVES

Schumacher's first F1 win came in circumstances that would become familiar in his non-dominant years - capitalising on tricky weather to upstage much faster cars and win the 1992 Belgian GP for Benetton.

F1 journalist and author David Tremayne joined us to relive that day in series five.

Nurburgring 1995 has to feature highly in any list of Schumacher's greatest F1 wins. Two charges from behind, a bold last-gasp passing move and a drive that basically ended that year's title fight.

And then there was the race he made clear he could easily have won: Sepang 1999. After three months on the sidelines with a broken leg, during which Ferrari's form had wilted, he showed pace good enough to demolish the field in the inaugural Malaysian GP, all while working to ensure it was title-chasing team-mate Eddie Irvine who actually got the win, not him.

Bring Back V10s has also visited the famous four-stop win: France 2004. A high point of Schumacher and Ferrari's most dominant season together, and one of the greatest examples of Schumacher and Ross Brawn's combined ingenuity.

VIDEOS: TITLES RANKED AND LOST WINS

There's also plenty about Schumacher on our YouTube channel.

When Lewis Hamilton edged past Schumacher's record of 91 GP wins in 2020, we picked out nine races Schumacher could or should have won too that would have meant his tally reached three figures.

There's no such thing as a bad F1 title win. But some are more awesome than others. Edd Straw ranked Schumacher's seven crowns in this video.

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