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| Michael Schumacher |
Thursday
25th August was the the 25th anniversary of Michael
Schumacher’s debut in Formula One.
The
seven time World Champion, now regarded as one of the greatest drivers of all
time, made his bow as a 22-year-old unknown at the Belgian Grand Prix in Spa
After
learning the ropes, initially in karting events where he gained his licence in
Luxembourg at the age of 12 (the minimum age in his native Germany was 14), he
went on to race in German Formula Ford, Formula König and Formula Three, progressing
into the World Sportscar championship.
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| Bertrand Gachot |
He
made his debut in Formula One for the Jordan-Ford team, replacing the imprisoned
at the time Bertrand Gachot, who was serving a 2 month sentence after spraying
a London taxi cab driver with CS gas in a traffic altercation.
The Race
At
the time Schumacher was a contracted Mercedes driver, but after impressing the
powers that be at a Silverstone test drive the week before the race, he was
given the drive and promptly went on to learn the intricacies of the Spa track by
cycling around it on a fold-up bike he had brought with him.
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| Testing the Jordan 191 car |
He
qualified in 7th place on the grid, but sadly when the race came he retired
on the first lap when his clutch failed. The late Ayrton Senna went on to win
the race, with his McLaren-Honda team mate, Austrian Gerhard Berger following up just behind.
Skiing
Accident
In
December 2013 Schumacher was skiing with his son in the French Alps when he
fell and hit his head on a rock. He was airlifted to hospital and placed in a
medically induced coma.
In
November 2014, it was reported that he was paralysed and in a wheelchair; was
unable to speak and had memory problems.
In a later interview with his manager,
she stated that he was slowly improving “considering the severity of the injury
he had sustained”.
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