Michael Schumacher life and biography

Michael Schumacher was born on the January 3, 1969 to Rolf and Elisabeth Schumacher. The family move to the town of Kerpin-Manheim, a working class town near Cologne, Germany. It was there that the family became involved with karting. Michael, only four at the time was given a kart powered by an old lawn-mower engine by his father. From so humble a beginning was a World Champion's career launched. Karting became a family obsession fed by the resourcefulness of the elder Schumacher and the spirit of young Michael. Rolf Schumacher's mechanical ability led him to work part-time repairing other go-karts at the local track. In 1980 he travelled to Nivelles, Belgium for the World Karting Championship and saw a driver that impressed him deeply, that driver was Ayrton Senna. Michael was soon making a name for himself and in 1984 he won the German Junior Championship. The European championship came his way in 1987.

The path to car racing started with Formula Ford or Formula Koenig, as it was known in Germany. To compete at this level Schumacher would need sponsors and lucky for him several sponsors including Jurgen Dik had noticed the young German. His first full year competing in the series saw him win nine out of ten rounds. Willie Weber, his future manager, was running his own Formula Three team and gave Michael a test in one of his cars. After seven or eight laps he was setting times 1 1/2 seconds faster than Webber's regular driver. Schumacher's first year in Formula Three saw him competing against future Formula 1 drivers, Karl Wendlinger and Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Wendlinger eventually nosed out his compatriots for the title. The next year was all Schumacher. Instead of graduating to Formula 3000 Webber placed his young protégé in the Mercedes junior team driving a sports car for Sauber along with his former Formula Three rivals. Under the watchful eyes of Jochen Neerspasch and Jochen Mass he was schooled in the art of racecar driving. During this period Schumacher learned much of what would later become his trademark smooth style.

Opportunity arrived when Jordan's Formula One drive Bertrand Gachot found himself in jail and Schumacher was given a test with the Irish team. His times were a revelation and he was quickly signed or so it was thought. Jordan wanted to sign the young driver to a three-year contract but Schumacher's advisors urged caution. Eventually a temporary deal was done and the rest as the saying goes is history. He made a brilliant debut at Spa in Belgium in a Jordan, where he qualified 7th ahead of his more experienced teammate. After some legal wrangling that was only recently resolved he finished the year at Benetton. The next year he won his first race at Spa. Showing signs of brilliance his time would come in the black year of 1994 when he became World Champion by one point after an epic duel with Damon Hill was finally decided in controversial circumstances at Adelaide. 1995 was an altogether different story and driving his Benetton-Ford after a hard and sometimes controversial battle with Damon Hill became the youngest double champion - his car was nearly unstoppable and he won nine Grands Prix that season. 1996 saw him move to Ferrari and marked the start of his biggest challenge. A challenge he met and conquered winning another five World Championships while adding to astounding 91 total wins.

But any biography of Michael Schumacher would be incomplete without taking note of his unsponsmanlike conduct that has blemeshed his career. Returning to the Australian Grand Prix in 1994 and with the world championship at stake, Schumacher's Benetton slid wide and into the wall while trying to stay ahead of title rival Damon Hill's Williams. Schumacher rejoined the track with a damaged car and Hill, who had not seen the German's error, attemped to pass him at the next corner. Schumacher turned in on the Williams, putting both cars out of the race and sealing his first world title. Hill wrote in a subsequent book: "There are two things that set Michael apart from the rest of the drivers in Formula One - his sheer talent and his attitude.

On 27 December 2013, Michael suffered a skiing accident while in France, vacantioning. Two minutes of footage from a camera on Michael Schumacher’s ski helmet showed the Formula One great was clearly skiing off a groomed trail when he lost his balance and crashed, leaving him with critical head injuries.

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