Ralf Schumacher
As the younger brother of the prodigiously talented Michael Schumacher, it would have been perfectly understandable if he had opted for a profession as diametrically opposed to his sibling's as could be found, but Ralf had other ideas, and despite being overshadowed by the most successful Grand Prix driver of all time, he managed nonetheless to make his own considerable impression in Formula 1. Six wins, six pole positions and eight fastest laps from 180 races is a record that many drivers would proud of.
The younger Schumacher first made an impression in German Formula Three during the 1994 season: driving the ubiquitous Dallara, he only scored a single victory but posted an additional nine top-three finishes to claim third place in the final standings behind runaway winner Jörg Müller and Alexander Wurz. The following year saw Ralf embroiled in a battle with Norberto Fontana for the crown but despite a run of three wins from four races in mid-season, he was eventually beaten into second place by the diminutive Argentinian.
Although courted by Opel for a drive in the ITC series in 1996, Ralf and his manager Willy Weber decided that he should race in Formula Nippon in Japan as the next stage of his career development. It was a successful move for the young German, who posted three victories in the Le Mans Co Reynard 96D to take the title. In addition, he shared a Toyota Supra with Naoki Hattori in the All-Japan GT championship.
His year in Japan was crucial to his personal development - and Ralf certainly needed all his resilience when he stepped up to F1 with Jordan in 1997. He was paired with the equally ambitious and inexperienced Giancarlo Fisichella, and the two young turks slugged it out in a battle for supremacy within the team which was to be counter-productive for everyone. Ralf simply overdrove in his attempts to impress. A podium finish in Argentina should have been cause for major celebration, but it was tainted by his crassness in pushing his team-mate into premature retirement. The prevailing feeling was that Schumacher was wasting the natural speed that even his hardened critics had to admit he possessed in abundance.
For 1998, the German was joined by Damon Hill and both drivers spent the first part of the season vainly looking for an answer to seemingly insoluble problems, but Ralf's superb drive into sixth place in the wet at Silverstone was to prove the turning point for the team. Schumacher seemed to grow in confidence race by race and was deeply frustrated to have to hold station behind Hill at Spa, when Jordan's first Grand Prix win was achieved. By then, however, he had already decided to accept an offer from Williams for 1999, much to Eddie Jordan's disappointment.
If the 1999 season buried the reputation - and the F1 career - of the popular Alex Zanardi, then it was the making of the previously unfancied Ralf Schumacher who, by the end of the year, had earned a respect that went far beyond mere acceptance that he was on the Grand Prix grid on his own merits. The conventional wisdom was that it was going to be a year of bedding-in for Ralf, with the planned BMW engine tie-up coming on tap in 2000. Nobody expected fireworks with the team consigned to running Supertec-engined cars, but they were wrong. Schumacher was the revelation of the season and could have won both the Italian and European Grands Prix if circumstances had played into his hands. More than anything, however, he had finally proved that he didn't need 'big brother' at all. He was very much his own man.
Unsurprisingly, it was Zanardi who departed Williams at the end of the year, leaving Schumacher as undisputed team leader and partnered by young Briton Jenson Button. Williams now had BMW power and, although not expected to set the world alight on debut, this was enough to allow Schumacher to shine again in 2000. It was not all plain sailing for the German, though, because, despite taking a podium finish in the opening race in Australia, fifth place in the championship was slightly flattering, as it belied the struggle he had had on occasion to quell the Button uprising. As the Briton gained in confidence, experience and points, so Schumacher's demeanour changed, and the already quiet German became even more withdrawn.
With Button replaced with the mercurial Juan Montoya for 2001, interest centred on how the German would fare against, if anything, an even more unpredictable talent. Neither man made any secret of the fact that they weren't the best of buddies before the season started, and the German took advantage of Montoya's learning curve by winning his first grand prix at Imola in April.
A second win - following a head-to-head with brother Michael in Canada - followed, somewhat overshadowing Montoya's rapid acclimatisation to F1, and pre-empting an increasingly close scrap between the team-mates. Schumacher inherited victory in his homeland when Montoya again fell foul of mechanical troubles but, as the stoic Colombian began to get the breaks, so Ralf's game became shaky. By the time Montoya won in Italy, Schumacher was looking like the Williams number two, and went into 2002 with much to prove.
As was the case twelve months earlier, however, Ralf was back on form by the time of the Australian GP, taking third on the grid but getting caught up in a massive crash at the start, which claimed nearly half the field. He continued his form at the next race, the Malaysian GP, notching up his, and BMW WilliamsF1's, only win of 2002. Two strong finishes in the next two races followed, coming home second in Brazil and third at the San Marino GP, but the rest of the season was overshadowed by Montoya's performance, particularly in qualifying.
The following season, Ralf appeared to be a contender for the championship at the mid- point of the campaign, and his final position of fifth could and should have been have been higher. Like Montoya, he started slowly and, despite scoring at every race, didn't manage to get onto the podium until the eighth round in Montreal. By then, Williams had found a turn of speed and Schumacher followed his second place in Montreal with back-to-back wins in the European and French races to head into contention for the drivers' crown. Somehow, it all went wrong for the German, and the final six races of the season yielded one points finish, a fourth in Hungary, and he fell away badly. His cause wasn't helped by an accident during testing at Monza that led to him missing the Italian GP with concussion, Marc Gene stepping in to replace him.
The 2004 campaign was to be his final one with Williams and, although initial tests in the FW26 in January were positive, the car's performance during the season was less so. Indeed Ralf's relationship with the team, especially bosses Frank Williams and Patrick Head, became troubled, and talks to renew his contract led to little but frustration. Reported to be heading to Toyota, all discussions were put on hold after Ralf suffered a high-speed crash at the US GP, which left him with two broken vertebrae and sidelined from six races. Despite just six points finishes, and a best of second in Japan, Toyota still decided to take up its option on Schumacher for 2005, where he was be paired with Jarno Trulli recently discarded by Renault.
Not unnaturally the new two drivers took some time to gel with the team and Initially Ralf was slower to make an impression. Things were not helped when a he suffered another nasty crash at Indianapolis after his tyre deflated and then triggered a mass boycott from the Michelin runners. However, Ralf bounced back with a run of points scoring finishes culminating with a podium in Hungary. Indeed he could well of won the rain affected Belgian Grand Prix but for a disastrously called pit-stop for dry tyres when the track as still too wet for them. By the end of the year he was much more confident with the revised.Toyota 105B and just edged his team mate Trulli for sixth place in the final standings.
Despite the bullish statements of intent from the Toyota team management, 2006 turned out to be a year of deep disappointment from all concerned at Cologne. It was only after the mid-season introduction of the TF106B that results picked up, but an underpowered engine left Ralf fighting in the main for the minor points scoring places. Clearly the Japanese car giant were still committed to winning in Formula 1, but the team made little progress and as Schumacher entered the final year of a very lucrative contract, the feeling was he was a luxury the team could ill-afford.
Ralf was not helped by the inherent understeer that the T107 possessed, and he struggled to adapt his driving style accordingly. The car however was capable of performing strongly on occasion but more often than not were let down by niggling problems that naturally undermined the driver’s efforts. A paltry total of five world championship points and 16th place in the Championship table by the time the season closed in Brazil found Schumacher looking elsewhere for employment in Formula 1.
After a disappointing test for Force India, Ralf’s final hopes of remaining in Formula 1 disappeared and decided to take up the opportunity to race in the DTM series for Mercedes in 2008, albeit in a an older specification machine.
