Born: January 3^rd 1969 in Hurt-Hermuhlheim (Germany)

Nationality: German

Lives: Vufflens-le-Chateau (Switzerland)

Family: Married to Corinna, daughter Gina Maria, and son Mike.

Height: 1,74m

Weight: 68kg

Michael Schumacher is Formula One's current top driver. His superb tactical thinking along with his unbeleivable car control, has made him the youngest double World Champion in the sport's history. He is also thought to be worth around a second a lap over other drivers in ordinary race conditions.

Like most budding racing drivers, Michael's career blossomed fast, with a successful karting career. German businessman, Willi Weber, noticed Michael's potential, and gave him financial backing to move into motor-racing. His first season in German Formula 3 saw him batt 24324p1511y le it out with Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Karl Wendlinger for the title. He finished a close third. The following season saw him win the title, which caught the eye of many F1 team bosses, backed by some good performances in the Mercedes Junior sportscar team.

In his first appearance in F1, for Jordan at Spa-Franchorchamps, he qualified the car seventh on the grid. Benetton moved fast to sign him up. This brought a win at Spa the following year, with a win in Portugal in 93.

Benetton dominated the beginning of 1994, and with the death of Ayrton Senna at Imola easing Schumacher's way for the title. Following a disqualification for Schumacher at the British GP, and a two race ban, followed by a further disqualification at Spa for technical reasons, Williams were able to close the gap to Schumacher. Damon Hill was now responsible for leading the team, following Senna's tragic death. Hill had closed to within one-point going into the final round in Australia. A controversial collision, saw both men retire, and Schumacher become Germany's first World Champion. In a touching post-race conference, Michael dedicated his World Title to Senna. "For me it was always clear that I was not going to win the Championship, and it was Ayrton that was going to win the Championship, but he has not been here for the last races, so I would like to take this Championship, and give it to him."

Despite numerous collisions with Hill in 1995, Schumacher and Benetton dominated, using Renault engines, the same powerful unit used by rivals Williams. A second title came Michael's way, and a first Constructor's title for Benetton (the single one). For 1996, Schumacher decided he wanted a new challenge. He joined Ferrari for a massive $75 million three-year contract, and won a further three races in an ill-handling car.

1997 saw Ferrari provide a more competitive car, meaning that Schumacher could challenge the Williams-Renault team, again taking the title down to the wire with Jacques Villeneuve of Canada. Villeneuve had been expected to dominate, but Schumacher took five wins. Schumacher was one point up on Villeneuve going into the final round, and a controversial blocking move saw Schumacher in the gravel, and Villeneuve take the title. The move saw Schumacher scrutinized closer in 1998.

After a poor start to the season which saw McLaren's Mika Hakkinen way ahead of him in the points, only for Schumacher to claw his way back with a series of mid-season wins and impressive attacking driving. By the last race of the season at Suzuka, Michael was four points behind Hakkinen, and all was to play for. However, Michael's race ended more or less at the start, when he stalled on pole position, and had to start from the back of the grid. He extraordinally battled back up to third place, when a tyre blow-out ended his challenge once and for all. However, this did not prevent Michael from signing a new, overwhelming $140 million contract which would see him at Ferrari until the end of 2001.

1999 started well for Ferrari with Eddie Irvine taking his first ever win. Michael suffered a race of mis-fortune. A broken wing, punctured tyre, steering weel problem, all kept him away from challenging for a win. But a superb display in Brazil with an ill-handling car, saw Schumacher finish a fine second to the superior McLaren of Hakkinen. A win in Imola and another in Monaco, saw Schumacher leap to the top of the standings, followed by Eddie Irvine. McLaren lept back in Spain, third the best Michael could manage. The next few races would see Michael suffer a series of problems, crashing out of the Canadian Grand Prix while leading, suffering electrical problems in France while leading, and suffering a high-speed crash in Britain, breaking both bones in his right leg, the worst injury he's ever suffered.

Michael's injuries have seen him miss the British, Austrian, German, Hungarian, Belgium, Italian and European Grands Prix so far, and he has announced that he will not return to racing until 2000. Altrough he makes his return in Malaysia, where he sets pole position, a full second faster than the nearest rival. He easily dominates the race, before moving over twice to allow Championship contender team-mate, Irvine through to win. In Japan, he takes pole again, but a poor start (very intresting) see's him lose out to Hakkinen, and finishes second.

But 2000 will be, I'm sure, Schumacher's year. Even Nelson Piquet, triple world champion, said that the German "wouldn't have any problem winning the World Title for the third time" .

Grand Prix Starts

Points: 570 (including points removed as penalty during 1997  season)

Pole Positions

Fastest Laps

Grand Prix Wins: 35 (1992 Belgian GP, 1993 Portuguese GP, 1994 Brazilian GP, 1994 Pacific GP, 1994 San Marino GP, 1994 Monaco GP, 1994 Canadian GP, 1994 French GP, 1994 Hungarian GP, 1994 European GP, 1995 Brazilian GP, 1995 Spanish GP, 1995 Monaco GP, 1995 French GP, 1995 German GP, 1995 Belgian GP, 1995 European GP, 1995 Pacific GP, 1995 Japanese GP, 1996 Spanish GP, 1996 Belgian GP, 1996 Italian GP, 1997 Monaco GP, 1997 Canadian GP, 1997 French GP, 1997 Belgian GP, 1997 Japanese GP, 1998 Argentinian GP, 1998 Canadian GP, 1998 French GP, 1998 British GP, 1998 Hungarian GP, 1998 Italian GP, 1999 San Marino GP, 1999 Monaco GP)

Honours

German Formula Konig Champion

MACAU GP Winner 1988

1990 German Formula Three Champion