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Ralf Schumacher
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Ralf Schumacher | |
|---|---|
 Ralf Schumacher at an autograph session at the 2005 United States Grand Prix |
|
| Nationality |  German |
| Car # | - |
| Current team | none |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| Races | 182 (180 starts) |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 6 |
| Podium finishes | 27 |
| Pole positions | 6 |
| Career points | 329 |
| Fastest laps | 7 |
| First race | 1997 Australian Grand Prix |
| First win | 2001 San Marino Grand Prix |
| Latest win | 2003 French Grand Prix |
| Latest race | 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix |
| 2007 position | 16th (5 pts) |
Ralf Schumacher (born June 30, 1975 in Hürth-Hermülheim near Cologne[1]) is a German Formula One racing driver. He is the younger brother of seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher and has won six F1 races during his career, which has spanned from 1997 to the present day.
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He started racing at age three on his parents' go-kart track in their home town of Kerpen. After finishing runner-up in the national karting series, Schumacher graduated German Formula Three in 1995. Finishing runner up in this series was not the highlight of the year for him though, as he also won the Macau street race, a feat also accomplished by his brother Michael. In the race he beat future F1 team-mate Jarno Trulli, Pedro de la Rosa and Norberto Fontana, the driver he finished runner-up to in German Formula 3.
Ralf then moved on to the Japanese Formula Nippon series in 1996, which he won, earning himself a Formula One drive with Jordan for the following year.
Ralf Schumacher made his Formula One debut in 1997 with the Jordan team and finished on the podium in just his third race, at Argentina. However Schumacher retired in more than half his races that season and ended up behind team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella. The two had an uneasy relationship after Ralf took Giancarlo out of the Argentine Grand Prix when they were competing for 2nd place. They collided again at the Luxembourg Grand Prix later in the season.
The following season, Jordan was powered by Honda and proved capable of race wins when Ralf followed team mate Damon Hill to second place in the rain-soaked Belgian Grand Prix. Ralf was reportedly unhappy at not being allowed to pass Hill late in the race as the team demanded he hold station. He finished 3rd in the next race at the Italian Grand Prix.
In the knowledge that a deal had been done with BMW in 1999 he changed to the Williams team and scored three podium finishes and sixth in the World Drivers Championship with the underpowered, obsolescent Supertec engine. However, Heinz-Harald Frentzen who replaced him at Jordan scored two wins and four podiums that year.
Schumacher's performance in the 2000 season was considered by many to be a disappointment. Running the powerful new BMW engine, he was expected to compete for wins, but he was only able to match the three podium finishes of the previous year, despite being the senior driver in the team and suffering only four mechanical failures. In 2001, however, he broke through with his first three Grand Prix wins at Imola, Montreal and Hockenheim. In 2002, he won the Malaysian Grand Prix but finished the championship behind team mate Juan-Pablo Montoya, and in 2003, he won the European Grand Prix (at the Nürburgring) and the French Grand Prix, helping the Williams team finish second in the Constructors Championship in 2002 and 2003.
Ralf became the third highest paid driver in Formula 1 in 1999, when his pay after the 2000 season was raised to $15.5 million US. His brother Michael was the highest paid racing driver in the world and second highest earning sportsman in the world behind Tiger Woods, earning a reputed $80 million US in 2004 ($40m of which was his salary from Ferrari).[1]
At the 2001 European Grand Prix, Michael had made a poor start. To prevent Ralf from passing, Michael veered across the track at him, leaving his younger brother with the choice of backing off or risk being forced into the wall, to which Ralf backed off.[2]
On June 20, 2004, Schumacher was seriously injured in an accident at the United States Grand Prix. The deceleration was measured at 78 g (765 m/s²), one of the most severe in all of motor racing history, resulting in a concussion as well as two minor fractures to his spinal column. He was taken to a nearby hospital and spent almost four days there and several months at home in bed. This caused him to be sidelined for the majority of the season. He crashed in almost the same manner in 2005, revealing the tyre troubles that would lead to the fiasco at the 2005 United States Grand Prix.
In 2005, Schumacher transferred to the Toyota F1 team after Williams refused his salary demands. In the first 12 races of the season he was out-performed by team mate Jarno Trulli, however in Spa-Francorchamps, he was able to challenge for the lead most of the race and ended up setting the fastest lap. Schumacher earned his first podium with Toyota F1 at the Hungarian Grand Prix, finishing in third place, less than a second behind brother Michael Schumacher. The Toyota team brought the "B" specification of their TF105 car to the last three races of the season which allowed Schumacher to take pole position in Japan and finish the Chinese Grand Prix in third position a week later. This modified version of the car secured sixth position in the Drivers Championship for Schumacher, two points ahead of Trulli.
Schumacher remained with Toyota for 2006, however the team was off the pace in early races, though he managed eighth in Malaysia. At the third race of the season in Australia he finished a strong third. He never mounted the podium again that season, although opportunities to do so were lost through mechanical failure. A fourth position in France was his only other significant finish in 2006, while he scored 6th place in Hungary, and earned seventh place in both Turkey and Japan. Overall, he outscored Trulli again, but admitted it was a disappointing season for himself and for the Toyota F1 team, as he finished only 10th in the drivers' championship.
Ralf Schumacher earned Toyota their first point of the 2007 season by finishing in eighth place in the Australian Grand Prix, one place ahead of team-mate Jarno Trulli. However, Trulli then finished in seventh place in both of the following two races in Malaysia and Bahrain, scoring 2 points in each. Schumacher, meanwhile, failed to score in either. In the Spanish Grand Prix, he was involved in a collision with Alexander Wurz of Williams, dropping him to the back of the field. He eventually retired with a mechanical problem. Monaco proved to be another struggle for Schumacher, as he qualified 20th and finished the race in 16th, 0.9 seconds behind Trulli. It was rumoured at this point that the Toyota team were unhappy with his performance, and seemed likely to drop the driver when his contract expired at the end of the 2007 season.[2]
Schumacher scored his next point by finishing 8th in the Canadian Grand Prix, coming up from only 18th on the grid, however, he lost control at the first corner of the next race, removing himself from the race as well as the cars of Rubens Barrichello and David Coulthard. He retired from top 10 positions in both the British Grand Prix and the European Grand Prix. The first was due to mechanical failure and the latter was caused by a collision with the BMW Sauber of Nick Heidfeld.
A change in fortunes seemed to occur at the Hungarian Grand Prix (the scene of his first podium finish for Toyota). Schumacher started 5th on the grid after setting the 6th fastest time (Fernando Alonso was relegated to 6th). He held off Alonso for much of the race until the third sector and went on to finish 6th. This fortune, however, was short lived as at the Turkish Grand Prix Schumacher put in an inexpicably poor qualifying performance to start 16th for the race while Trulli was up in 9th. Ralf finished 12th and ahead of his team mate but only after Trulli was punted off the track at the first corner of the race by Giancarlo Fisichella.
On 1 October, Schumacher announced that he would be leaving Toyota at the end of the 2007 season for a new challenge. That year, he had the second biggest salary after Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen.[3] [3][4]
After officially quitting Toyota, Schumacher has been linked with a move to several Formula One teams. There were rumours of a possible move to McLaren as replacement for Fernando Alonso, but Heikki Kovalainen has since taken Alonso's place alongside Lewis Hamilton. Schumacher had been linked with McLaren due to Mercedes (who is the largest shareholder at McLaren) possibly wanting a German driver who is experienced.[citation needed] He test drove for Force India at the December multi-team test event in Spain, with a number of other drivers Force India are considering employing next year alongside Adrian Sutil. However, after being the slowest of all the Force India testers on the day he tested, Ralf has stated that he would likely not be back into another Formula 1 car in 2008[5]
In October of 2001 Ralf married Cora-Caroline Brinkmann a former model [6] [7] [8] . On October 23, 2001, their son David was born.
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
- ^ "Ralf Schumacher biography and information", celebrina.com, 2007-07-23. Retrieved on 2007-07-23.
- ^ "Replacing Ralf...", grandprix.com, 2007-05-31. Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
- ^ Ralf leaves Toyota ralf-schumacher.de - 1st October, 2007
- ^ "Schumacher set to quit Toyota", BBC, 2007-10-02. Retrieved on 2007-10-02. "Ralf Schumacher is to quit Toyota at the end of the season after three years with the Japanese team, but has not confirmed which team he will move to. As of November 22nd 2007, Ralf has rumored to be testing with Force India ."
- ^ http://formula-1.updatesport.com/news/article/1197022055/formula_one/F1gossip/Ralf-F1-career-could-be-over/view.html
- ^ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4161/is_20040627/ai_n12899341
- ^ http://people.famouswhy.com/cora_schumacher/
- ^ http://www.f1db.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-955.html
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Sascha Maassen |
Macau Grand Prix winner 1995 |
Succeeded by Ralph Firman |
| Preceded by Toshio Suzuki (Japanese Formula 3000) |
Formula Nippon Champion 1996 |
Succeeded by Pedro de la Rosa |
| Records | ||
| Preceded by Elio de Angelis 21 years, 307 days (1980 Brazilian GP) |
Youngest Drivers to score a Podium Position in Formula One 21 years, 287 days (1997 Argentine Grand Prix) |
Succeeded by Fernando Alonso 21 years, 237 days (2003 Malaysian GP) |