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Ralf Schumacher
Ralf Schumacher at an autograph session at the 2005 United States Grand Prix
Nationality  German
Formula One World Championship career
Active years	1997 - 2007
Teams	Jordan, Williams, Toyota
Races	181 (180 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	6
Podium finishes	27
Career points	329
Pole positions	6
Fastest laps	8
First race	1997 Australian Grand Prix
First win	2001 San Marino Grand Prix
Last win	2003 French Grand Prix
Last race	2007 Brazilian Grand Prix

Ralf Schumacher (born June 30, 1975 in Hürth-Hermülheim near Cologne^[1]) is a German racing driver, and the younger brother of seven-time Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher. His own Formula One career spanned 11 seasons from 1997 to 2007, during which time he won 6 races from 180 starts, before retiring from Grand Prix racing after failing to secure a drive for 2008. In 2008 he is racing in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters series with Mercedes.

Early career

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.

Formula One Career

Jordan

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.

Williams

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, obsolete Supertec engine. However, Heinz-Harald Frentzen who replaced him at Jordan scored two wins and four podiums that year.

Ralf Schumacher driving for the Williams-BMW F1 team in 2003.

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, while in 2003, he seemed, for much of the European season, to have perhaps the only realistic shot at the drivers' title of his career after he won the European Grand Prix (at the Nürburgring) and the French Grand Prix within the space of a week. However, his form and luck eluded him subsequently and his challenge had faded by the time of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. His contribution, alongside Juan Pablo Montoya did, however, help the Williams team to finish second in the Constructors Championship in 2002 and 2003, narrowly missing out on the title to Ferrari on the latter occasion.

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]

Crash At Indianapolis

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.

Toyota

Schumacher driving for Toyota at the 2005 Canadian Grand Prix, a race in which he finished sixth.

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 leading Jarno Trulli at the 2006 Canadian Grand Prix.

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 in his third season with Toyota, at the 2007 British Grand Prix.

Schumacher scored a point by finishing 8th in the Canadian Grand Prix, a race from which Trulli was forced to retire after crashing out. This was not enough to prevent Toyota vice-chairman Tadashi Yamashina publicly urging Ralf to up his game or risk losing his seat ^[3], having only qualified for the race in 18th place. He then 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. In an attempt to retain his place at Toyota for 2008, he offered to accept a $17m pay cut.^[4] 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 Räikkönen.[3] ^[5][6]

Retirement from F1

Before and after Ralf's official resignation from Toyota, there were rumours linking him to several Formula One teams. He approached McLaren to enquire about the seat being vacated by Fernando Alonso, but was turned down.^[7] He held talks with friend and Scuderia Toro Rosso team boss Franz Tost about a possible drive for that team,^[8] but Toro Rosso instead opted for Sebastian Vettel and Sebastien Bourdais. Despite this, Ralf remained certain he would be racing in Formula One in 2008.^[9]

Ralf's final outing in a Formula One car came in December 2007 when he participated in a test for the uncompetitive Force India outfit in a bid to secure the second race drive alongside Adrian Sutil. However, after being the slowest of all the Force India testers on the day he tested, Ralf stated that he was no longer interested in driving for that team,^[10] and that he would likely not be back into another Formula One car in 2008.^[11] The seat eventually went to Giancarlo Fisichella, Ralf's team mate during his debut Grand Prix season in 1997.

DTM career

On January 17, 2008, Ralf participated in a test for the Mercedes Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters team at Estoril Circuit in Portugal.^[12] Early in February Ralf participated a test again for the Mercedes DTM team at Estoril. Later in the month, he announced that he would race for Mercedes during the 2008 DTM season.^[13]

Personal life

In October 2001 Ralf married Cora-Caroline Brinkmann a former model.^[14][15][16] On October 23, 2001, their son David was born.

Racing record

Career summary

* Season in Progress

Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Ralf Schumacher

• The official site for Ralf Schumacher
• Ralf Schumacher Formula 1 profile
• Ralf Schumacher Fan page

References