Ralf Schumacher extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia

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.

Contents 1 Early career 2 Formula One Career 2.1 Jordan 2.2 Williams 2.2.1 Crash At Indianapolis 2.3 Toyota 2.4 Retirement from F1 3 DTM career 4 Personal life 5 Racing record 5.1 Career summary 5.2 Complete Formula One results 6 External links 7 References

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.

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

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 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	Series	Team Name	Races	Poles	Wins	Points	Final Placing
1992	Formula BMW Junior	?	?	?	?	66	6th
1993	Formula BMW Junior	?	?	?	?	?	2nd
1994	German Formula Three	Opel Team WTS	19	2	1	158	3rd
	Macau Grand Prix	Mild Seven WTS Racing	1	0	0	N/A	4th
	Grand Prix de Monaco F3	Opel Team WTS	1	0	0	N/A	15th
	Masters of Formula Three	WTS Motorsport	1	0	0	N/A	30th
1995	German Formula Three	Opel Team WTS	15	2	3	171	2nd
	Macau Grand Prix	Mild Seven Opel Team WTS	1	1	1	N/A	1st
	Grand Prix de Monaco F3	Opel Team WTS	1	0	0	N/A	2nd
	Masters of Formula Three	WTS Motorsport	1	1	0	N/A	2nd
1996	Formula Nippon	X Japan Team Le Mans	10	2	3	40	1st
	All-Japan GT Championship	?	?	?	?	?	3rd
1997	Formula One	Jordan	17	0	0	13	11th
	FIA GT Championship	AMG Mercedes	1	0	0	2	29th
1998	Formula One	Jordan	16	0	0	14	10th
1999	Formula One	Williams	16	0	0	35	6th
2000	Formula One	Williams	17	0	0	24	5th
2001	Formula One	Williams	17	1	3	49	4th
2002	Formula One	Williams	17	0	1	42	4th
2003	Formula One	Williams	15	3	2	58	5th
2004	Formula One	Williams	12	1	0	24	9th
2005	Formula One	Toyota	18	1	0	45	6th
2006	Formula One	Toyota	18	0	0	20	10th
2007	Formula One	Toyota	17	0	0	5	16th
2008	DTM	TRILUX AMG Mercedes	3	0	0	0	14th*

* Season in Progress

Complete Formula One results

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

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	WDC	Points
1997	Benson & Hedges Total Jordan Peugeot	Jordan 197	Peugeot A14 3.0 V10	AUS Ret	BRA Ret	ARG 3	SMR Ret	MON Ret	ESP Ret	CAN Ret	FRA 6	GBR 5	GER 5	HUN 5	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	AUT 5	LUX Ret	JPN 9	EUR Ret			11th	13
1998	Benson & Hedges Total Jordan	Jordan 198	Mugen-Honda MF-301 HC 3.0 V10	AUS Ret	BRA Ret	ARG Ret	SMR 7	ESP 11	MON Ret	CAN Ret	FRA 16	GBR 6	AUT 5	GER 6	HUN 9	BEL 2	ITA 3	LUX Ret	JPN Ret				10th	14
1999	Winfield WilliamsF1	Williams FW21	Supertec FB01 3.0 V10	AUS 3	BRA 4	SMR Ret	MON Ret	ESP 5	CAN 4	FRA 4	GBR 3	AUT Ret	GER 4	HUN 9	BEL 5	ITA 2	EUR 4	MAL Ret	JPN 5				6th	35
2000	BMW WilliamsF1 Team	Williams FW22	BMW E41 3.0 V10	AUS 3	BRA 5	SMR Ret	GBR 4	ESP 4	EUR Ret	MON Ret	CAN 14	FRA 5	AUT 14	GER 7	HUN 5	BEL 3	ITA 3	USA Ret	JPN Ret	MAL Ret			5th	24
2001	BMW WilliamsF1 Team	Williams FW23	BMW P80 3.0 V10	AUS Ret	MAL 5	BRA Ret	SMR 1	ESP Ret	AUT Ret	MON Ret	CAN 1	EUR 4	FRA 2	GBR Ret	GER 1	HUN 4	BEL 7	ITA 3	USA Ret	JPN 6			4th	49
2002	BMW WilliamsF1 Team	Williams FW24	BMW P82 3.0 V10	AUS Ret	MAL 1	BRA 2	SMR 3	ESP 11	AUT 4	MON 3	CAN 7	EUR 4	GBR 8	FRA 5	GER 3	HUN 3	BEL 5	ITA Ret	USA 16	JPN 11			4th	42
2003	BMW WilliamsF1 Team	Williams FW25	BMW P83 3.0 V10	AUS 8	MAL 4	BRA 7	SMR 4	ESP 5	AUT 6	MON 4	CAN 2	EUR 1	FRA 1	GBR 9	GER Ret	HUN 4	ITA Inj	USA Ret	JPN 12				5th	58
2004	BMW WilliamsF1 Team	Williams FW26	BMW P84 3.0 V10	AUS 4	MAL Ret	BHR 7	SMR 7	ESP 6	MON 10	EUR Ret	CAN DSQ	USA Ret	FRA Inj	GBR Inj	GER Inj	HUN Inj	BEL Inj	ITA Inj	CHN Ret	JPN 2	BRA 5		9th	24
2005	Panasonic Toyota Racing	Toyota TF105 Toyota TF105B	Toyota RVX-05 3.0 V10	AUS 12	MAL 5	BHR 4	SMR 9	ESP 4	MON 6	EUR Ret	CAN 6	USA PO	FRA 7	GBR 8	GER 6	HUN 3	TUR 12	ITA 6	BEL 7	BRA 8	JPN 8	CHN 3	6th	45
2006	Panasonic Toyota Racing	Toyota TF106 Toyota TF106B	Toyota RVX-06 2.4 V8	BHR 14	MAL 8	AUS 3	SMR 9	EUR Ret	ESP Ret	MON 8	GBR Ret	CAN Ret	USA Ret	FRA 4	GER 9	HUN 6	TUR 7	ITA 15	CHN Ret	JPN 7	BRA Ret		10th	20
2007	Panasonic Toyota Racing	Toyota TF107	Toyota RVX-07 2.4 V8	AUS 8	MAL 15	BHR 12	ESP Ret	MON 16	CAN 8	USA Ret	FRA 10	GBR Ret	EUR Ret	HUN 6	TUR 12	ITA 15	BEL 10	JPN Ret	CHN Ret	BRA 11			16th	5

External links

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

References

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 Driver 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)