"May you live in interesting times"… a Chinese proverb.If you are a motor sports fan, you have been really fortunate to have lived in the same era as the greatest son of the sport. The site http://www.mschumacher.comis dedicated to the most successful F1 driver ever.The site is complete with his biography, sporting achievements & of course pictures of Schumacher in his Ferrari.Born on 3rd of July 1969 in Hurth-Hermulheim (Germany), this son of ahumble bricklayer was already laying foundations for his exceptionaldriving skills at a tender age of four and a half, using a homemadekart built by his father Rolf. Schumacher got his first break in F1 inthe 1991 season. After just one race for the team, Schumacher was luredaway by rivals Benetton. He claimed his maiden victory with BenettonFord in the Belgian Grand Prix starting from third place, beating NigelMansell who started from Pole. Schumacher won his first World Championship in 1994 with Benetton. Inthis season, Schumacher alone contributed 92 points of the total 103points earned by the Benetton Ford team. After winning back-to-backchampionship titles for Benetton in 1994 & 95, in 1996 Schumachermoved from Benetton to Ferrari. The move was risky as Ferrari in 1996was hardly the formidable team it is today, it was not even considereda title contender. The association with Ferrari started the golden period of Schumacher’scareer, which resulted in 5 memorable world titles. This was also theperiod of legendary battle for championship between Schumacher &Mika Häkkinen. In Häkkinen, Schumacher found a worthy foe, someonewhose driving abilities he respected. Whenever the rivals met, thelevel of game went up several notches, providing some of the mostentertaining races of all time. Accused many a times of unsportsman like behavior, controversies &Schumacher have never been far apart. Schumacher won his first worldtitle after a collision with Damon Hill in the last race of the season.
Damon hill would have been the champion if the collision hadn’t forcedhim to retire. In 2002 Austrian GP, team mate Rubens Barrichello therace leader was given the team orders to let Schumacher pass, to givehim points advantage in championship. The move was very unpopular withthe media and the fans alike and did more harm to Schumacher’s imagethan any of his previous controversial wins. This subsequently led to aban on all such team orders in future. So one wonders why many consider Schumacher to be the greatest F1champion ever? His greatness lies in his ability to think on the spot& execute team strategies, to perfection. There have been countlesstimes when Schumacher has won races against odds and against carsconsidered to be superior to his own. Many a times we have seen him putin conservative laps when stuck behind fast cars. Put in someblistering laps when given an open track, pit later than thecompetition and come out as the race leader. This ability toconsistently churn out lightening quick laps almost on demand has beena Schumacher trademark that has been rarely seen in any other driver.Schumacher the ‘Rain Master’ never failed to take full advantage of thewet conditions, coming up from rear of the field to obliterate thecompetition. The illustrious career of this great driver came to an end when onSeptember 10 2006, after winning the Italian Grand Prix, Schumacherannounced his retirement as a driver. Schumacher retired as the mostsuccessful driver in history with 7 world championships. Will anyone be able to fill the void left by Schumacher…only time will tell.