Date of birth - 3rd January 1969
Country - Germany
Team - Ferrari

Michael Schumacher started his racing, as so many others, with karts and was obviously helped by the fact that his parents ran the Kerpen circuit. His karting career was successful and soon he moved into the German Formula Konig series.

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Michael moved up to Formula 3 in 1989 following the success he had in his first season with cars. In his first year he finished runner-up in the German series. He stayed one more season which allowed him to win both The German and the Macau title and this is where the battle between himself and Mika Hakkinen started.

Schumacher and his 1989 rival and fellow countryman Heinz-Harald Frentzen, among others, were chosen to represent the Mercedes Junior Team in the 1990 World Sports Car.
By the way; Heinz-Harald's girlfriend at that time is now Michael Schumacher's wife.
Instead of moving to the F3000 series he stayed for a second season of World Sports Cars in 1991. While he was in Japan for this series he decided to have a go at F3000 and so raced in his first ever F3000 race, coming second. This caught the attention of Eddie Jordan who decided to give Schumy a run in Formula One.

He debuted in Belgium in 1991 where he qualified 7th but retired on the first lap.

He was promptly bought by Benetton and closed off the season with them. In his first season in the top formula of racing he finished in the points 3 times. He won his first race in 1992 and the rest, as they say, is history.

Finishing third in the 2005 season was pretty poor and he seems to have lost motivation as well as a superior car. With a new partner in Felipe Massa we hope to see him mounting a serious challenge against the new champion Fernando Alonso.

By: Marvyn H