Today marks the 23rd year of Michael Schumacher’s first appearance in Ferrari F1. On this day in 1996, Ferrari launched the season challenger the F310. The launch event was a special one as than 2 times world champion Michael Schumacher was presented in the team’s color.
Photos of the event were posted on Schumacher’s official Facebook page today.
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Michael Schumacher in Ferrari
15 February 1996 marks the beginning of his 10-year journey as a driver.
Schumacher, the standing world champion ended his partnership with Benetton and joined Ferrari. He was paid a whopping sum of $60 million for a 2 year deal with the team. The partnership fulfilled 5 consecutive world driver’s championship titles starting from the year 2000. This also made Schumacher the first and only driver to date to win 7 WDC titles.
During that time, Ferrari was lagging behind the front runners. And Schumacher along with Ross Brawn, Rory Byrne, and Jean Todt are credited for their transformation to the most successful team in F1 history. Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne joined the team soon after Schumacher’s move from Benetton. Ross joined as the technical director while Byrne joined as the head designer.
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After his 1st retirement, he stayed at Ferrari as an advisor to the team for the next 3 years.
Schumacher After Ferrari
In December 2009, it was announced that Schumacher would be returning to Formula One in the 2010 season. He paired alongside fellow German driver Nico Rosberg in the new Mercedes F1 team. The driver returned to the grid after a gap of 3 years.
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His second stint wasn’t very successful. And he was consistently outperformed by his teammate Nico Rosberg. He finally parted ways from the sport at the end of the 2012 season.
Schumacher faced a life-threatening injury in December 2013 while skiing with his son Mick in the French Alps. It was reported that while passing an unsecured area he fell and hit his head on a rock, sustaining a serious head injury. And has been on life support ever since.