Ralf Schumacher

Birthdate: June 30th 1975   Country: Germany   Gender: M

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History: 1991 -  First in the NRW Kart Trophy. 1992 -  Second in the German Kart Championship; Second in his first car race, BMW ADAC Formula Junior, Norisring (D). 1993 -  Second in the BMW ADAC Formula Junior; Test drives and first Formula 3 race, Team WTS. 1994 -  Third in the German Formula 3 Championship after J�rg M�ller (D) and Alexander Wurz (A) 1995 -  Second in the German Formula 3 Championship after Norberto Fontana (ARG);First in the Macao Formula 3 Grand Prix; Invited by the Le Mans team to test a Formula Nippon in Suzuka in November, followed by an offer for the 1996 season. 1996 -  First in the All Nippon Japanese F3000 Championship, two winsSecond in the Japanese GT Championship, three wins (McLaren F1 GTR powered by a BMW V12)First Formula One test in Silverstone (McLaren Mercedes)Signed contract with the Jordan Team for the 1997 Formula One World Championship. 1997 -  11th in the FIA Formula One World Championship, Jordan, best result third place in Buenos Aires (ARG). 1998 -  10th in the FIA Formula One World Championship, Jordan, best result second place in Spa (B). 1999 -  6th in the FIA Formula One World Championship, Williams F1, best result second place in Monza (I). 2000 -  5th in the FIA Formula One World Championship, BMW Williams F1 Team, best results third place in Melbourne (AUS), Spa (B) and Monza (I). 2003 -  Formula 1: BMW Williams F1, 5th, 58 points (2 wins, 3 podium finishes, 3 pole position, 1 fastest lap) 2004 -  Formula 1: BMW Williams F1, 9th, 24 points ( 1 podium finish, 1 pole position)

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Ralf Schumacher is one of Formula one’s most intriguing enigmas. The Brother of the seven time world champion can be as lightning quick as his brother on some occasions, or as slow as a dog on others. Whatever the reason Ralf has unfortunately become known only as Michael Schumacher Jr. to the occasional formula one fan in recent years.

Born seven years after his brother, Michael was already making a name for himself when Ralf was starting his Karting career, and Ralf was desperate to avoid the shadows of his brother. Despite some great seasons in German F3, Ralf decided to go east in 1996, all the way east to Japan and the Formula Nippon series, which he promptly took home the championship. His efforts didn’t go unnoticed and he managed to get a test drive with McLaren at Silverstone. He didn’t impress enough to usurp Mika Hakkinen or David Coulthard, but he did get a ride in F1 with Jordan for 1997.

Ralf’s first year with Jordan was a tumultuous one. He and fellow rookie teammate Giancarlo Fisichella showed all sorts of speed, but had a habit of crashing their cars, which failed to impress other team owners. Ralf was extremely quick, which showed by him getting his first podium in only his third race in Argentina, in a race he would have had a chance at victory had he not made a silly mistake and collided with his teammate. However Eddie Jordan kept faithful with Ralf and at the end of 1997 he announced that Ralf would be back, but this time with an experienced teammate, Damon Hill, a pairing that would be invaluable to Ralf’s career.

Moving into 1998, Ralf was still fighting against the fact that his brother happened to have been a Formula one star. The young Schumacher was a lot steadier in 1998, and climbed on the podium twice, in Belgium and Italy. However inconsistency still was a problem for Ralf and he only scored a handful of points apart form his two podiums. However the 23 year old this time got some interest from Frank Williams, who had found himself without drivers for 1999 having seen Jacques Villeneuve and Heinz-Harald Frentzen bugger off after a disappointing 1998 season for Williams. Frank decided to sign up Ralf Schumacher and CART champion Alex Zanardi?. A pairing that looked to be a good duo on paper; however there were still cynics in the media that were unsure of Ralf.

1999 would silence Ralf’s critics. His Williams was a decidedly average car, but he managed to score 35 points, including a second place at Monza, and absolutely destroy Zanardi in all aspects. While Ralf scored 35 points, Zanardi had a measely one point, and Williams finished fifth in the constructors championship, their lowest result in many, many years. Williams were well behind Ralf’s old team, Jordan, as well as the Stewart team, who had a surprisingly good year. Ralf’s stock was rising, the words “future world champion” were being attatched to his name on the eve of the 2000 season. Ralf would be paired with another relative newcomer for that season at Williams, Jenson Button. Again Ralf asserted himself as team leader and scored three podiums in an unreliable Williams and with an unreliable yet powerful BMW engine. Things were looking real good for Ralf going into 2001, and he was given a tough test with his new teammate, hotshot Juan-Pablo Montoya, another rookie but a real blue-chip driver in the eyes of many.

Ralf and Juan-Pablo were evenly matched and the Williams was an exceptional car. The team was finally competitive again and Ralf scored Williams' first F1 win since 1997 with his maiden victory at Imola. Williams scored four wins that year, three of them going to Ralf. He followed up his Imola triumph with wins in Montreal and in his home race at Hockenheim, the latter being aided by the incredibly powerful BMW engines. Williams followed these wins up with a 1-3 finish at Monza, this time it was Montoya who took the victory. Things were looking good for Ralf. In a Ferrari dominated season, he finished fourth in the championship and took three wins. He outscored Juan-Pablo 49-31 and it was becoming clear that he was the Williams team leader. Speculation had it that if Williams was to win a World Championship in the next few years it would be Schumacher to take the crown. The moniker of “future world champion” next to Ralf’s name was stronger than ever.

Things looked good at the start of 2002. Ralf took victory in the second race of the season in Malaysia and it seemed as though this may be his year. However Ferrari and his brother Michael took over the season from there dominating all year. Williams and McLaren were left scrapping for podiums. Ralf managed six podiums that year, but lost out on points to Montoya 44-42. Williams however surpassed McLaren for second in the constructor’s championship and it appeared that if Williams produced a winning chassis there could be a Prost-Senna type team rivalry. The now mature and stable Schumacher paired with the hotheaded Latin driver Montoya was a great combination for BMW-Williams going into 2003 when the Williams was finally a real championship contender once again.

2003 was a season of highs and lows for Ralf Schumacher and Williams. A poor start saw him fall behind his teammate, despite more consistency. Juan-Pablo emerged as a new contender at the start of the season and Ralf was left a bit behind. But 28 points in three midseason races, including back to back victories at the Nurburgring and in France put Ralf squarely in the fight for the driver’s championship ahead of his teammate. But after these three successive podiums things all went a bit pear shaped for Ralf. He had bad luck in Britain, and was then involved in a first corner accident with Rubens Barrichello at Hockenheim, and suddenly Ralf’s championship was dissolving before his eyes. This was compounded when he was injured in testing at Monza and had to miss the Italian GP. Ralf never recovered and watched Montoya emerge as a championship contender, only to blow it at Indy. Williams finished second again as Ralf saw his team leadership be dealt a severe blow. This was not helped by infighting within the team that resulted in Montoya signing for McLaren for 2005 and Ralf being severely disillusioned at the whole process.
 
Signs were pointing to Ralf’s inconsistency throughout 2003. He only managed to score three podiums, and he was simply off the pace in some races. 2004 was a tumultuous year for Williams and Ralf. It had been clear that Frank Williams was no longer happy with Ralf. He had been pointed as a source of the team’s infighting, and Ralf and Juan-Pablo seemed unmotivated at start of the season, especially since Montoya was leaving at the end of the year.

2004 was one of the hardest seasons in Ralf’s career. Right from the start it was clear that the walrus nose Williams FW26 was a flop and Williams, along with the rest of the field were being blown away by the big red machine. Ralf was struggling. He was off the pace and distant and his car was a flop. Things seemed to be going right for him when he took pole in Montreal and finished second, only to have it stripped because his brake ducts were too big. Ralf was demoralized and signs pointed to his exit. This all went wrong for Ralf at the US Grand Prix where a tire blowout at 300 kmph at the high speed final turn resulted in Ralf go smashing into the wall, breaking vertebrae. Ralf would be sidelined for six races and in the meantime it was announced that he had signed with Toyota for 2005. Ralf returned for the inaugural Chinese Grand Prix, but it appeared his motivation was waning and he voluntarily retired after a puncture, against the wishes of his bosses Patrick Head and Frank Williams. The only high points of Ralf’s season was his second place after qualifying second at the Japanese GP, and Williams topped it off with Montoya’s Win at the season-ending Brazilian GP, Ralf was fifth.

2005 looked to be a new beginning. He had quit Williams after six years and had joined a rejuvenated Toyota team. However Ralf has struggled and been overshadowed by his teammate Jarno Trulli, who has been on the podium three times. Ralf still has the potential to be World Champion at the age of 30, but he’ll have to keep his head on straight and not get demoralized. If there is work for him, he has many years in F1 left, but when you are the younger brother of the most successful driver in the history of F1, then it’s hard to shed that shadow and the accusation that you’re riding your name to success. Ralf got off to a slow start in 2005 even in a much improved Toyota. His teammate, Jarno Trulli, scored three podiums in the first five races, the first three podims in Toyota's history. At midseason Jarno was comfortably ahead of Ralf but things turned around. Ralf had struggled in qualifying at the start of the season, but by the middle of the year he was pulling himself up the grid, and finally got on thepodium in Hungary. He was rapidly closing the points gulf to Trulli and by the end of the year he was clearly the faster driver, taking pole in Japan and finishing third in China, to overtake Trulli in the standings, 45-43. Toyota's good form of 2005 however has not repeated itself so far in 2006, although Ralf did get on the podium in Australia. Toyota are struggling, but Ralf Schumacher has had the measure of Trulli, scoring all 8 of Toyota's points and it looks as though the old Ralf Schumacher may not be gone just yet.


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Statistics

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Statistic	#	Percentage	First	Last
Number of Grand Prix	180	100%	1997	2007
Number of starts	180	100.00%	1997	2007
Number of finishes	121	67.22%	1997	2007
Number of finishes on podium	27	15.00%	1997	2006
Number of finishes in points	90	50.00%	1997	2007
Number of retirements	59	32.78%	1997	2007
Number of wins	6	3.33%	2001	2003
Number of pole positions	6	3.33%	2001	2005
Number of fastest laps	7	3.89%	1999	2005
Number of doubles (pole position & win)	1	0.56%	2003	2003

Seasons:	11 (1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007)
Leading:	27 times during 404 laps in 21 Grand Prix with a total of 1954.961 Km
Points:	329 (Average per start: 1.83)
	Points per season - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 13 14 35 24 49 42 58 24 45 20 5 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Team:	Benson and Hedges Total Jordan Peugeot (1997), Benson and Hedges Total Jordan (1998), Winfield Williams F1 (1999), BMW Williams F1 (2000), BMW Williams F1 (2001), BMW Williams F1 Team (2002), BMW WilliamsF1 Team (2003), BMW WilliamsF1 Team (2004), Panasonic Toyota Racing (2005), Panasonic Toyota Racing (2006), Panasonic Toyota Racing (2007)
Chassis:	Jordan 197 (1997), Jordan 198 (1998), Williams FW21 (1999), Williams FW22 (2000), Williams FW23 (2001), Williams FW23B (2001), Williams FW24 (2002), Williams FW25 (2003), Williams FW26 (2004), Toyota TF105 (2005), Toyota TF106 (2006), Toyota TF107 (2007)
Engine:	Peugeot 3.0 V10 (1997), Mugen-Honda 3.0 V10 (1998), Supertec 3.0 V10 (1999), BMW E41 (2000), BMW P80 (2001), BMW P82 (2002), BMW P83 (2003), BMW P84 (2004), Toyota RVX-05 (2005), Toyota RVX-06 (2006), Toyota RVX-07 (2007)