Description
By: Christopher Hilton .
Michael Schumacher, a man of ordinary background from an obscure small town in Germany, wanted to be a footballer. Instead, between 1991 and 2006, he destroyed every significant record in Formula 1 racing to the point where his achievements may stand forever. Along the way he grew from a slender, angular young man to a global presence, but that wasn't simply because of his seven World Championships or his unprecedented feat of making Ferrari mighty, fearsome and feared again.
He crashed – most controversially into Damon Hill for the first of those Championships, into Jacques Villeneuve battling for another and, ultimately, into the barrier at Monaco to stop a qualifying session and bring allegations foul play.
Christopher Hilton recreates Schumacher's 16-season career in a way that has never been done before. For every one of the Grands Prix he entered there is a race report and an extraordinary wealth of statistics, together with his own quotes at the time. This is set against the evolving landscape of F1 itself – rule changes, what Schumacher faced in terms of the opposition, and the historical context of his growing dominance.
Illustrated with more than 340 dramatic photographs, this book encompasses all the great days, from his astonishing debut at Spa for Irishman Eddie Jordan, via two world titles for Benetton, and right through the Ferrari years to his dignified and emotional farewell in Brazil at the end of 2006.
It also embraces the dark days – following Ayrton Senna at Imola in 1994, the crashes and a dozen other controversies, like the day he marched down the pit lane to lay hands upon David Coulthard.
Because Schumacher expressed himself through the medium of his racing, this is more than a fascinating sequence of 250 races: it becomes a valuable portrait of a man shaping his own life and reshaping Grand Prix racing as he did that.
