In the late 1990s and early 2000s, few drivers could instill fear in their rivals like Michael Schumacher. His seven World Championships placed him firmly at the pinnacle of F1 for many years. Yet, fans who have followed his career since those golden days know he’s also one of the sport’s most polarizing figures.
The former Ferrari driver was involved in several controversial moments, but none quite like the 1996 European GP in Jerez, which was also the season finale. It was the final race of Schumacher’s first season with Ferrari he was desperate to secure his first Championship with the Maranello-based outfit.
At the closing stages, Schumacher knew he needed to finish ahead of Williams’ Jacques Villeneuve. And if the Canadian failed to finish, Schumacher knew he would be crowned Champion. That’s when he drove into Villeneuve at the hairpin section of the circuit. Alas, Schumacher made a mistake.
He got the worst of the impact and was the only one to retire from the race. As such, Villeneuve was crowned the World Champion.
During the commentary, Martin Brundle famously remarked, “You’ve hit the wrong part of him, my friend,” referencing Schumacher’s prior controversial incidents, such as his 1994 collision with championship contender Damon Hill at Adelaide, which forced Hill to retire and handed Schumacher his first title.
“After the events in Jerez in 1997, we went to Norway with the whole family and friends on vacation. There were more than 30 people. We stayed there for 6 weeks. We hardly ever talked about Formula 1. We relaxed and he continued his training.” Corinna#KeepFightingMichael pic.twitter.com/GF1FRI2x7l
— Michael Schumacher (@_MSchumacher) October 26, 2024
Schumacher faced significant media criticism after his deliberate attempt to crash at the 1996 finale. In his 2020 Netflix documentary Schumacher, his wife, Corinna spoke in detail about its aftermath.
She revealed how the then two-time world champion coped with both the public backlash and the painful loss of the world championship at the same time.
“After the events in Jerez in 1997, we went to Norway with the whole family and friends on vacation,” she said. “We were more than 30 people. We stayed there for 6 weeks. We hardly ever talked about Formula 1. We relaxed and he continued his training.”
Schumacher’s team boss at the time, Ross Brawn would later insist that Schumacher had not intentionally run into Villeneuve that afternoon in Spain. Rather, it was a spur-of-the-moment change of direction, which Schumacher only realized once he had come back into the pits and seen the onboard footage from the broadcast.
Nonetheless, this showed that despite being beloved and undeniably one of the greatest, Schumacher always had controversy hanging over him.
