Michael Schumacher had won his first two titles with Benetton. And during his first title campaign in 1994, Schumacher had an intense rivalry with 1996 world champion Damon Hill.
So much so that their title challenge went till the last day of the season. And it had a very controversial end, where Schumacher collided with him and made the Briton airborne while the latter was cruising towards his first title victory.
Both cars took significant damage, and they had to retire from the race. Ultimately, the German race driver fetched his maiden world title with a point difference. So, in a way, Schumacher denied Hill an early F1 success.
Also read: When Michael Schumacher Amazed Ferrari By Deducting Almost 2 Seconds From Fastest Time Records
Damon Hill gives tribute to Michael Schumacher
Almost 15 years after that incident, Hill appeared to be driving Schumacher’s 1994 Benetton during the Goodwood speed festival. The remarkable event happened during its 2019 edition.
However, Hill recently retweeted his picture driving that car. He captioned it as a tribute to his long-term rival Schumacher. The seven-time world champion gave their first glorious era to the Enstone-based team.
Here’s a tribute to @schumacher #f1 https://t.co/uB3Xvnd2vU
— Damon Hill (@HillF1) January 22, 2023
In 1995, Schumacher again won the title with Benetton before leaving for Ferrari. The same outfit in Renault saw a similar title-winning era when Fernando Alonso was driving with them.
Back then, the Spaniard dethroned the Ferrari legend as the world’s best driver by dominating the next two years after the Ferrari dominance era at the start of the 2000s.
He is there
Hill remembered Schumacher because the 91 Grand Prix race winner has been out of public sight since 2013 after his horrific ski accident in the Swiss Alps. His family doesn’t prefer the media to have access to him in this situation, and only selective people are allowed near him.
Therefore, there has been little public knowledge about the Ferrari legend since then. However, a few people who have managed to visit them give limited information on how he is doing, which has been sufficient for his fans.
Only in 2022 were the Schumachers open about discussing the former F1 driver’s situation. His wife, Corrina Schumacher, spoke about him to the media during the Netflix docu-series for the first time. She said that he is different, but he is there.
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