Rain is often known as the ‘great equalizer’ in F1 as it gives drivers racing for some of the slower teams a chance to compete with the frontrunners. However, rain also helps separate the elite champions from the rest of the crowd, as not all drivers can manage the treacherous conditions.
Champions like Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, James Hunt, and Niki Lauda were all masters in wet conditions at any track. And just like them, the 1990s saw the rise of Michael Schumacher, who usurped their legacy as the rain specialist in F1.
On May 11th, 1997, the German driver won his first Monaco GP for Ferrari, and it was quite a dominant victory, considering the chaos that unfolded in treacherous conditions in the Principality. The weather quickly changed before the race started—with temperatures going down from 31 degrees to 13 degrees Celsius—and the heavens opened up.
Naturally, there was confusion among the teams, with some like Williams hoping that the weather would improve. Both Williams cars of Jacques Villeneuve—who was Schumacher’s title rival that year—and Heinz-Harald Frentzen were on dry tires while the leading Ferrari was on the intermediates.
It was quite obvious that Schumacher was going to have a massive edge in rainy conditions. That’s how it unfolded with the Williams falling back. However, the German was miles faster than the rest of the field, as he showed his class in the wet while his rivals crashed, struggled, and retired behind him.
In rain-affected Grands Prix, keeping their nose clean is quite important for drivers to have a chance of scoring points. You’ve got to finish to have any chance of fighting for the win. Schumacher did just that. But the margin at which he was pulling away was mind-boggling.
A 6.6-second lead at the end of the opening lap, 22 seconds after lap five, and 27 seconds after lap seven—Schumacher was flying in the Ferrari as no one else had the pace to even come close to him! He even lapped Villeneuve before the Canadian’s early retirement from the race.
28 years ago today, Michael Schumacher did this in Monaco:
• Won by 53s
• Lapped everyone up to P4
• 15s lead after 3 laps
• 27s lead after 7 laps
• Lapped title rival Villeneuve before he retiredThis was the only race in 1997 that a driver led from start to finish pic.twitter.com/4Wk95lsmo5
— Daniel Valente ️ (@F1GuyDan) May 11, 2025
In fact, the German legend lapped everyone in the field until fourth-placed Oliver Panis, who had jumped up the order as cars crashed and retired at regular intervals, but still finished over 1 minute and 44 seconds behind. Eventually, there were only 10 classified finishers while Schumacher finished P1 by over 53 seconds.
Behind him, was his future Ferrari teammate, Rubens Barrichello, along with his then-teammate Irvine completing the podium. However, the gaps between them and the number of lapped and retired cars in this Monaco GP reflect how good Schumacher was in the wet, and this was one of the first races when his god-like ability in treacherous conditions was put to test.
While the 1996 Spanish GP win in Barcelona—which was also his first win in red—did showcase how the German driver could blitzkrieg the field to triumph in torrential rain, Monaco 1997 was a redemption for his opening lap crash in ’96 at the same track. So, it was this race 28 years ago when he started to live up to the moniker of ‘Regenmeister’, which meant Rainmaster in German.
