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Michael Schumacher , born January 3, 1969, in Hürth Hermülheim, near Cologne, Germany), nicknamed "Schumi"and "Schu", is a former Formula One driver, and seven-time world champion. According to the official Formula One web site, he is statistically the greatest driver the sport has ever seen, He is the first German to win the F1 World championship and the world's first billionaire athlete, with an annual salary reported to be around $80 million in 2004. In a 2006 FIA survey Michael Schumacher was voted the most popular driver with F1 fans.

Schumacher currently holds nearly every record in Formula One, including most drivers' championships, race victories, fastest laps, pole positions, and most races won in a single season. Schumacher was the senior driver of Formula One in 2006, and he was for many years the president of the Grand Prix Drivers Association.

On September 10, 2006, after winning the Italian Grand Prix, Schumacher announced his retirement as a driver. It was revealed on 29 October 2006 that Schumacher will act as assistant to the newly appointed CEO Jean Todt for the 2007 Formula One Season in particular scouting for new drivers.

Early years

Schumacher is the son of Rolf, a bricklayer who ran the local kart track in Kerpen for a second job. His mother Elizabeth[11] worked in the canteen.[1] He began kart racing at the age of four and a half, using a homemade kart built by his father. It was nothing more than a pedal-kart that had been fitted with a motorcycle engine. He quickly mastered the vehicle, winning his first kart championship at the age of six. Schumacher's prodigious talents were noted by his parents, but they did not have the financial means to support them. Instead, they had to rely upon the generosity and sponsorship of a few affluent people who also saw the potential of their son.

From 1984 Schumacher won numerous German and European kart championships, including the Formula Konig Series. By 1987 he was the German and European kart champion, at which point he withdrew from school and began working as a mechanic. In 1988 Schumacher raced in the Formula Ford series and competed in the German Formula 3 series for the next two years, winning the title in 1990. Towards the end of 1990 he joined the Mercedes junior racing programme in the World Sports-Prototype Championship, gaining a victory at the season finale at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in a Sauber-Mercedes C11 and finishing fifth in the drivers championship. He continued with the team into the 1991 season, winning again at the season finale, this time at Autopolis in Japan with a Sauber-Mercedes C291, finishing ninth in the drivers championship. He also briefly competed in the Japanese Formula 3000 Championship and the German Touring Car Championship in the early 1990s.

[edit] Formula One career

Schumacher has been noted throughout his career for his ability to produce fast laps at crucial moments in a race, his ability to push his car to the very limit, and for his driving abilities in wet conditions. Wet conditions are often thought of as the great equalizer in Formula One racing, where driver skills trump all else. Some of Schumacher's best performances occurred in such conditions, earning him the title "Regenkönig" (rain king) or "Regenmeister" (rain master). He is also referred to as the Red Baron, both because of his red Ferrari, and also in reference to the German World War One fighter pilot Manfred von Richthofen.

He is credited with popularising Formula One in Germany, where it had little following and was generally considered a fringe sport. The year Schumacher retired from Formula One, three of the top ten drivers were German, more than any other nationality and more than has ever been present in Formula One history. BMW Sauber test driver Sebastian Vettel has said that Schumacher was key in opening doors for young German drivers in Formula One.

Schumacher made his Formula One debut with the Jordan-Ford team at the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix as a replacement driver for the imprisoned Bertrand Gachot. Schumacher was signed by Eddie Jordan after the young German performed impressively at a Silverstone test the week before the race, and his manager Willie Weber assured Jordan that he had vast experience at the challenging Spa circuit, despite the fact that he had only been around the track once on a bicycle. Schumacher impressed the paddock by qualifying seventh in his first competition in an F1 car, matching the team's season-best grid position, and out-qualifying his team mate, Andrea de Cesaris, an 11-year veteran. He retired on the first lap of the race with clutch problems.

Awards

Michael Schumacher won the coveted Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award in 2002 and 2004 for his outstanding performance in the 2001 and 2003 seasons respectively. In its 7-year history, noone has been nominated more times than Schumacher, who also received nominations for the 2001, 2003 and 2005 awards.