Formula 1: A marshal whispers in Schumacher's ear that he is world champion

Michael Schumacher rumbles across the lawn in his Benetton Renault, the right front wheel touches the wall. The then 25-year-old drove the car back onto the asphalt despite the bent suspension. Damon Hill comes from behind. The Brit sees his chance. “If you go into the last race one point behind Michael, that puts you in a situation where you could lose everything,” he says – after he lost everything and Michael Schumacher won everything.

When he tries to somehow push past the Benetton on the inside, the German is completely against the Brit in the Williams. Schumacher's right rear wheel and Hill's left front wheel touch each other, the Benetton lifts off to the side and for a moment only runs on two wheels, the right side high in the air. He crashes back onto the ground and ends up in the tire stacks. The end for Schumacher. Hill brings his Williams to the pits and it doesn't go any further. The wheel suspension is broken.

Schumacher, between the spectators and the barrier fence, hears the news whispered in his ear by a marshal. “I didn’t know anything anymore, I didn’t know whether I should be happy, all my feelings were totally mixed up,” Michael Schumacher said later. “It was terrible out there, but it was indescribable when it was finally confirmed.”

In the “Tagesschau” in the evening, the speaker read: “Michael Schumacher is the first German world champion in Formula 1. The 25-year-old secured the title at the Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide this morning.” The car manufacturer solved the problem at the best breakfast time in the country Schumacher finally ended a year-long Formula 1 hysteria, with full ranks on German circuits, at times two home Grand Prix and top ratings on TV.

“Nothing in the German motorsport world and in some cases even in the entire German automotive world was the same after Michael’s first Formula 1 World Championship title win,” remembers long-time former Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug: “From follower to main actor overnight – that had hands and feet.”

Bow of the record world champion

Schumacher's showdown in the first world championship piece also exemplifies the career of the seven-time champion: tough, uncompromising, controversial. “Michael is one of the legends in our sport. When you grow up loving motorsport there are certain people you always look up to and there is no doubt that Michael was an absolute role model for every young driver. “His speed, his work ethic, his determination and consistency – the length of his career and his top performances can only be admired,” writes Lewis Hamilton in a letter in the new illustrated book “World Champion Car Michael Schumacher”.

The Briton was nine years old at the time, he is now 39 and, like Schumacher, now 55, is a seven-time world champion. After the 2012 season, he replaced Schumacher at Mercedes, and next year he will – like Schumacher, who has not appeared in public since his skiing accident at the end of 2013 and the severe traumatic brain injury he suffered – will work for Ferrari drive.

And Hamilton also knows the other side of Michael Schumacher, the side that he always kept under wraps away from the race tracks until his serious skiing accident: his private side. “When it comes to Michael’s legacy, however, for me he is more important as a person than as a competitor. It's not about titles or trophies, but about the family that Corinna and he founded together.” The size, the modesty and the sincerity of the two Schumacher children Gina and Mick would say much more about Michael's values, “than I do it ever could,” Hamilton explained.

But Schumacher showed no mercy on the racetrack. His fight with Hill in 1994 is one of the legendary duels in Formula 1 history. And for several reasons. There was the rebellion of a private team against the big racing teams. “Benetton was a T-shirt manufacturer,” said then-team boss Flavio Briatore. According to the busy Italian, it was a catastrophe for Formula 1 managing director Bernie Ecclestone and the then World Automobile Federation President Max Mosley that Benetton won. Benetton's opponents ultimately had names like Williams, McLaren and Ferrari.

Scandals, discussions and many victories

“Discussions about irregularities in his Benetton B194, rumors about illegal traction control, the confiscation of the electronics box including the FIA ​​ruling on certain parts of the source code, rule changes, a modified fuel filler neck filter that caused his teammate Jos Verstappen's fire accident in Hockenheim, two disqualifications in Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps and a ban for two race weekends,” says Michael Schumacher Homepage: “All of this is eating away at Michael, the reputation of his team and his chances of winning the title. Instead of 16 races, he can only collect points in twelve races.”

Schumacher wins eight of them, in the end he has 92 points, Hill 91 points. And that despite the fact that he was on the verge of resigning. The accidental death of Ayrton Senna and the equally fatal accident of the Austrian Roland Ratzenberger on the merciless Imola race weekend had affected him too much. “I dealt with death very intensively and asked myself what Formula 1 and racing could still mean to me,” said Schumacher, who won the race in Imola.

With Senna's death, Hill remembers, he slipped into the role of team leader. From that moment on, the World Cup became a battle between him and the young German Benetton driver. And from second place on the grid, Schumacher took the lead straight after the start in Adelaide, past Hill's Williams team-mate Nigel Mansell. Hill also overtook Mansell and the World Championship rivals were now one behind the other at the top. “It became an intense private duel between us for fame,” recalls Hill.

The Briton didn't see the German's contact with the boards, but he had the chance to attack Schumacher in the aforementioned 36th lap. With the bad ending for Hill: “A mix of emotions went through my head: despair, pride and a strange relief that this bitter-sweet season was over.” There was no anger at Schumacher.

The car was a little out of control after he hit the wall, he said. “The next thing I know, I was in the air and looking at Damon.” Schumacher said he would have preferred to win the race first: “But that’s racing.”