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If you subscribe to the maxim that “it matters not who won or lost, but how you played the game” then you may be one of the people who describe the unequaled F1 career of Michael Schumacher with an appreciation that is always suffixed with a balance-redressing “yes but…”.

As Dr. Frasier Crane so delicately put it: “What is the one thing better than an exquisite meal? An exquisite meal with one tiny flaw we can pick at all night.” So here, to help fuel the night’s discussion, are a few recollections of Schumacher’s brilliant, if controversial career.

Debut

F1 careers are typically short enough that the casual observer will have seen drivers come and go after only a couple of seasons, so Herr Schumacher’s 15 year career is a feat in itself.

His 1991 debut began with a promising qualifying performance in Spa, but the clutch on his Jordan wasn’t up to the job and he retired on the first lap of his first race.

One year later, in a Benetton Ford, Schumacher won his first race during the 1992 season.

1994 World Champion

Schumacher’s first championship win came in 1994. The history books might have been very different if Ayrton Senna had not been killed in the third race of the season. The triple world champion was arguably in an equal car, and few would argue that Senna (who was then the most experienced driver in F1) was favourite to take the title. The disarray of the Williams team after Senna’s death was to Schumacher’s advantage: he extended his good start to the season and took 66 points from the first 7 races.

As the 1994 season climaxed, Williams second driver Damon Hill had closed the gap to just 1 point. The last race of the season was in Australia, and I vividly remember getting up at an insane hour to watch the race with my housemates at Plymouth Uni. When Schumacher hit the wall, we cheered. Hill was, after all, a British driver in a British car, so naturally we’d taken sides.

What we saw next was to colour my opinion of Schumacher throughout his career. As Hill attempted to pass Schumacher, their cars collided. To us, it looked like Schumacher had intentionally tried to drive Hill off the circuit (because if they both didn’t finish, Schumacher would win the title).

A remarkably similar situation had occurred between Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna in Suzuka 1989 and again in 1990, so it’s not as though F1 had not seen it’s share of professional fouls, but Schumacher singled himself out for special consideration by clinching his first title amid such controversy.

1995 - World Championship Domination

In stark contrast to the 1994 season, Schumacher was a convnicing victor in 1995. His car was certainly not the class of the field, but his racing certainly was; perhaps due to the significant changes in the regulations following the deaths of Senna and Ratzenberger, it was Schumacher who adapted best to the new regulations. Schumacher’s took nine wins compared to Hill’s four, despite Hill driving into Schumacher taking both of them off, on several occasions.

1996 - The Ferrari Wilderness

After the glory of 1995, Michael Schumacher scored only three wins against Damon Hill’s eight. Hill’s main rival for points was his teammate Jaques Villeneuve, who was next in line to be Schumacher’s prime adversary.

1997 - Bumper Cars, Again!

The 1997 season again went down to the wire, but this time it was Schumacher and Villeneuve battling over the championship in the last race (uncharacteristically this was the European Grand Prix in Jerez). The FIA found Schumacher guilty of intentionally driving into Villeneuve’s car.

1998 - Rain Master

Possibly my favourite clip, but to understand why, you have to read a little into the subject.

We are repeatedly told by time-filling commentators and pundits that Schumacher is “known as the rain master“. They even say it in German (”Regenmeister”) just to make sure we get it into our thick skulls just how this is an internationally held opinion. This clip, which shows Herr Schumacher remodeling his Ferrari into a rather fetching canoe, says otherwise.

Naturally had either of the drivers been injured it would be a different story and not at all funny, but this is a fantastic example of driver error (and when the driver is as good as Schumacher, and when he loses the plot so spectacularly afterwards, the memory is so much sweeter). Storming off the the Williams garage to confront David Coulthard was possibly the silliest thing he did in his entire career.

The pictures do clearly show that Schumacher drove into the back of Coulthard. The Stewards Enquiry also exonerated the Scot. As Jim Royle would say “Rain master my arse”.

That’s how history might have remembered it if Coulthard hadn’t admitted responsibility for the crash several years later, saying: “I lifted to let him pass me, but I lifted in heavy spray on the racing line. You should never do that. I would never do that now.”

The season was won by Mika Hakkinen (Coulthard’s team mate at McLaren): Schumacher came a close second, 14 points adrift.

1999 - Crash at Silverstone

Ouch. The sand trap at Stowe corner fails to slow his car enough and Schumacher breaks his legs in a head on crash. Mika Hakkinen takes a second world title. In his absence Micheal’s team mate Eddie Irvine shows the increasing strength of the Ferrari team, missing the title by just two points (and under today’s points system, he’d have won it).

2000 - The Racing Line

It had started to look like Schumacher was perhaps just another F1 driver, but one with at least a good career duration. Then the potential of the Ferrari was realized by Schumacher, winning his third title, notwithstanding the fact that he was taken off in the successive Austrian and German races mid-season which allowed Mika Hakkinen to stay in contention.

In Austria Michael shows impressive presence of mind (for an evil genuis), driving his broken car back onto the racing line in what Martin Brundle considers an attempt to get the race stopped. This would enable him to use the spare car at a restart.

2001 - Utter Dominance

Nine wins. The season over with 4 races to go.

2002 - Dominance Redefined

Eleven wins. A podium finish in every single race. No retirements.

2003 - Kimi Challenges

Kimi Raikonnen pushes Schumacher all the way to the line and the championship is won by two points.

2004 - Dominance Re-Redefined

Thirteen wins. Until Monaco it looked as if Michael could possibly be going for the “perfect season” - winning every race. In Monaco, however, after Alonso crashed in the tunnel Schumacher (following the safety car) also in the tunnel.

2005 - Wilderness again

Schumacher’s only win came amid controversy when Ferrari refused to join the other teams in refusing to race at the USA F1 GP. Six cars raced. Whoopee. The Ferrari team are so desparate for points results that they refuse to join with the other teams and the result is the worst race.

2006 - Valet Parking in Monaco

In Monte Carlo Schumacher deliberately spoils the climax of qualifying by stopping his car at the Rascasse corner and compromising the fast lap of his main championship rival Fernando Alonso, who was on target to take Pole Position.

Race stewards sent Schumacher to the back of the grid. One steward commented “He lost control of the car while traveling at 16km/h.”

Racing Retirement

Michael Schumacher is unquestionably the greatest F1 driver of his generation, yet his temper may be the thing that keeps him from being considered a truly great sportsman. The record books show that Schumacher won, but they also show that he didn’t play the game with a particularly straight bat.

Perhaps, several years from now, when everyone’s had time to reflect on their F1 careers, an older Schumacher and his peers will look back on their racing, review the evidence and their own memories, and we may get a different description of some of the above events - as happened with Coulthard and the Spa crash.

Schumacher may, in time, be completely exonerated for all his misdemeanors, or he may admit to taking some actions that he would not, with greater experience, be tempted to do again. We’ll have to wait and see.