How Schumacher became the master of F1’s Ardennes wonder

They’re all worth the same in points, but some grands prix victories carry more intrinsic value than others for F1’s most celebrated drivers. There are certain tracks where wins have a greater meaning: Monaco, Silverstone, Monza, Suzuka – and Spa-Francorchamps.

Somehow it always seems fitting and right when the current elite shine at the tough ones, the places where Fangio, Moss, Clark, Stewart, Prost and Senna strode before them. In such context, Michael Schumacher and Spa made sense like that. It was almost as if he was made to race at the swooping track through Belgium’s Ardennes. It’s where everything all started for him in 1991, parachuted as he was into a pretty little car that had enough about it to let him show what he was made of.

After that, Schumacher didn’t win at Spa every year – not even during his Ferrari pomp – but he won there an awful lot. A record six times. And every time he rolled out of the pitlane at La Source, we expected something special to happen. That was just how it was with Schumacher and Spa.

Michael Schumacher, Benetton, 1992 Belgian GP

Photo by: Motorsport Images

1992: Remember the first time?

A year on from his landmark debut in the green Jordan 191, Schumacher returned to the scene fully established as the next big thing. There had been the controversial move directly to Benetton, followed by rapid confirmation that the debut had been no fluke. For 1992 he was armed first with the B191B, relic of the team’s short-lived John Barnard era and then, from the Spanish GP, the B192 that represented the first fruits of a box-fresh Rory Byrne/Ross Brawn union that would prove central to Schumacher’s racing life.

Not that Michael and Benetton-Ford, or Ayrton Senna and McLaren-Honda for that matter, could do anything about Nigel Mansell and his Renault-powered Williams FW14B, bristling as it was with fully operational and effective active-ride suspension, traction control and semi-automatic gearbox. Hell, the B192 was still a manual shift, never mind anything else.

By Spa, Mansell was champion, second to Senna in Hungary having sealed the deal. Schumacher’s five podiums from 11 races, including a brace of seconds, represented remarkable consistency to leave him a point shy of Senna. Now a typical wet-dry day in the Ardennes offered Michael the chance he needed to make the difference.

Mansell started from pole, but fell behind Senna early on, before he and Williams team-mate Riccardo Patrese reasserted their dominance. Then it rained. While most pitted for treaded tyres, Senna gambled on the conditions improving. They didn’t – and when Senna pitted he dropped from contention.

Now it was Schumacher’s time – but it was a blemish and a stroke of luck combined with his razor sensibilities that triggered victory. Michael, in fourth, ran off the road at Stavelot and team-mate Martin Brundle moved ahead of him. As he did, so canny Schumacher spotted the state of the other Benetton’s blistered rear tyres. In that moment he decided to stop for slicks – and that made the difference. Brundle should have dived in too, but in his excitement to lead the new ‘Wunderkind’ chose not to, while Mansell switched three laps too late. Mansell returned five seconds down, but a broken exhaust thwarted his chase. Schumacher, at the 18th time of asking, was an F1 winner.

Michael Schumacher, Benetton, Damon Hill, Williams, 1995 Belgian GP

Photo by: Motorsport Images

1995: One over the Hill

This one had it all: a rapid climb from a lowly grid slot, a knife-edge duel with his main rival, a masterclass in wet-dry racing – and questionable blocking tactics. That was Michael Schumacher. Always was, always would be.

By now a ‘Marmite’ world champion after the trauma and never-ending soap opera of 1994, Schumacher had clicked seamlessly into untouchable mode by this time. Now with the same Renault V10 power as Williams, those unruly Benetton upstarts were in the ascendency, largely because of the talisman in the #1 cockpit. Schumacher had won five grands prix before they got to Spa and held an 11-point advantage over Hill.

They were both in trouble in qualifying as the Spa weather played havoc, Hill lining up eighth and Schumacher a disastrous 16th. Yet it says much about F1 in 1995 that by lap 15 the pair were battling for the lead – and predictably, trouble was brewing. The Williams dived in for treaded Goodyears on lap 21, as Schumacher stuck to his guns on slicks – but like Senna in 1992, it appeared to backfire. Hill closed back in but, as he dived up the inside on Kemmel, surrender couldn’t have been further from Michael’s mind.

Brilliantly, he sat it out on the outside into Les Combes, then edged Hill on to the kerb on the way out. How he positioned his car to parry the Williams at every turn thereafter was outrageous – and inspired. He would likely have been pinged with a time penalty today, but back then his defence earned him a suspended race ban. The defiance went on – of course it did – but at Les Combes the next time he was forced to run wide. He never did concede.

In the end it didn’t matter. The tyre call worked in his favour as the rain stopped and Hill stopped for slicks. The weather turned again, triggering a Safety Car, but Hill was hit with a speeding penalty after his next stop and was left to salvage second after a spin. Schumacher was nearly 20 seconds up the road by then. In another world.

Michael Schumacher, Ferrari, 1996 Belgian GP

1996: Unlikely first in red

What Schumacher did concede was a Benetton world title hat-trick the moment he was tempted into a risky but well-paid rebuild job at Ferrari. With that, Damon Hill and team-mate Jacques Villeneuve had a clear path to sort the 1996 title out between themselves at Williams. But in Barnard’s ungainly F310, Michael was too good not to muscle in when opportunity knocked – even on a circuit where he was lacking a second per lap to the Williams.

The first Ferrari win, at a drenched Circuit de Catalunya, was among his best. The second, a couple of months later, came to him thanks to a Williams own-goal, although he still had to work to secure it. The race swung on a Safety Car scramble on lap 14 to clear up Jos Verstappen’s Arrows after a heavy smash. As Ferrari pitted Schumacher, Williams tried too but Villeneuve didn’t hear the call. Hill was called in, but as the team was not ready for him he was then told to stay out at late notice. Both drivers’ races were screwed and Schumacher picked up the pieces.

After all the stops had played out the race came down to a fight between Schumacher and Villeneuve. We know which one was in the quickest car – and so did they. To be fair to the French-Canadian, it was his first time at one of the most daunting circuits in F1, while Schumacher was already a proven Spa master. Schumacher held off Villeneuve by 5.602s – which he probably shouldn’t have done in that Ferrari. In all likelihood, no other driver on the grid would have managed this feat. Then of all places, he won next time out too – at Monza. Ferrari expectations were propelled into orbit.

Michael Schumacher, Ferrari, 1997 Belgian GP

Photo by: GP Racing

1997: Another gamble pays off

A year later, in the far more effective F310B, Schumacher arrived at Spa ahead of Villeneuve in the points and in the wake of world champion Hill having almost won at the Hungaroring – in an Arrows. The world had turned, although not far enough on its head at this stage for Schumacher to become a world champion in rosso corsa.

Still, at Spa he was stunning. The race marked a first for F1 when a sudden rainstorm led to the grand prix starting behind the Safety Car. After three laps the field was unleashed with Villeneuve leading Jean Alesi’s Benetton. In third was Schumacher – on intermediate Goodyears. Brave, especially at Spa.

But wow, did it pay off. Even without the deeper tread, Michael had the confidence to out-brake Alesi at La Source on the second lap of actual racing, Jean playing it clean to give him room. Then at the top of the circuit at Bruxelles later that same lap, Schumacher sliced inside Villeneuve who had no answer. The Ferrari was six seconds ahead by the end of the lap – and a dumbfounding 65s by lap 12. Yet again, another world, and no one saw Michael again that afternoon. This was four wins at Spa from seven attempts, in an F1 career heading into uncharted territory.

At the finish, Giancarlo Fisichella claimed second for Jordan and was ‘only’ 26.7s down on the winner, who had now opened up an 11-point gap on Villeneuve with five races to go. It was all looking so good as August turned to September. Instead, deflation and then the ignominy of Jerez and his failed professional foul on Villeneuve would follow. Ferrari titles had to wait. Schumacher had a storm to ride out.

Michael Schumacher, Ferrari, 2001 Belgian GP

Photo by: Motorsport Images

2001: Easy does it

The world had turned again by 2001. The aggravating monkey had been scrapped from Schumacher’s back once and for all in 2000 when he’d beaten Mika Hakkinen to his third world title and first for Ferrari, breaking the team’s 21-year duck stretching all the way to Jody Scheckter. Now already confirmed a four-time world champion with a fine win in Hungary, Schumacher was ready to stroke through the remaining four races. At Spa, the only dramas were behind him.

On lap five, Michael’s former team-mate Eddie Irvine, now nearing the end of an inglorious Jaguar swansong, nerfed Luciano Burti’s Prost off the road at the 190mph Blanchimont.

At the restart, Michael had fewer frontrunning rivals to worry about. Juan Pablo Montoya – in the rapid Williams which was becoming a threat to Ferrari’s domination – was in the midfield after stalling on pole earlier on. Michael’s brother Ralf, due to restart on the front row, found his FW23 stuck up on its jacks because of a rear wing change. He started from the back. Then Giancarlo Fisichella’s Benetton further smoothed Schumacher’s path, on a rare afternoon of decent form for a team that had fallen far, before its regeneration into Renault. The Italian streaked ahead of Rubens Barrichello’s Ferrari and the McLarens of David Coulthard and Hakkinen, held them up and enabled Schumacher to build a 20s lead. In the end, he won by 10s from Coulthard to surpass the record of 51 GP wins he shared with Alain Prost.

And on days like this, it all seemed too easy.

Michael Schumacher, Ferrari, 2002 Belgian GP

Photo by: Motorsport Images

2002: A perfect half-dozen

If the end of 1997 represented dark days for Michael Schumacher, most of 2002 was equally so – but for everyone other than the German and Ferrari. The Williams threat had receded (for now) and the F2002 was beyond reach.

Schumacher had become a five-time champion, equal to Juan Manuel Fangio, as early as July, then last time out in Hungary Barrichello had rallied admirably to take his turn and lead a 1-2 as Ferrari stroked to a fourth consecutive constructors’ title. This was getting boring now – although that was never Schumacher’s fault.

At Spa, he sat on pole position – oddly for the first time, despite the five wins and everything that had gone before at a circuit he might as well have called home. By lap 31 he was 26s ahead of Barrichello. The Hungaroring defeat? Forget it.

By the end he’d backed off and Rubens closed to within two seconds. Montoya’s Williams was more than 18s further back. The victory marked Schumacher’s 10th of the season, another record, and the rest of F1 began to wonder when this increasingly predictable story was ever going to change.

It would, of course. Somehow Michael never won another Belgian GP – a future fact that would have seemed inconceivable on that afternoon of 1 September 2002. Maybe six is enough for anyone. Then again, probably not for a man like Michael. Still, Senna lags behind him on five wins, Jim Clark, Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton are all tied on four. At Spa, there’s only one king – and in the Ardennes he still wears his crown.

Michael Schumacher, Ferrari, 2002 Belgian GP

Photo by: Motorsport Images