The Observer

Young driver programmes, they're all the rage with your Renaults and Toyotas these days.

But the most successful and famous junior 'Stepladder to fame' will always be the one that helped a precocious German youth hone a sublime talent and go on to become the most successful Formula One driver in the history of the world, the Solar System, the Universe, etc.

It's too glib to say Michael Schumacher was just another wannabe when Mercedes-Benz signed him up to join its Sauber-run Group C sportscar programme in 1990. The kid was clearly better than average, but just how good was not yet obvious.

At 21, Schumacher was heading into his third year of car racing. He'd begun in Formula Ford, finishing second in the European series and fourth in his domestic championship, but crashed out of the Festival at Brands Hatch after tangling with Andrew Guye-Johnson.

The following year he showed further promise, finishing third in the prestigious and competitive German Formula Three championship. But he had been overshadowed by his new Mercedes teammates ­ and they were the ones with the higher profiles.

Heinz Harald Frentzen and Karl Wendlinger were graduating to Formula 3000 in 1990, dovetailing single-seater programmes with the Sauber sportscar outings. Schumacher would juggle Group C with a second ­ and ultimately successful ­ crack at F3.

There is a famous photo of the three posing with Peter Sauber and one of the cars in a workshop. The quartet of figures look stiff, with polite smiles and bad haircuts (well that's true for three of them.­ Sauber, of course, was bald!).

It's Frentzen that stands out in this photo,­ but not for good reasons. Schuey and Wendlinger are suitably attired in blazers and (bad) ties, but Heinz-Harald has missed the mood entirely. His dreadful pullover-and-trouser combo should be all the evidence anyone needs to convince the fashion world that the current 1980s revival in women's clothing must never be replicated for men. The top is worse than the jumpers my mum used to buy me.

The trio first tested the sportscar in November 1989 at Paul Ricard,­ and Schumacher blotted his copybook. They were told not to push it, that the test was simply a learning experience to adjust to the power and weight of a sports prototype. But Michael didn't seem to listen.

He spun more than once, which resulted in him completing fewer laps than Frentzen and Wendlinger,­ and he was slower as a result. To compound his humiliation, the team told him to clear out the gravel that he had peppered into every nook and cranny of the car.

It was Frentzen who emerged fastest from the winter test runs, and it was he who was famously predicted to be the future F1 star at this time. But Schumacher was already making up for his Ricard mistakes; he was learning fast.

Mercedes sportscar boss Jochen Neerpasch, the architect of the young driver programme, described Schumacher in 1990 as a "rough diamond" when he spoke to Motor Sport magazine last year. "He was like a baby," he said. "By that I mean he had a baby's ability to learn. He learnt in one day what other people learn in three or four years, and not only technically."

Through the 1990 season, the Sauber and Mercedes crews came to realise that it was Schumacher who was special. The trio shared the seat alongside their mentor Jochen Mass.

Frentzen backed himself out of the equation. By concentrating on his Eddie Jordan Racing F3000 season, he was only available for one WSPC start, finishing second at Donington.

Wendlinger raced with Mass four times, taking one win and two seconds, a record matched by Schumacher when he joined the 1975 Spanish GP winner at Dijon, the Nurburgring and Mexico City.

Direct comparison between the trio is impossible because they never drove at the same time at the races in 1990. But Schumacher's hunger, his thirst for knowledge, his intelligence and speed, had convinced the team.

Frentzen quit the Mercedes programme for 1991 to stick it out with Jordan's F3000 team. It was a disaster. From his position as Germany's 'most likely', HHF was in danger of becoming a forgotten man. Especially when his old rival and teammate hit the headlines at the Belgian GP.

Before Schumacher's incredible F1 debut at Spa, he had continued to learn his trade with Mercedes. But it was tough going. He was teamed with Wendlinger, but the pair were sharing the new C291 flat-12 Group C car ­ and it was very unreliable. Tough to make any judgement on how the pair squared up, although Wendlinger has always been adamant that at this stage he was still a match for the superstar of the future.

Still, the pair signed off from the Mercedes programme with a win at Autopolis, Schumacher's second WSPC victory. By now he was big news in F1 and was tied in with Benetton. Mercedes might have groomed him, but it would be Ford, Renault and Ferrari who would benefit in the long run. He would leave his mentors behind.

The same was not the case for Wendlinger, of course. The Austrian was placed at the decaying Leyton House team for his F1 debut at the end of 1991, then stayed with the team in its March guise for 1992. Meanwhile, Mercedes prepared for a low-key F1 entrance as the Ilmor-badged power behind Sauber's first Grand Prix car in 1993.

The promise he had shown at March was followed up with points finishes at Sauber. Karl's reputation was building nicely, as was Sauber's.

Frentzen's career recovery was completed in 1994, when he was teamed with Wendlinger at Sauber for a line-up considered to be brimming with talent. But it didn't last.

Wendlinger will always be remembered as one of the victims of the black days of 1994. Just a week after Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger died at Imola, Karl was knocked into a coma in a heavy impact at Monaco.

He would return to Sauber in 1995, but it quickly became clear that he was not the same man. Sauber did all he could for his former young star, but it was no use. Karl would return to sportscars,­ specifically GTs,­ to build a successful career away from the pinnacle, and that career thrives to this day. Only last weekend, Wendlinger pedalled an Aston Martin to victory in a sopping FIA GT round at Mugello.

As Wendlinger said goodbye to his F1 dream, Schumacher was celebrating his second consecutive F1 world championship. He had continued to learn, continued to question, continued to improve. In the wake of Senna's death he had emerged as the brightest star of a new generation.

Frentzen continued to rise too, of course, but not at the same rate. He had to wait until 1997 for his big break, as Damon Hill's replacement at Williams. But one win with the world champions was never going to be enough.

Frentzen was on the move again in 1999, back to his old boss Jordan. This time there was plenty to celebrate. Two wins and even an outside shot at the world championship.

But those opportunistic wins at Magny-Cours and Monza were as good as it would get. His Jordan days would end with a mid-season bust-up and sacking, winding up his top-line career with spells at Prost, Arrows and fittingly Sauber once again. He's now plying his trade in the DTM.

So Schumacher has 90 F1 wins and seven world titles. Frentzen and Wendlinger scored three GP wins between them, all of them Heinz-Harald's.

Who'd have thought it would turn out like this back in 1990?

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- The Autosport.com Team

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