Nürburgring 1999: When Ralf Schumacher stepped out of Michael's shadow

(Motorsport-Total.com) – When it comes to Schumacher, most Formula 1 followers first think of record world champion Michael. With seven World Cup titles and 91 Siegen is still the most successful Formula 1 driver of all time. His younger brother Ralf also achieved six Sizable Prix victories. And as Michael 1999 at the Nürburgring was injured, Ralf stepped out of its shadow for the first time.

The Grand Prix of Europe 1999 is likely to be remembered by many followers – and not only because Formula 1 is repeating the race in full length on its social media channels this week Has. Over the course of the 1.5 hours, there were several changes in the weather, five leaders and several incidents, many of them in the front of the field.

In the end, Johnny Herbert celebrated his third and last formula in a completely chaotic race -1 victory and at the same time gave the Stewart Group its first ever win in the premier class. Rubens Barrichello finished the double podium in third. A great success and a great farewell for Jackie Stewart, before the Group in the year 2000 became Jaguar.

1999 a decisive year for Ralf Schumacher

But it was also the race in which Ralf Schumacher was very close his first Sizable Prix victory. Even if he ended up only fourth, in the eyes of many viewers he was suddenly more than just “Michael's brother”. Ralf was the only Schumacher in the field that weekend because Michael was still out after breaking his leg in Silverstone.

Two weeks earlier, he had a strong second behind compatriot Heinz-Harald Frentzen in the Jordan in Monza Get space. That should be the best result for Williams that year. For Schumacher warfare the year 1999 the breakthrough after moving to Williams after two years with Jordan. The package was not the best, but internally he drove his teammate Alex Zanardi around the ears.

Schumacher won the team duel against the two-time CART champion at the end of the year with 35: 0 points. “The only good thing about auto warfare is the include,” Schumacher recalled last year in the podcast 'Past The Grid'. “It was a difficult year. When I came to the group, it was already clear. It was a 'special' car,” said Schumacher.

Although he exceeded the limitations of the Williams FW 21 knew, both Schumacher and Frentzen at the Nürburgring had hopes of becoming the second German driver to win a Formula 1 race in Germany. As the first driver warfare the Michael 1995 succeeded in Hockenheim. For Ralf it was also a likelihood to step out of his brother's shadow.

Two German hopefuls at the front

“He was a very talented driver, but of course he lived in Michael's shadow. It must have been hard for him personally, but he probably didn't know it different, “remembered Sam Michael, who 1998 with Jordan Ralfs racing engineer warfare, this year in an interview with 'Autosport'. Later at Williams, the two worked together again.

“Moving from Jordan to Williams it got a lot more serious. At Jordan, we exceeded expectations on a smaller budget, which made it a great time. But at Williams the expectations were much higher. You could already see at the factory what the group's expectations were. But Ralf adapted very well. He was still very young, “says Michael.

In the wet qualifying on Saturday, Scheakacher streaked at the top, but fell behind the McLaren drivers David Coulthard and Mika Häkkinen in the last minutes. To the delight of the audience, Frentzen even grabbed the pole very late and threw Schumacher back in fourth place. The warfare was nevertheless satisfied with the starting position.

The security car was used in the race itself immediately after the initiate. Pedro Diniz had overturned and the roll bar had failed on his Sauber. Fortunately, he was not injured. At the restart at the end of round six, the leadership quartet consisted of Frentzen, Häkkinen, Coulthard and Schumacher. The four pilots were able to break away from the relaxation of the field.

Schumacher gets the lead for free

Schumacher put pressure on the McLaren drivers when clouds came over the Eifel. After a failed attempt, he finally grabbed Coulthard before turn 1. He was given second place afterwards because Häkkinen switched to rain tires one lap later and fell behind. Coulthard made a mistake in the meantime, and Schumacher could concentrate on chasing Frentzen.

The weather was changeable, and Schumacher came to his first stop. As a result, he lost second place to Coulthard, but Häkkinen no longer played a role because he had gambled on the tire choice. Schumacher warfare is at least on the podium. At the end of the round 32 the two leaders, Frentzen and Coulthard, came to the carrier together.

Then Frentzen's dreams were shattered. The Jordan pilot came out of the pits as the leader, but immediately rolled out with an electronics problem. The followers' hopes now rested solely on Schumacher. The streak after the pit stops a few seconds behind Coulthard, the new leader, but the silver arrow – and thus the victory – were within reach.

When the rain started for the second time, Coulthard was able to gain his lead Remove snappy ten seconds. Both pilots gambled, stayed outside and did not change to rain tires. When the rain slowed down a bit, Cfarethard was the next victim of the crazy race. He slipped off the track, hit the pile of tires and warfare with it as well.

A tire damage as the end of all dreams

So streak Schumacher in the lead and more than 15 seconds before relaxing the field. A mistake by Giancarlo Fisichella, who streaked in second place in the Benetton, increased his lead by another ten seconds. Without a mistake in the last third of the race, Schumacher hardly seemed to lose the victory. At his second – and scheduled last – stop in the round 44 he changed again to slicks.

He came out behind Fisichella and Herbert, but the Stewart pilot himself came back to the carrier three laps later to switch back to dry tires on the dried track. Fisichella, however, tried to get through with just one stop. Schumacher should have passed him furthermore on the track. But the Enviornment solved itself.

The Italian turned, retired, and thus streak Schumacher again in the lead without any action on his part. His head start on relaxation of the field: more than 20 seconds. But his leadership should only last for a short time. In the first sector, he suffered a puncture on the rear right. That meant that on the way to the box snappy he had to circle the entire course again at a snail's pace.

The dream of victory was thus buried. Schumacher was able to finish the race, but his fourth place warfare was no longer a damage limitation. “I think I narrowly missed a good opportunity to make the podium today,” he said at the time. “Of course three points are good. But I have to keep in mind that it could have been ten.”

Something snappy always got in between …

At least Schumacher showed with his idea that he was a future Sizable Prix winner. If he had won then, he would have been with 24 years to become the sixth youngest winner in Formula 1 history – just behind his brother. Instead, it should take more than 1.5 years before 2001 in Imola was allowed to climb to the top of the podium for the first time.

Schumacher won five more in Formula 1 after that – including Encourage-to-Encourage successes 2003 on the Nürburgring and in Magny-Cours, used to be even brought him to a Hassle to be able to look towards the world title. But he had to quickly bury this short hope after two zero numbers at the following races in Silverstone in Hockenheim and later after a take a look at-Demolish in Monza.

Schumacher had to skip a race at that time, and 2004 it got worse when he even missed six more races after a serious accident in Indianapolis. He then moved to Toyota, where in the following years he no longer had the material to fight at the front. He has only been on the Formula 1 podium three times in the last three years of his career.

This one Sunday at the Nürburgring a year 1999 is therefore to a certain extent also representative for Ralf Schumacher's entire Formula 1 career: Something always got in his way in the decisive second snappy.