Michael Schumacher

He was born on January 3, 1969, near Cologne, Germany, six years before his brother Ralf, who would also become a Formula driver of note. When Michael Schumacher's father worked at a kart track in his home town of Kerpen, little did he think that both his sons would graduate from there to the Formula One World Championship, and even less that the authorities in the little German town would eventually bestow one of them the honour of naming a street after him Michael Schumacher is fast becoming a living legend, with the most amounts of Formula One race wins (beating Alain Prost's record of 51 at Spa in 2001) and with five World Championships to his name. He is partly responsible for one of Ferrari's most prolific periods in its history.

Having been a multiple kart champion, German Formula 3 Champion and a member of the Mercedes Sportscar squad, Michael was called into the Jordan team at short notice in 1991 to replace Bertrand Gachot, Michael qualified the uncompetitive Jordan in seventh spot on the grid at Spa. Although his race ended in retirement, he had done enough to earn the moniker of "Wunderkind", and an impressed Flavio Briatore quickly put Michael into his Benetton.

It was at Benetton that Michael first worked with Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne, two of the "dream team" with whom he was to be reunited in Italy some years later. Four full years at Benetton brought Michael two World Drivers' Championships in 1994 and 1995. When the world lost the great talent of Ayrton Senna in 1994, Michael dominated the Championships as Formula One fans were deprived of what might have been one of the greatest motor racing rivalries of all time.

The World Champion was lured to Ferrari in 1996 by the timeless attraction of the Prancing Horse. His job was plain and simple, to restore the World Drivers' Championship to Ferrari. 1996 was a formative year for the team and while Damon Hill took the World Championship, Ferrari President, Luca di Montezemolo worked tirelessly to build the strongest Formula One team in the world. The best driver was joined by some of the best in the business - Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne joined the team that boasts the most experienced fuel and lubricants partner in the paddock, Shell, in one of the greatest motor racing partnerships ever.

Success was tantalizingly close on several occasions. Michael's 1997 Championship charge ended in a tangle with Jacques Villeneuve during the last race of the season at Jerez. The 1998 title went down to the wire too, when a stalled engine on the grid in Suzuka handed Mika Hakkinen the World Championship and robbed the world of what would have surely have been one of the greatest ever showdowns in Formula One history. A broken leg sustained during a first lap accident at the British Grand Prix wrote off Michael's 1999 Championship hopes, but he returned in style to with superb driving displays at Sepang and Suzuka at the end of the season to help his team mate, Eddie Irvine, bring the World Constructors' Championship to Ferrari and to Shell with a spectacular drive at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

In 2000, Michael finally brought the Holy Grail that is the Formula One World Championship home to Maranello. Ferrari won the championship again and on both the Ferrari and Shell roll of honour, alongside the likes of Ascari, Hawthorn and Surtees, the name of Michael Schumacher was proudly added.

2001 was even better and proved to be the highest point yet of the Shell, Ferrari and Schumacher relationship, as the team retained the FIA Formula One World Constructors' Championship and Michael took his fourth drivers' title. Michael won his fifth title in 2002 and record-breaking sixth title last year.
In 2004 he won 13 of the 18 races, extending his career total to 83 (32 more than his nearest rival, Alain Prost) and winning his seventh championship by a massive margin.

Like all the great drivers Schumacher has exceptional ambition, confidence, intelligence, motivation, dedication and determination. But few have combined these qualities to create such excellence and even fewer have been so excellent for so long. For Schumacher, his sheer enthusiasm for driving (he still goes karting for fun) is like a fountain of youth, his search for improvement never ends and his racing success drives him on.

Blessed with a supreme natural talent honed to the highest degree, he has a racing brain to match and spare mental capacity that enables him to make split-second decisions, adapt to changing circumstances and plan ahead while driving on the limit, which with his superb state of fitness (he trains harder than any driver) he can do consistently for lengthy periods of time. The swift, smooth and mechanically-aware driver operates with a keen sensitivity for the limits of his car and himself (he seldom makes mistakes) and his feedback to the engineers (led by technical director Ross Brawn who has worked with him since the Benetton days) is exceptional astute.

No Ferrari driver has worked harder for the team, nor has any been more appreciated than the man who has led the team to six successive Constructors' Championships. He leads by example, frequently visiting the factory at Maranello, talking to the personnel, thanking them, encouraging them, never criticising and inspiring everyone with his optimism, high energy level and huge work ethic. The team is devoted to the driver who often says he "loves" the Ferrari "family."

His own family - wife Corinna and their children Gina-Maria and Mick - is sacred to Schumacher, whose happy home life (playing with the children, walking the dogs) in Switzerland is kept deliberately normal as an antidote to the rigours of racing. He loves the natural world (green is his favourite colour) and animals (he once adopted a stray dog he found wandering around the paddock in Brazil) and counts farming as a possible future venture. An essentially shy and private man, he considers his status as an international celebrity a cost of doing business. Arguably the most famous sportsman in the world, he is also among the highest earners (reportedly as much as $100 million a year). Rich beyond his wildest dreams, he is generously uses his fortune to help those less fortunate. He supports charities, especially those for underprivileged children, and to help victims of the 2004 Asian tsunami disaster he made a personal donation of $10 million.

As a driver Michael Schumacher has no obvious weaknesses, save for an occasional lapse of concentration from boredom when running alone in front without having to fight, the aspect of racing in which he takes particular delight: "I love the sport, it's in my blood to compete and fight, to try to beat my opponents and win. That's what I'm living for, in a way. As long as I'm competitive and able to fight with the young boys, I'm happy."

At 36, the oldest in the 2005 field and a 15-year veteran of well over 200 races, the driver who made Formula One racing his personal playground is still at the peak of superlative powers that created two distinct divisions: Michael Schumacher and the rest.