Ralf Schumacher

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Ralf Schumacher
Ralf Schumacher at an autograph session at the 2005 United States Grand Prix
F1 Record
Nationality	German
Car #	7
Current team	Toyota F1
Team for 2007	Panasonic Toyota
Grands Prix	162
World Championships	0
Wins	6
Podium finishes	27
Pole positions	6
Fastest laps	7
First Grand Prix	1997 Australian Grand Prix
First win	2001 San Marino Grand Prix
Last win	2003 French Grand Prix
Last Grand Prix	2006 Brazilian Grand Prix
2006 Championship position	10th (20 pts)
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Ralf Schumacher (born June 30, 1975 in Hürth-Hermülheim near Cologne) is a German Formula One racing driver for the Toyota team. He is the younger brother of seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher.

Contents 1 Early career 2 Formula 1 Career 2.1 Jordan 2.2 Williams 2.3 Toyota 3 Personal 4 Complete F1 Results 5 External links

[edit] Early career

He started racing at age three on his parents' go-kart track in their hometown of Kerpen. In 1995, he finished third in the German Formula 3 championship and won the prestigious Macau Grand Prix. In 1996, he won the Japanese Formula Nippon (ex Japanese F3000) Championship with two race wins.

[edit] Formula 1 Career

[edit] Jordan

Ralf made his Formula One debut in 1997 with the Jordan team and finished on the podium in just his third race, at Argentina. However Ralf retired in more than half his races that season and ended up behind team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella. The following season, Jordan was powered by Honda and proved capable of race wins when Ralf followed team mate Damon Hill to second place in Belgium.

[edit] Williams

In the knowledge that a deal had been done with BMW in 1999 he changed to the Williams team and scored three podium finishes and sixth in the World Drivers Championship with the underpowered, obsolescent Supertec engine. However, Heinz-Harald Frentzen who replaced him at Jordan scored two wins and four podiums that year.

Schumacher's performance in the 2000 season was considered by many to be a disappointment. Running the powerful new BMW engine, he was expected to compete for wins, but despite only four mechanical failures and being the senior driver in the team, he was only able to match the three podium finishes of the previous year. In 2001, however, he broke through with his first three Grand Prix wins at Imola, Montreal and Hockenheim. In 2002, he won the Malaysian Grand Prix but finished the championship behind team mate Juan-Pablo Montoya, and in 2003, he won the European Grand Prix (at the Nürburgring) and the French Grand Prix, helping, along with teammate Juan Pablo Montoya the Williams team finish second in the Constructors Championship in 2002 and 2003.

On June 20, 2004, Ralf was seriously injured in an accident at the United States Grand Prix. The acceleration was measured at 78 g (765 m/s²), one of the most severe in all of motor racing history, resulting in a concussion as well as two minor fractures to his spinal column.

[edit] Toyota

In 2005, Ralf transferred to the Toyota F1 team. In the first 12 races of the season he was out-performed by team mate Jarno Trulli, however in Spa he was able to challenge for the lead most of the race and ended up setting the fastest lap. The Toyota team brought the "B" specification of their TF105 car to the last 3 races of the season which allowed Ralf to take pole position in Japan and finish China GP in third position a week later. This modified version of the car secured 6th position in the Drivers Championship for Ralf, 2 points ahead of his team mate Jarno Trulli.

Ralf remains with Toyota for 2006, however the team has been off the pace in early races, although he did finish 8th in Malaysia. At the third race of the season in Australia he finished a strong 3rd. In a race where several drivers made mistakes he managed to keep the car on the road and set solid fast laps, and a penalty for speeding in the pitlane did not appear to harm his result. A fourth position in France was his only other significant finish in 2006, with the competitiveness Toyota had demonstrated at the start of the season diminishing.

[edit] Personal

Ralf is married to Cora and they have a son, David (b. 2001).

[edit] Complete F1 Results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)