Schumacher, at the age of 18, won the German and European karting championships. He soon graduated to junior formulae and won the German Formula Three Championship at the age of 21. This earned Schumacher a seat at Mercedes for sports car racing, where he impressed some of the top teams in the business.

1. by
Arise Roby
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2. Michael Schumacher THE GREAT
Most great athletes have had ordinary
beginnings. Michael Schumacher was no
different. He was born on January 3, 1969, in
Hurth, near Cologne, Germany. However,
what was unusual about this feisty German
was his resolve to be on top always. Since the
day he crashed his kart, (he was four years
old) built by his father Rolf Schumacher, onto
a lamp-post, Michael has seldom lived off the
fast lane.
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3. His rise to prominence was nothing short of
meteoric. By the age of six, Schumacher had
mastered his kart and won his first karting
championship in Cologne. His father, though
not affluent, decided to encourage
Schumacher, who showed great potential for
racing. Rolf sought help from local
businessmen and wealthy racing enthusiasts to
help his son’s progress in karting.
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4. ACHIEVEMENTS
WITHIN
AGE OF 21
After making rapid strides in local karting
championships, Schumacher, at the age of 18,
won the German and European karting
championships. He soon graduated to junior
formulae and won the German Formula Three
Championship at the age of 21. This earned
Schumacher a seat at Mercedes for sports car
racing, where he impressed some of the top
teams in the business.
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5. The Formula One team, Jordan, quickly snapped him up and
Schumacher made a stunning debut at the Belgian Grand
Prix in 1991 by qualifying seventh.
The following year, Benetton made Schumacher an offer and
he quickly accepted it. He then posted his first victory in
Formula One at the Belgian Grand Prix in 1992 which
marked Schumacher’s rise to the top.
In the next four years, Schumacher would hit the top, winning
18 races and two world titles (1994 and 1995). However,
Schumacher’s supremacy was well and truly underway in
the early 2000s when he drove for Ferrari. He was ruthless
and controversial yet brilliant as he brutally killed off
challengers as if they just didn’t deserve to run alongside
him.
After four very competitive years with Ferrari, Schumacher
finally ended the Italian outfit’s 21-year wait for a world
drivers’ title in 2000 (Jody Scheckter had last won for
Ferrari in 1979). The rest, as they say, is history
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6. Without doubt, Schumacher’s best years were with
Ferrari, a team with rich racing tradition. While
the German, known for his speed and derring-do on the
track and a near-faultless work ethic, reorganised the
Ferrari camp around him, the Maranello outfit, with the
benefit of massive racing budgets, offered Schumacher
a car that was second to none on the circuit.
Ferrari also backed its star driver — who enjoyed a status
not less than that of a demigod in the team — even in
unflattering situations, coughing up his fines and
carrying out damage-control exercises as Schumacher
flung himself to extremes.
The outcome, one should say, was pretty stimulating —
an enterprise that every team or driver aspires for but
only a few can build.
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7. UNBREAKABLE RECORDS
Seven world titles, five of them on the bounce,
91 career victories, 155 podium finishes and
68 pole positions are no mean achievement.
The records may not stand forever (the current
world champion, Sebastian Vettel, is closing in
on one of them), but Schumacher’s greatness
as a driver who pushed the limits and extended
boundaries, will.
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8. THE ACCIDENT
• Michael Schumacher’s love of speed
is well documented. After he retired
from Formula One the first time at
the end of the 2006 season, he took
to high-speed pursuits such as
motorbike racing, skydiving,
snowmobile racing and skiing.
• After retiring for the second time
from F1, Schumacher suffered a
severe head injury while skiing on
December 29, 2013. The former F1
driver slalomed off the marked track,
tumbled out of control and crashed
onto a rock. He was admitted to a
hospital in Grenoble where the
doctors have placed the seven-time
F1 world champion in a medicallyinduced coma.
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9. • Though Schumacher’s condition is said to be
stable, reports in a section of the media suggest
that it will be a long, long road to recovery.
• In 2009, Schumacher was set to come out of his
first retirement and replace an injured Felipe
Massa at Ferrari, but the comeback was aborted
following a neck injury the seven-time world
champion suffered in a motorbike accident.
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10. SOME EVERGREEN PHOTOS
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