Michael Schumacher spent 10 years with Ferrari, claiming a victory in every season that he competed in for them.
When he took on the daunting project, the Scuderia had just finished third in the constructors’ championship for the second year running. They would only equal that finish once in Schumacher’s 10 seasons in 2005.
The first year in 1996 was turbulent, but the German managed to win three races. The title fight wasn’t particularly close, but there were signs that the future could be promising.
In 1997, things picked up with five victories, but four retirements didn’t help his cause. Teammate Eddie Irvine couldn’t get anywhere near his pace.
Heading into the final race at Jerez, Schumacher and title rival Jacques Villeneuve were separated by one point, with the former holding the advantage.
Michael Schumacher was disqualified from the 1997 F1 championship for driving into Jacques Villeneuve
The 1997 European Grand Prix was fascinating for a variety of reasons. First of all, it played host to the greatest qualifying session in the history of Formula 1.
Three drivers set exactly the same time on Saturday, with Villeneuve claiming pole over Schumacher and teammate Heinz-Harald Frentzen, despite setting exactly the same time.
The rule was and continues to be that the first driver to set the time gets priority, handing the title protagonists a front row start together over Frentzen behind.
Schumacher got a better start on the Sunday and led into turn one, and would remain there for the majority of the race.
That was until lap 48, when his title rival sent an optimistic dive on him into Dry Sac corner. Schumacher would opt to turn into the side of him, but he came off far worse.
Not only did he receive suspension damage which forced him to retire from the race as Villeneuve continued, but the FIA later opted to disqualify him from the entire season for his actions.
In 1998 and 1999, he came close again, before finally cracking the code in 2000 and beating McLaren’s Mika Hakkinen to top honours for the first time as a Ferrari driver.
Why was Michael Schumacher disqualified from the 1997 F1 season?
President of the FIA at the time, Max Mosely had promised severe punishments to anyone who tried to influence the outcome of the title fight. That included the drivers involved in it.
At the time, race stewards reviewed the footage and actually decided upon a ‘racing incident’ verdict. They determined that no foul play was involved.
However, Schumacher was summoned to a disciplinary hearing on November 11, 1997, where it was announced that he had been disqualified from the drivers’ championship, but allowed to keep his victories and other accolades.
The panel which made the decision, realised that the seven-time champion’s actions were deliberate, but not premeditated, preventing him from receiving a bigger punishment.