Ralf Schumacher, younger brother of Michael Schumacher, tested for McLaren in 1996. He made his F1 debut when got a Jordan drive for 1997 alongside Giancarlo Fisichella.
The following year Schumacher was paired with Damon Hill. He often compared very favourably with the 1996 champion, and was furious at being restrained from racing Hill for the team’s first win at Spa in 1998. Schumacher switched to Williams ahead of their BMW engine deal in 2000.
He had the measure of Alessandro Zanardi in 1999, whose return to F1 went very poorly. In 2000 Jenson Button arrived in Zanardi’s place and showed up Schumacher on more than one occasion
But as Frank Williams had Juan Pablo Montoya contracted for 2001, Schumacher got another new team mate.
Ralf scored his first victory at San Marino in 2001 and followed that up with wins in Canada and Germany. The former was arguably his best, holding off brother Michael in the dying stages – but the latter came at the expense of Montoya, who retired while leading.
He added another win at Malaysia in 2002, one of only two not won by Ferrari that year.
In 2003 he picked up an injury that compromised his season, having been in the running for the championship earlier on in the year. Most of 2004 was written off after a crash at Indianapolis where he hurt his back.
In 2005 he moved to Toyota to partner Jarno Trulli, who had the beating of him for most of the season.
Toyota endured a more difficult year in 2006, but Ralf at least managed to beat Trulli more often. The two even got in each other’s way on occasion, such as at Suzuka.
In 2007 Ralf slipped back behind Trulli again and Toyota declined to renew his contract. He joined Mercedes’ DTM team in 2008.
