Often controversial, often brilliant but always immensely talented, Michael Schumacher is undoubtedly one of the finest drivers to grace motorsport's centre stage.
His shrewd racing mind and awesome driving ability, especially in the wet, has brought him deserved praise and respect if not popularity.
Following his F1 debut for Jordan in 1991 he made rapid progress up the F1 ladder and took his first World Title in 1994. However, along with success has come controversy with race suspensions and accusations of bad sportmanship that date back to 1994 when he was involved in a series of incidents, culminating in a collision with Damon Hill in the Australian GP, which won Schumacher his first Championship title.
Another infamous incident this time with Jacques Villeneuve (Jerez 1997) was widely blamed on Schumacher resulting in a one-race ban and the loss of runner-up status in the Drivers' Championship.
The following year he again came close, challenging Mika Hakkinen for the title right to the wire at Suzuka. However, Schumacher's hopes died when he had to start from the back of the field after his car stalled on the grid. Many suspect Schumacher of making a rare mistake, whilst Ferrari blamed the car.
1999 looked as though Schumacher might finally take the Drivers' Championship back to Maranello. However a first lap accident at the British GP left the German with a broken leg. Despite missing 6 races, Schumacher returned in style at Malaysia, where he utterly dominated the entire weekend.
For 2000, Schumacher is joined at Ferrari by Brazilian, Rubens Barrichello. Many believe that Barrichello will put the German under pressure, others believe that following his '99 crash, the German might have lost some of his raw speed.