29: The Untold Story of Michael Schumacher's F1 Debut

Flat Chat with Codders by GP Racing

It’s 30 years since Michael Schumacher left an indelible calling card on the Formula 1 scene at the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix, qualifying seventh at a track he’d only previously lapped on a bicycle. And he did it with a minnow start-up team on the verge of collapsing under its debts.

This month’s GP Racing, on sale today, celebrates the 30th anniversary of Schumacher’s explosive debut and features an exclusive behind-the-scenes view of the weekend with insight from Michael’s race engineer, Trevor Foster. Author and GP Racing columnist Mark Gallagher was the Jordan team’s press officer at the time, and he joins Flat Chat podcast host Stuart Codling and GP Racing editor Ben Anderson to wind the clock back to that stunning weekend in August 1991.

It’s hard to believe that the future seven-time world champion was seen as an inexperienced pay driver at the time. But Jordan had a seat to fill and bills to pay. As Mark relates, he himself didn’t see any money until after the end of the season – and only then after Eddie Jordan tried to invoice him for food consumed during the year…

Schumacher quickly found performance in the Jordan 191 car which the incumbent drivers hadn’t been able to access – much to the chagrin of Andrea de Cesaris, who became convinced there was something wrong with his own car. Exactly how Schumacher managed to break his clutch on the opening lap, and how De Cesaris came close to catching Ayrton Senna’s McLaren for the lead before suffering an engine blow-up, have never been fully explained until now.

The Flat Chat panel also looks at the parallel-but-often-separate career of Mika Hakkinen who, like Schumacher, made his F1 debut in 1991. Mika’s rivalry with Michael began in F3 but would in effect go on hiatus for several years as Hakkinen laboured in back-of-the-grid cars and then broke his neck in qualifying for the 1995 Australian Grand Prix.

Once installed in competitive machinery Hakkinen shone, and his rivalry with Schumacher defined an era – until he suddenly decided to quit. How much of that was prompted by fear of further injury, how much by the draining effect of fighting for championships with one of the greatest drivers of all time?