In his fourth Formula 1 season at Scuderia Ferrari, superstar Michael Schumacher finally wanted to celebrate his first world championship title with the Italians. The year 1999 was headed towards a very exciting head-to-head race between Schumi and Mika Häkkinen in the McLaren-Mercedes before a fatal crash occurred on July 11, 1999.
The eventual record world champion from Kerpen suffered the worst accident of his racing career at the British Grand Prix on the traditional Silverstone circuit, where Formula 1 is making a guest appearance this weekend.
The course was set for a hot fight between Schumacher and reigning world champion Häkkinen. The Finn had secured pole position with a lead of almost four tenths of a second in front of the German, who had already waited three races for a win and had lost his championship lead to Häkkinen.
The momentous departure happened just a few seconds after takeoff. After two of the 22 registered drivers, Jacques Villeneuve and Alex Zanardi, stopped at the start, the race control stopped the Grand Prix in the first of 60 laps.
Top quartet gets nothing from red flags
However, this information did not reach Schumi, although the Ferrari box tried it via radio. Instead, the top drivers raced towards the Stowe curve with the Silver Arrows of Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard and the Ferraris of Eddy Irvine and Michael Schumacher at over 300 km/h.
Although red flags had long been waved at the start and finish, Schumi wanted to squeeze past his teammate after a botched start and pulled to the inside.
The then two-time Formula 1 champion suddenly lost control of his car. A bleeder screw on the brakes had come loose, meaning that Schumacher was no longer able to steer into the aforementioned Stowe curve.
Still at over 200 kilometers per hour, the red racer plowed through the gravel bed, straight towards the tire wall.
Years later, the Formula 1 legend reported in a “ZDF” program: “I was fully conscious and I think: Oh, that hurts right now! You can’t do much anymore, you can’t steer anymore. You support yourself just wait and wait for the moment.”
Impact at 107 km/h in the tire wall
And that moment came. Schumacher hit the tire wall at a measured speed of 107 km/h. The front of the car was completely destroyed. Schumacher had no chance and broke his tibia and fibula.
The racing legend had a far more extreme experience, as he only revealed ten years after the horror crash at Silverstone: “I lie there and notice how I catch myself a little bit and calm down and feel my heartbeat. And suddenly I feel like my heartbeat slows down and suddenly stops completely. Lights go out. And then I think that’s what it feels like when you’re on your way up.”
Luckily things turned out differently. After Schumacher was finally rescued from the completely demolished car, the emergency doctors managed to stabilize Schumacher again. In addition to the broken bones, he also suffered a severe bruised heel.
The World Cup dream has thus burst prematurely in the fourth year. The star driver dropped out a total of six more races before celebrating a great comeback in the penultimate race of the season in Malaysia. As a selfless team player, he should help Eddy Irvine to win the world championship. The acclaimed double victory in Kuala Lumpur is not enough in the end. At the season finale in Suzuka, Mika Häkkinen achieved the final success in defending his title.
Michael Schumacher emerged from the worst accident of his motorsport career even stronger and more focused. In the five years that followed, he put on the greatest series of successes in Formula 1 history to date, winning the world title five times in a row with Scuderia Ferrari.
Mats Yannick Roth