After his impressive debut, he was quickly signed by Benetton-Ford for the next race, and immediately showed great potential. This move angered Jordan who believed Benetton had "stolen" his driver from a binding contract.
Schumacher became known as an up-and-coming driver in F1 as he claimed his maiden victory in the Belgian Grand Prix with Benetton Ford. In 1992 he finished third ahead of three-time world champion, Ayrton Senna in the final standings.
1993 was a year of great expectations for Benetton and Schumacher. The German won one race at the Portuguese Grand Prix, but was not able to challenge for the World Title as the Benetton machine was not fully competitive with the technically advanced Williams. The year was once again dominated by Williams and only Senna, in a largely inferior McLaren, was able to challenge Alain Prost, who had at his disposal the strongest package in terms of engine, chassis and especially electronics.
1994
Schumacher won his first World Championship in 1994 while driving for Benetton, in an extremely controversial season marred by allegations of cheating and the deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger at the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola.
Schumacher started the season strongly, winning six of the first seven races. The raw speed of the Benetton was a surprise to the other teams, who levelled allegations of cheating. They claimed Benetton had found a way to violate the FIA-imposed ban on electronic aids, including Traction Control and Launch Control. On investigation, the FIA discovered illegal software on their car (and the cars of several rival teams), but could not prove that it had been used.
After Senna's death, Damon Hill inherited the responsibility of fighting for the championship. Hill struggled to keep pace with the Benetton in his Williams-Renault, but due to several mid-season controversial disqualifications and bans for Schumacher, he began to close the gap in the standings. In the British Grand Prix, Schumacher was penalized for overtaking on the formation lap [5]. He then ignored the penalty and the subsequent black flag during the race, for which he was disqualified and later given a two-race ban. Things took a turn for the worse at Spa, where Schumacher was disqualified after winning the race, after his car was found to have illegal wear on its skidblock.[6]
1 comment:
sadly i never followed F1 this far back....must have been really different!
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