Michael Schumacher's debut in Formula 1, in Belgium 91

(More images from that day of Schumacher’s debut in F1, at the end of the article)

That distant Sunday in August was the eleventh race of a 1991 Formula 1 season that consisted of 16 tests, and the maximum category of motorsport would welcome, without knowing it, the one who would be its king for many more years, a young Michael Schumacher.

McLaren ‘s Ayrton Senna arrived at Spa as the world leader, 12 points ahead of Nigel Mansell ( Williams ). However, the Briton’s hopes of a comeback came to nothing that weekend, when the Woking team managed a one-two with Senna ahead of Gerhard Berger, while Mansell himself had to retire with an electronic problem.

After the three historic teams (McLaren, Williams and Ferrari) and Benetton, which three years later would win the championship, the Jordan team appeared in the classification, which came to the Belgian Grand Prix as the protagonist due to an event that had occurred outside the circuits . Bertrand Gachot , the team’s Belgian driver, had been sentenced to two years in prison for an altercation he had had with a taxi driver at the end of the previous year. The pilot assured that he was being threatened and defended himself using a tear gas canister, an action that put him behind bars.

Eddie Jordan was convinced by Willy Webber , who told him about the benefits of a 22-year-old who had won the German Formula 3 title the previous year and had taken victory in Macau. Webber even lied to the Irish director, assuring him that Michael Schumacher knew Spa-Francorchamps perfectly as he lived a few kilometers away. Neither of these figures was real, but by the time Jordan learned the truth, it was already too late, and the rookie driver had already achieved an astonishing seventh place in the Belgian standings.

In the race he had no luck, and at the start he suffered a clutch problem that he had already warned about on the formation lap. The team could do nothing and Schumacher retired without completing a single lap. However, the first impression – which is usually the most important – had been very good. So much so that hours later Flavio Briatore signed him to Benetton, from where, without thinking twice, he fired the Brazilian Roberto Moreno to place the German as Nelson Piquet’s partner.

Jordan tried to avoid that signing even through legal channels, but he could do nothing and the next race, in Monza , Schumacher would add his first point in Formula 1, already at the wheel of Benetton , where he stayed until the end of 1995.

Everything that came after is already known by every Formula 1 fan: 91 wins, 68 pole positions, 155 podiums, 77 fastest laps and 7 world championships. And 307 races, with that of August 25, 1991 as the first stone of an incredible career.