When Ross Brawn pulled back the curtain on how he first met Michael Schumacher

Former Ferrari technical director, Ross Brawn opened up on his first meeting with F1 legend Michael Schumacher. In a podcast episode released in 2019, Brawn revealed that he first discovered the German driver in the late 1980s, when the latter was driving for Mercedes' sports car.

Brawn-Schumacher's partnership is known to be one of the most dominant ones in F1 history. The duo together won seven world championship titles with Benetton and Ferrari respectively.

Meanwhile, in an old interview with Beyond The Grid podcast dating back to January 3, 2019, Ross Brawn opened up on his first meeting with Michael Schumacher. He recalled the period from the late 1980s when he first saw a German driver in a sports car. In the podcast, he said:

"I met Michael [Schumacher] in sports car racing in the mid-eighties. He was driving for the Mercedes force car team. They had three drivers, and all others went on to have long careers. But in the sports car, Michael stood out massively. Sports cars were about going quick but also driving with fuel. He was doing lap times on less fuel than the others, beating them by a mile," Brawn said [2:00 onwards].

Schumacher made his debut in F1 in 1991 with Jordan. He went to Benetton in the same year and raced for five years. When the German driver made a switch to Ferrari in 1996, the Italian team got Brawn on board, and together, the duo scripted history together with back-to-back championships. They dominated the early 2000 era with five consecutive titles before Schumacher went to Mercedes to his last dance.

Michael Schumacher is one of the most successful and influential names in F1. His legacy of seven world championships and 91 race wins is immortal. Only Lewis Hamilton from the present generation has come close to matching his numbers, with seven titles and 103 race wins.

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When Ross Brawn recalled how Michael Schumacher helped Ferrari dominate after a 'tough' period

Michael Schumacher at Italian F1 Grand Prix (Image Source: Getty)

In his interview with F1 Insider dating back to 2022, Ross Brawn recalled the struggle Schumacher and Scuderia Ferrari had in the late 90's. Mentioning that Michael Schumacher narrowly missed out on three world championships before he won his first title with the Italian team in 2000, Brawn said (via F1.insider):

"We must not forget that we narrowly missed out on three world championship titles before we won it for the first time at Ferrari with Michael Schumacher in 2000. The three years before that were a tough test. The team could have fallen apart out of disappointment. But the opposite was the case: we grew even closer together and got better. We learned a lot and finally turned our weaknesses into strengths," Brawn said (translated from German).

After his title win in 2000, Schumacher went on to win five consecutive titles with Ferrari as Ross Brawn played a crucial role in his historic run as a technical director. The Italian team enjoyed mutual success, winning six constructors titles in a row (1999-2004).