“The longest three laps …”: Schumacher’s seemingly eternal trembling before the title

“The longest three laps …”
Schumacher’s sheer eternal trembling at the title

It has become damn close for the world title in Formula 1. In 1994 everything depends on the final, the ultimate showdown. Michael Schumacher or Damon Hill? It is the German who triumphs for the first time on the Adelaide circuit. After much hope and counting.

Michael Schumacher clung helplessly to a security fence, stared at the racetrack – and started counting. All the others drove “once, twice and finally a third time past this point. I waited for Damon Hill, but he didn’t come. Those were the longest three laps of my life,” said Schumacher once about the moments of hope and fear , helplessness, redemption.

Behind the lattice fence in Adelaide, Australia, the certainty grew slowly for “Schumi” that on November 13, 1994, he had made history as the first German Formula 1 world champion. “Even after the marshals whispered in my ear that I was now world champion – I couldn’t believe it,” said the then 25-year-old. And in Germany, more than 15,000 kilometers away, little Sebastian Vettel cheered in front of the television about the triumph of his idol.

On the night of Adelaide, Schumacher lost all inhibitions. With a black cowboy hat on, his white shirt unbuttoned to the navel, blue jeans and light brown cowboy boots, the new hero of the nation danced until 4.55 the next morning. At the hangover breakfast there was also the reconciliation with the defeated Damon Hill. “On Monday morning Damon Hill came to my breakfast table and congratulated me. That was the best moment for me,” said Schumacher.

Because the finale of a memorable season, in which Schumacher had been disqualified twice and even banned from two races, in which his lead over Hill over Australia had shrunk to one point (92:91), was just as spectacular as it was controversial. Then the ultimate showdown.

On the 36th lap, Schumacher, who was in the lead, went off the track, hit a wall and threw himself back onto the track in front of Hill. The Englishman wanted to overtake inside in the following right-hand bend, but Schumacher shut down. Hills Williams levered out Schumacher’s Benetton when he drove up, and it flung on two wheels in the direction of the tire wall. Hill saved himself in the pits with a flat front tire, but a broken front suspension put an end to all title dreams. And behind a lattice fence in Adelaide, a marshals whispered in Schumacher’s ear that he had become world champion for the first time.

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