25 Years On: Schumacher’s First Ferrari Title

When Michael Schumacher won the Japanese Grand Prix 25 years ago on 8 October 2000, it marked more than simply a race victory or even his third world championship – the German driver had just clinched the Scuderia’s first Formula 1 Driver’s Title in 21 years.

Cruising around on his victory lap, the V10 of his Ferrari F1-2000 still singing, Schumacher’s voice crackled with emotion over the radio to Technical Director Ross Brawn: ‘You are great Ross, all of you guys… We did it, we did it… I can’t believe it!’

That disbelief was real, born from four seasons of frustration that climaxed in 1999 – the year Ferrari had taken the Constructors’ crown, but during which Schumacher had been sidelined after a heavy shunt at Silverstone.

Schumacher had ‘always believed but every year became more upset’, as he put it in the Suzuka post-race press conference. Even with the 2000 championship achievable in Japan, Schumacher asked his team not to prepare a victory celebration. He dared not dream too much.

His determination never wavered, however. The reigning world champion had been lured to the Scuderia in 1996 by General Manager Jean Todt, after achieving back-to-back Drivers’ titles with Benetton, and was joined by the architects of that success in 1997 – former Benetton Technical Director Ross Brawn and Chief Designer Rory Byrne. Together they transformed the Scuderia’s fortunes.

Taking the win at Suzuka 2000 – and clinching that year's Drivers' Title with one round remaining

Ferrari winning the 1999 Constructors’ title in spite of Schumacher’s injury was a warning shot to rivals (Eddie Irvine played a major contribution to that, with Mika Salo a very able stand-in), and when the Scuderia returned to Australia for the start of the 2000 season, it did so with a fully fit Schumacher, freshly signed Rubens Barrichello and the much improved F1-2000 single seater.

A significantly different machine to its predecessors, the F1-2000 seemed to embody Schumacher’s own fanatical attention to detail. Its aerodynamics were relentlessly honed in the wind tunnel, and every opportunity seized to lower the centre of gravity (and therefore improve handling): the vee of the 3.0-litre V10 engine was opened from 80 to 90 degrees to put more mass closer to the tarmac; even the brake calipers gripped the disc at the bottom, not the side.

The first three races that year set the stage for total domination, with a maximum ten points in Australia, Brazil and San Marino. When he took victory in the wet at the Nürburgring, Schumacher had built an 18-point cushion over reigning world champion and McLaren driver Mika Häkkinen in second with 11 races of the 17-race calendar remaining.

But Schumacher knew all too well not to underestimate his rival’s resilience, and that the racing gods could quickly turn against him. Soon they did. Engine failure not only forced Schumacher’s retirement from race nine at Magny Cours, it heralded three consecutive DNFs. When Häkkinen won in Hungary, the Finn edged narrowly to the top of the championship standings with just five rounds to run.

[From left] Australia gets the season off to the best possible start; mastering wet conditions at the Nürburgring; a win at Monza breaks a mid-season dip; Häkkinen congratulates his great rival

Fittingly, Monza signalled the fightback, a win on home turf and another next-time out in the US giving Schumacher an eight-point lead in the championship. It meant the title was his for the taking at the penultimate round in Japan – a win putting it beyond doubt, even with Häkkinen placing second, but the reverse ensuring the title would be decided in Malaysia instead..

Double world champion Häkkinen fought tooth and nail to stay in the fight. At Suzuka, the two traded fastest laps through qualifying before Schumacher secured pole position by a margin so slender the stopwatch barely registered it – just nine thousandths of a second around the 5.864km figure-of-eight layout.

Yet when Häkkinen led into turn 1 and held the lead far beyond the halfway point of the race, the championship appeared set to go down to the wire. It was the second pitstop that proved decisive – Häkkinen pitting first but struggling with wet conditions and traffic, Schumacher seizing the advantage as he exited the pitlane a couple of laps later.

Häkkinen chased Schumacher hard for the remaining laps, eating into his five-second lead, but the Ferrari driver held his nerve and the two crossed the finish line just 1.8387 seconds apart after 53 laps. The crowd – a rainbow of ponchos in the grandstands – rose to their feet as airhorns blared in appreciation of the historic battle that’d just played out before them.

Schumacher celebrating alongside the team he helped guide back to title glory, with Jean Todt, Ross Brawn and teammate Rubens Barrichello all pictured here to his right

Jean Todt was first to greet the newly crowned F1 World Champion as he rolled into the pits and gathered his emotions in the cockpit, his chest visibly heaving beneath scarlet overalls. Then came congratulations from Rubens, an embrace from Mika – ‘always the most respected guy in all those years,’ reflected Schumacher on their rivalry and friendship years later – before finally Michael removed his helmet and clenched his fists in delight. There was a kiss for wife Corinna, and hugs for every member of the team he had inspired so much and who had supported him so loyally through the fallow years.

The victory celebration? We’ll improvise, smiled an elated Schumacher.

That win in Japan opened the floodgates to more success, with the Scuderia securing every Drivers’ and Constructors’ title through to 2004, and Schumacher achieving a record seven championships – a record he now shares with Lewis Hamilton.

But of all his 91 career wins, it was that pivotal win at Suzuka that meant the most. Interviewed on his personal website in late 2013, Schumacher reflected: ‘The most emotional one? Definitely Suzuka 2000 with Ferrari. Twenty-one years no championship for Ferrari, four years for myself failing to achieve it, and finally 2000 Suzuka, winning… an exceptional race and… the great championship.’

Twenty-five years on, Schumacher’s first title remains one of the most inspiring moments in Scuderia Ferrari history – and a reminder that Maranello’s most successful era did not come without a fight.