millennial deal
Alan Henry Grand Prix
Michael Schumacher will become the richest Formula One driver of all time after signing a new contract which could net him almost 150-million by keeping him at Ferrari until the end of 2002.
The 29-year-old German, who won the 1994 and 1995 world championships in a Benetton, earns about 17,5-million a year under his existing contract which expires at the end of 1999. His new deal will involve him acting as an ambassador for Fiat, which has controlled Ferrari for the past 30 years.
Sources close to Ferrari are speculating that Schumacher will be paid at least 22-million a year for the new contract. With endorsements and outside promotions netting him at least twice as much again, he could earn well in excess of 100-million in those three years.
Schumacher will become the Italian team’s longest-serving driver, his seven seasons eclipsing the six of both Clay Regazzoni (1970-1972) and 1974- 1976) and Gerhard Berger (1987-1989 and 1993-1995).
“I am grateful that Ferrari and Fiat have put a great deal of trust in me,” said Schumacher in Frankfurt. “I am happy in the Ferrari environment and am confident we can enjoy more success in the future.”
Schumacher is on course to become the most successful Formula One driver of all time. His controversial victory two weeks ago in the British Grand Prix was his 31st, moving him into joint third alongside Nigel Mansell. Ahead of him lie the late Ayrton Senna (41 wins) and Alain Prost (51 wins) but, with at least 70 races remaining to the end of his Ferrari tenure, there is every chance of a new record.
Schumacher will probably have his work cut out to match Juan Manuel Fangio’s record of five world titles. Yet, if he should win this year’s crown, he will join Senna, Jack Brabham, Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda and Nelson Piquet in the exclusive club of three-times champions. He will then be aiming at Prost’s four titles.
Schumacher, who joined Ferrari at the start of the 1996 season and has since won 12 races, is the marque’s third most successful driver after Lauda (15 wins between 1974 and 1977) and Alberto Ascari (13 between 1951 and 1953).
However, with 31 wins out of 110 races, Schumacher has a victory strike rate of 34% which puts him among the highest scorers in history. Prost and Senna won around 25% each and Mansell achieved a 16% rate.
No one comes close to the 47% rate achieved by Fangio, who won 24 of his 51 races. The great Argentinian attributed his success to shrewdly moving teams from year to year. Schumacher will now be hoping that the opposite strategy will yield him equal success, especially when he takes the field in the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday.