F1 is in danger of forgetting Michael Schumacher

It's within the last couple of years I have started to grow concerned about Michael Schumacher's legacy in Formula One and if he is starting to become sidelined by both F1 itself and its fans.

Now to be clear I don't think this is based on any malicious intention from anyone, but more sad circumstance and oversight. The result though is something we need to reverse or at least by this point mitigate as we celebrate the seven-time world champion's 57th birthday.

I grew up watching Schumacher from the mid-1990s having started getting into F1 not long after the tragic death of Ayrton Senna, so the German in my F1 lifetime was always top dog.

As a child, I despised him in his role as a sporting villain (to me) due to my support of Damon Hill in their rivalry, while I didn't take kindly to THAT shunt with Jacques Villeneuve in 1997 too.

Later on into my teens I just got fed up of him being too damn good in that Ferrari in the early 2000s. I'm still scarred by the utter boredom of 2002 and 2004 where it just seemed to be him winning from lights out to flag every other week.

Following his initial retirement in 2006, absence made the heart grow fonder and I was well up for his comeback with Mercedes in 2010 and was delighted when he finally grabbed his only podium with them in Valencia in 2012.

From 2010, Schumacher had already become a more likeable driver to me and despite those mid-90s collisions with Hill and Villeneuve I had grown to respect him too.

We are failing the F1 memory of Michael Schumacher

The point of telling you this is I'm not a Michael Schumacher fanboy. For most of my life I've been the opposite. And yet I still feel we are not doing his legacy enough justice.

I've noticed Schumacher content is not even as popular as it was three years ago, around a decade on from his F1 retirement and shortly after his tragic skiing accident, so it's not just because he is no longer around the F1 grid.

And on this note, that seems to be how we always talk about Schumacher these days. Not his iconic drives or impact on the sport but on the, at times, tasteless desperation to get fresh content off the back of his current condition (one outlet went as far as doing an AI interview).

Many F1 fans these days are a product of being introduced to the sport via Drive to Survive, and therefore the importance of Schumacher to the history of F1 could be a mere footnote given he was long gone from the F1 grid by the time of the show's inception in the late 2010s which is catered towards today's stars.

Production values trumps Schumacher greatness

But F1 has not helped with this either. Last year they celebrated F1's 75 years by releasing full races of some of the greatest grands prix. Not one was from before 2008 and therefore the chance for a new generation of fans to witness the utter brilliance of Schumacher in full was lost.

F1's defence to this was they celebrated Schumacher in other content output, and the choice of races was down to production of more modern grands prix 'being a better experience for the viewers'. Which to me was another way of saying 'we are not showing the best of Schumacher because of graphics'.

Away from F1 themselves, many collections of 'best ever...' F1 content don't even seem to include Schumacher these days, and I can ensure you it's not down to lack of options.

I get that legends of past are not as big of an influence on modern day audiences, and this was true in the past as well, but I felt even in my early years of being an F1 fan I was often reminded of the great names and drivers from years gone by on a regular basis - and some of this was before the internet and social media.

Modern F1 fans don't seem to care about Schumacher, and I think that's a failure on F1 and us the media in allowing that. With Schumacher sadly unable to provide an active voice on the grid it's up to us to ensure fans are shown/reminded of his pure world class moments that perhaps don't get mentioned as much as they should do.

Go (re)discover Schumacher brilliance

F1 to their credit do have some Schumacher videos to enjoy on YouTube but this doesn't change my concern that the Schumacher appreciation and interest to the F1 audience is weakening, beyond his current health - which the Schumacher family wish to be kept private.

If you need to check out some of the best of Schumacher, have a look at his Belgium comeback in 1995, his Spain masterclass from 1996, his utter dominance in the Monaco wet in 1997, his four-pit stop strategy win in France 2004, his Imola defence from Fernando Alonso in 2006... honestly this is all just scratching the surface. There are so many great moments between his debut in 1991 and even his eventual final retirement in 2012.

So happy birthday to you Michael, keep fighting, and hopefully those of us who remember your F1 career will continue to pass down the stories and moments for years to come for many more fans to enjoy.

READ MORE: F1 World Champions: The full list from Farina to new king Lando Norris

Written by

Dan Ripley - Global Editor

I've been a massive F1 fan since the mid 1990s and continue to study the history of the sport long before that. As an experienced motor sport reporter covering F1, MotoGP and the LeMans 24 Hour race, being part of GPFans has allowed me to work with a diverse team with all sorts of different backgrounds in watching the sport and given me a greater appreciation of F1.

View full biography

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