F1 legend admits Michael Schumacher crashed 'purposely' in season finale

Michael Schumacher

F1 legend admits Michael Schumacher crashed 'purposely' in season finale

Michael Schumacher is a seven-time world champion

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Monday 13 April 2026 11:56

A Ferrari F1 legend has opened up about the time in which Michael Schumacher intentionally crashed into a championship rival.

In his second season as a Ferrari driver, then two-time world champion Schumacher went into the season-ending European Grand Prix in Jerez leading the drivers' championship by a single point from Williams' Jacques Villeneuve.

On lap 48, the German legend decided to crash into Villeneuve in what looked to be an intentional decision to try and impact the outcome of the 1997 championship, knowing that if they were both out of the race, then Schumacher would be crowned champion.

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However, Villeneuve was able to continue on in the race and finish third, meaning that he was crowned 1997 world champion.

While the FIA race stewards at the time deemed the crash to be a 'racing incident', just a few weeks later it was determined that Schumacher should be disqualified from the 1997 drivers' championship, stripping him of his second-place finish, but keeping intact all of his race wins from that season.

Now, Schumacher's former boss Jean Todt - who was Ferrari general manager between 1994-2007 - has said that the German made a mistake by purposely crashing into Villeneuve.

"1997, we lost the drivers’ championship at the last race with his controversial overtaking to Villeneuve, where Michael unfortunately did a mistake," Todt told the High Performance podcast.

"But probably, the mistake demonstrated a very strong solidarity, because you see the strength of a group of people when things don’t go well. When all goes well, everybody’s friends."

Asked if he was branding that a mistake, Todt clarified: "I mean, he crashed into him purposely. But he did it badly."

Schumacher career marred by controversial incidents

As with all highly-successful racers, Schumacher did experience his fair share of controversial incidents.

He claimed seven world championship titles in his career - a joint record - but F1 insider Roger Benoit said a few years ago that he believed Schumacher should be stripped of his 1994 championship victory.

A similar incident to the 1997 season finale happened at the 1994 season finale in Australia, when Schumacher and Damon Hill collided and were both out of the race. Because Schumacher led the championship before the race, he won the championship, with FIA race stewards calling the collision a 'racing incident'.

Schumacher was also penalised in 2006 for purposely spinning during Monaco GP qualifying, to prevent championship rival Fernando Alonso from putting in a faster lap. Schumacher was ordered to start the race from the back of the grid, hampering his championship chances that year.

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F1 Ferrari Williams Michael Schumacher Jacques Villeneuve