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10 years on from Michael Schumacher’s tragic skiing accident, Jean Todt has detailed how the German’s loyalty kept him in the top job at Ferrari before their historic success together.
The Todt-Schumacher partnership at Ferrari resulted in a period of dominance in Formula 1 from 2000 to 2004. However, it wasn’t always smooth sailing. Schumacher joined Ferrari in 1996, a team that hadn’t won the constructors’ title since 1983. Todt had been with Ferrari since 1993, but the pressure was increasing. In 1996, Williams was the team to beat, and Ferrari could only settle for podium finishes, relying on Schumacher’s brilliance. Despite the initial challenges, Schumacher’s loyalty to Todt kept him in charge, and with the addition of Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne, Ferrari’s success soon followed. They won their first championship in 2000, which Todt described as his happiest sporting moment. Schumacher went on to win four more titles before leaving Ferrari in 2006. Todt also left at the end of 2007, marking the end of the legendary Ferrari superteam, and to this day, Ferrari has struggled to regain their former dominance.
