Bernd Schneider: why Schumacher’s F1 debut nearly didn’t happen

F1: Beyond The Grid

karenellenbevan

Leisure, Sports, Technology, Automotive

4.8 • 5.2K Ratings

🗓️ 17 September 2024

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For a driver who only qualified for nine Formula 1 races in three seasons, German racing legend Bernd Schneider sure has some epic stories from his short stint on the grid in the late 1980’s and early ‘90’s.

Speaking to Tom Clarkson, Schneider talks about how close he came to denying Michael Schumacher his F1 debut and the huge contract Eddie Jordan offered him to return to the sport.

Bernd, who went on to become a five-time DTM champion with Mercedes-Benz after his F1 career finished, also reveals how he was nearly partly responsible for Mercedes pulling out of all motorsport after their car flipped several times at Le Mans in 1999 and what it was like to be teammates with icons Mika Hakkinen, Mark Webber and Jean Alesi.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	For drivers, the opportunity to race in Formula One is a rare thing.
0:09.0	Seize it and you could make history, the story of how Michael Schumacher got his break,
0:14.0	for Eddie Jordan, after one of his regular drivers
0:17.0	had been arrested, is well known.
0:19.0	But you might not know that Jordan also
0:22.0	asked another driver to race his car and his name was
0:25.7	Burnt Schneider. Eddie called me and I did not say immediately yes I gonna do it. I
0:31.0	was not brave enough I just had not the confident to get it together and I was so
0:36.3	much with my eyes in Spa and watched Michael and said what he achieved maybe I could
0:41.7	have done it as well so a really disappointed moment in my life.
0:45.2	Schneider lost the chance to return to F1 in a competitive car. Schumacher grabbed his moment and went on to become a seven-time world champion.
0:54.3	Imagine how different things could have been for Burnt, whose own F1 career was short-lived.
0:59.3	As it was, he raced touring cars and sports cars for Mercedes,
1:03.1	and he was one of the senior drivers at Lamar in 1999
1:07.0	when a series of crashes took place
1:09.3	that could so nearly have led to the silver arrows stopping racing altogether.
1:15.0	Thanks God that nobody was injured there because otherwise this would be part of my responsibility
1:21.0	because I was pushing hard that we are driving that race.
1:25.0	One of the most lucky days of Mercedes motors
1:28.0	because if something happened bad, we wouldn't have Louis Hamilton in a Mercedes car, 100%.
1:34.0	Hello and I'm going to say.
1:37.0	Hello and welcome to F1 Beyond the Grid with me Tom Clarkson.
	...

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