Eddie Jordan had given one Schumacher a chance, and the start of 1997 was the time to give Michael's little brother Ralf a chance. Like his brother, he outqualified his Italian team-mate. Like his brother, he failed to complete 2 laps before the car stopped. However, that's where it started to go wrong, since Briatore felt no need to turf Gerhard Berger out as he once did Roberto Moreno...
His first podium came in Buenos Aires in his third race, but Fisichella was to take two by the end of the season - at Fisi's customary excellent performances at Montreal and Spa. 1998 started poorly for Schumacher and his brother's old nemesis Damon Hill at Jordan, Schumacher scoring their first points at Silverstone. He felt aggreived when ordered to stay behind Hill in their famous one-two at Spa, but he backed that up with a podium at Monza.
He was off to Williams for 1999, where he scored three podiums - at Melbourne, Silverstone and again at Monza, scoring 35 points to his team-mate Zanardi's none. The start of BMW-Williams in 2000 was above expectations with Schumacher taking 3 podiums - Melbourne, Spa and Monza again - and he scored double Jenson Button's points tally.
His big day came at Italy's other track, at Imola, in 2001. Jumping the McLaren lockout of the front row, he lead every lap to dominate. He beat his brother in a straight fight at Montreal and profited from his team-mate's unreliability to be the last winner through the forest at Hockenheim. There were only two other podiums though - including a 4th consecutive Monza podium made less impressive by his team-mate's victory. 4th in the Championship was his reward.
He was 4th again in 2002, only behind Montoya this time, and the winner of one of Ferrari's two aberrations at Sepang. An engine blowout from the lead ended his Monza run as he appeared on the podium 5 times. 2003 was a similar story, with Montoya leading the championship fight up to the penultimate round but not taking more wins than Schumacher, who took advantage of Raikkonen's engine to win at the Nurburgring then backed it up with his final win at Magny-Cours.
Williams' walrus-based error of 2004 was the end of the younger Schumacher's time at the top. He never got to grips with it as well as Montoya and by the time it was improving he'd been involved in a horrible accident at Indianapolis which took the meat out of his season. Runner-up at Suzuka as he returned, he left Williams for Toyota.
Plonking a Toyota on pole at Suzuka, even despite the rainstorm that affected qualifying, must have pleased the executives, but he was edged by Trulli for the Japanese constructors' most productive year, one that would have been rewarded with 3rd in the WCC if it weren't for the Indianapolis farce. Podiums in Budapest and Shanghai were Ralf's reward. His final podium was at Melbourne in 2006, a year he got the better of Trulli, but he would not survive a poor 2007, which was in truth as much about Toyota's poor form as his.
Ralf Schumacher has become a bit of a joke in F1 terms, but his legacy is tainted by the inevitable comparison with a brother who no-one managed to hold a candle to in the decade Ralf was in F1. On his own merits, he could not be described as a top drawer driver, but he was occasionally brilliant, and far better than his current reputation would suggest. From 1999-2001 he was quite excellent, and his whole career faced the difficulty of living under the longest shadow. For this, maybe it is time to give Ralf a bit of respect.
His first podium came in Buenos Aires in his third race, but Fisichella was to take two by the end of the season - at Fisi's customary excellent performances at Montreal and Spa. 1998 started poorly for Schumacher and his brother's old nemesis Damon Hill at Jordan, Schumacher scoring their first points at Silverstone. He felt aggreived when ordered to stay behind Hill in their famous one-two at Spa, but he backed that up with a podium at Monza.
He was off to Williams for 1999, where he scored three podiums - at Melbourne, Silverstone and again at Monza, scoring 35 points to his team-mate Zanardi's none. The start of BMW-Williams in 2000 was above expectations with Schumacher taking 3 podiums - Melbourne, Spa and Monza again - and he scored double Jenson Button's points tally.
His big day came at Italy's other track, at Imola, in 2001. Jumping the McLaren lockout of the front row, he lead every lap to dominate. He beat his brother in a straight fight at Montreal and profited from his team-mate's unreliability to be the last winner through the forest at Hockenheim. There were only two other podiums though - including a 4th consecutive Monza podium made less impressive by his team-mate's victory. 4th in the Championship was his reward.
He was 4th again in 2002, only behind Montoya this time, and the winner of one of Ferrari's two aberrations at Sepang. An engine blowout from the lead ended his Monza run as he appeared on the podium 5 times. 2003 was a similar story, with Montoya leading the championship fight up to the penultimate round but not taking more wins than Schumacher, who took advantage of Raikkonen's engine to win at the Nurburgring then backed it up with his final win at Magny-Cours.
Williams' walrus-based error of 2004 was the end of the younger Schumacher's time at the top. He never got to grips with it as well as Montoya and by the time it was improving he'd been involved in a horrible accident at Indianapolis which took the meat out of his season. Runner-up at Suzuka as he returned, he left Williams for Toyota.
Plonking a Toyota on pole at Suzuka, even despite the rainstorm that affected qualifying, must have pleased the executives, but he was edged by Trulli for the Japanese constructors' most productive year, one that would have been rewarded with 3rd in the WCC if it weren't for the Indianapolis farce. Podiums in Budapest and Shanghai were Ralf's reward. His final podium was at Melbourne in 2006, a year he got the better of Trulli, but he would not survive a poor 2007, which was in truth as much about Toyota's poor form as his.
Ralf Schumacher has become a bit of a joke in F1 terms, but his legacy is tainted by the inevitable comparison with a brother who no-one managed to hold a candle to in the decade Ralf was in F1. On his own merits, he could not be described as a top drawer driver, but he was occasionally brilliant, and far better than his current reputation would suggest. From 1999-2001 he was quite excellent, and his whole career faced the difficulty of living under the longest shadow. For this, maybe it is time to give Ralf a bit of respect.