SCHUMACHER'S WET WEATHER MASTERCLASS! The Story of the 1996 Spanish Grand Prix

[@TerribleFire]

Herbert taking Verstappen's seat was clearly British Bias.

[@wabba67]

One of those classic 80s/90s wet races that make you think, well, what were they thinking at the time. Anyone could crash at any time, and the visibility was mostly horrendous.

[@AidanMillward]

@@wabba67 and nearly 30 years later people can’t realise that it’s the spray that’s the issue.

[@Bezza49]

Brazil proved we can still have these great races. But Pirelli need to sort the tyres out. Having drivers clinging into inters waiting for a red flag to change tyres isn't right. The inters should be the wets and there should be super-inter between slick and inter. Plus the useless wet can be monsoon tyres.

[@caincha]

I might be misremembering and I accept being correct if that's the case but what I remember from those days was that yes everyone on the media was questioning if Schumacher binned his career going to Ferrari (you gotta remember Ferrari sure wasn't considered a 'real' contender back then) but even though he would stumble for 4 years not winning the tittle he would always come across as 'I'll get there don't worry' I mean he lost the title on those 4 years but apart from 99 when he crashed in Silverstone and had to miss a few races he was always there very close to get the title till the very end. And again the media was bashing him whenever they could and he never seemed to waiver or lose the confidence on himself like he knew he was destined to break records. Like I said I might be misremembering but that's how I remember it.

[@thatguyfromcetialphaV]

Two seconds per lap faster than everyone else in a vastly inferior car. Beast.

[@AidanMillward]

*Second fastest

[@paulclark2947]

I was there for the race. The rain was torrential, tractors were required to pull vehicles out of the car park. Sitting in the uncovered grandstands people were using bin bags with holes for their head & arms, to try and stay dry. I was hoping for Hill victory but Schumacher was in a class apart that day. He was streets ahead of anyone else that day. Awesome performance.

[@theoriginalcraig]

Another masterpiece of history, entertainment, and perfect grammar. Who could ask for anything more?

[@T.E.S.S.]

are you his mum

[@richardtooley9292]

"He didn't have the quickest car by a mile, But he won by a mile" Martin Brundle on Schumacher's drive in 1996 Spanish GP

[@ibex485]

The late-'80s & '90s really was the era of the big 4 teams - Benetton, Ferrari, McLaren & Williams - getting all the wins. Underdog wins almost never happened. After Panis' win in Monaco, we didn't get another until Spa '98. And the last time another team won before then... must have been 1987, when Senna was still at Lotus - which doesn't really count as they were one of the big 4 then. So for the last real underdog win it would have to be Berger at Benetton in 1986, his & the team's first - a whole decade between underdog wins! The irony is that during that time, thanks to not only reliability but even the better teams performance being far less consistent, minnow teams getting podiums was far easier than now and happened regularly. Jordan in 1999 was a huge deal, they had gradually worked their way up the grid and it looked like the big 4 teams had finally become the big 5. But it wasn't to be, in reality it had become the big 3 with Benetton falling back into the midfield out of contention until Renault revived them.

[@old_man_fran]

Great video on my GOAT (yes, even over Latifi). How about a look at the 1994 Spanish GP for one of the greatest drives ever?

[@AidanMillward]

Yeah Damon smashed everyone in that 1994 race. 😅

[@old_man_fran]

@AidanMillward so right, he came from 20 secs down, to win by over 20 secs!! Actually, it was a very nice result for me. Williams won for Senna, and Schumy put on a show as well. Win-win. But I am keen to find out if it's true that Damon's reaction after winning was being really satisfied with his drive and then shocked when he found out what happened with the second placed car...

[@tubadude07]

96 and 97 did have the best looking cars. 97 mainly for me. Jordan stands out.

[@cyberfutur5000]

As someone who started watching F1 one year after you, I can say two things, No definitely not nostalgia and 2) The best looking cars where 1997/98. ^^

[@chrispig7748]

Monaco 97 was one of his best

[@ianwynne764]

"Ferrari hadn't built a Ferrari Formula One car, they had built a Lotus", thank you for making me laugh. Have a really lovely day.

[@cyberfutur5000]

8:34 you know what, seeing that photo with my 2024 eyes makes me change my mind, the car looks cool. Just because it looks so utterly tiny. It also looks a bit like if you'd taken a Ferrari road car from that era but compacted it in some F1 car shaped hydraulic press :D

[@Antanana_Rivo]

6:10 small mistake: Out + Fast + In is 3 laps. So if you've got 12 laps total, you can do 4 fast laps

[@mateboettcher]

And they did. Most of the time in the closing 15 to 20 mins. Boring us to sleep in the opening 35 or so minutes.

[@unusualart2023]

I think this is the race where Murray Walker praised Diniz for being the only driver left who had not been involved in an accident or something.

[@bumblebity2902]

Lando, George and Charles would've been scared of this condtions

[@PaperBanjo64]

But not Max Verstappen!

[@AidanMillward]

They were complaining about it even in 1996.

[@bumblebity2902]

@@AidanMillward now also, that race impossible of strictly revise safety guidelines post-Bianchi era

[@Batters56]

Been waiting for this one! I watched it live on tv! The interesting thing and I hope I remember this right is Michael already had something of an aura around him and this cemented it?

[@luketaylor5848]

In terms of Schumachers best ever drivers, might that be another potential series for you Aiden? F1 drivers and their peak performances. Micheal was lethal at that 4-stop race at Magny-Cours. Hill, Mansell (Silverstone '86 I think) and Hakkinen to name but 3 others from that era had stellar drives like Max at Brazil in '16. Might be worth a gander? Bonus, Alonso vs Schumacher at Imola.

[@thomasdickinson9093]

Just so you're aware... the video titled "Schumacher wetweather masterclass" actually contains alot of info about Damon Hill? Not sure what relevance this has?

[@AidanMillward]

Because Damon and Williams were the champions elect that year, and Williams whacking a dry setup on his car is part of what happened. This left a hole for Michael to go “okay then, watch this!” It makes what he achieved that little bit better since Williams were dicking everyone and Michael had just crashed himself out of a potential Monaco win. So the bounce back against the all dominant Williams makes it more of an achievement considering Damon had lapped everyone but Alesi at Brazil in similar conditions.

[@old_man_fran]

You can't do a video without context. Without info about the Williams, you don't appreciate what was done in the Ferrari. Otherwise the video would be: "Schumacher got in the car and finished the race. There were other drivers around." Not a great video...

[@AidanMillward]

@@old_man_fran this. I’m sure the people that complain about too much Damon Hill or think they’re being clever by going “video starts at… thank me later” are the sort of people who would skip to the end of Star Wars and watch the Death Star Trench Run going “who’s that 7ft tall asthmatic bloke?”

[@old_man_fran]

@AidanMillward I think Herbert gave Han Solo a 10-second penalty for forcing a West Country pilot off the trench. Sky Sports said was well deserved. Biaaas!!

[@shanebox3314]

It was 4 flying laps. 12 laps, a run of out flying in is 3 laps. 12 / 3 = 4. A driver could do more than one flyer in a run but it meant running longer on tyres that probably had seen their best and running additional fuel.

[@RSVTuono]

IndyCars did race in the rain, just not on ovals. I believe Villeneuve won at Road America in the rain.

[@RBot21]

And this is the last time Catalunya have wet race? 😭

[@AidanMillward]

Think it might be.

[@simontravers2715]

Funny jump cut at 9:23 like a Laurel & Hardy video

[@AidanMillward]

I need to upgrade my editing software 😒

[@HangoverTelevision]

When's the story about the race director of this season, who especially accept this race to happen? :D

[@ibex485]

7 million tuning in to watch F1 race after race... Now Sky are over the moon if they can get 1.5 million viewers. Back in the old days F1 had quantity and quality, now it has neither (except for the excessive quantity of races).

[@AidanMillward]

@@ibex485 to be fair to Sky: this was in a period before streaming, before illegal streaming, before the internet was in everyone’s homes (and everyone’s hands) AND at a time where most UK households only had access to 4 or 5 channels.

[@ibex485]

@@AidanMillward True, before Channel 5 even so only 4 channels to watch (unless you had Sky). But the BBC was still getting 6-7 million viewers in 2012 (when they could only show half the races live). Sky in 2012 had about 1 million viewers. Their exclusivity deal over the next decade seemed to only gain them a couple of hundred thousand viewers. Channel 4's limited coverage had higher viewing figures. But that's still at least 3-4 million UK F1 viewers who disappeared. These days many watch... alternate 3rd party streams. But only a tiny number would have been doing that a decade ago. In 2009-2011 in the UK F1 had the best exposure (& quality of coverage) it could ever get. But greed threw that away.

[@AidanMillward]

@ it’s why cricket is becoming more of a fringe sport in England now. Because Sky has the ashes behind a paywall.

[@ibex485]

@@AidanMillward So true. There's hardly any sport left with decent free to air TV coverage. And what coverage there is has mostly been badly degraded in quality (the quality of Channel 4's F1 coverage is far worse than even 3 years ago). We were told in the '90s & '00s this would not be allowed to happen, the worthless promises of politicians.

[@ibex485]

I blame football & the Premiere League. That's where the rot began here in the UK. (It would have happened anyway, spread from other countries, unless there was robust regulation. But I hate football, so going to 100% blame them & Rupert Murdoch regardless.)

[@guif04]

Greatest wet weather drive in history To my memory I can only say senna in Estoril in 1985 and donnington in 1993 as well as Hamilton in 2008 were on this level.

[@aidansmith1354]

So the big question is?……which was the greatest wet weather drive ever?

[@kathrynmiller6947]

Woohoo new Aidan Millward

[@simontravers2715]

@AidanMillward Would u have prime MSC or prime HAM in your dream team? This is with Clark as the other driver

[@PaperBanjo64]

MSC for me

[@antheusmain]

How about Tazio Nuvolari? God I'm waiting the day Aidan makes that video

[@paulreilly3904]

Great idea ​@@antheusmain

[@wingracer1614]

None of the obvious options. 2 prima-donnas together is a bad match. Give me a Senna or Schumacher paired with someone like a Rubens or DC. Might go Clark for #1 if it's pre-1970 cars or Nuvolari if pre-war.

[@mattt525]

The new cars throw HORRIBLE amounts of spray up into the air. We all know how damn hard it would be to try and race without being able to see 2 feet in front of the car. So yes they SHOULD cry about racing in the rain. Yes its dangerous to race but cmon. These guys don't go into a race hoping to die.

[@jtc4119]

Yo