End of an era for Schumacher and Toyota

After two years with Toyota, Ralf Schumacher has said goodbye to the Formula One team. With a career spanning ten years, CoverGirl Car Insurance Services takes a look back at one of motorsport's greatest drivers and wishes him all the best for the future.

While sat at home watching the races, it's easy to forget the hard work and dedication that most of the drivers have gone through to get to where they are today. In fact, even the biggest sports enthusiasts might not have any idea about their favourite driver's history. After Ralf Schumacher made an announcement on his personal website that he would be leaving Toyota at the end of the year, we thought it would be a good idea to take a look back at his career to date.

Schumacher, the early years
Ralf Schumacher was born in 1975 near Cologne, Germany, which was around about the same time that Toyota was making a growing presence in North America; little did his parents realise that he would one day be driving for the car manufacturer's Formula One team.

Ralf is the younger brother of Michael Schumacher, a former Formula One driver, who has often been described as one of the best drivers in the event's industry. Ralf showed early signs of having an interest in racing when, aged just three years old, he started racing his parents' go-kart at their family home in Kerpen.

Racing career
Years before working with Toyota, Ralf began his Formula One racing career with Jordan. During this time, one of Ralf's greatest achievements was coming close second to fellow team mate Damon Hill at the Belgian Grand Prix.

Two years later, and after hearing that a deal with BMW had been made, Ralf joined the Williams team. At the beginning of his career with Williams, Ralf scored three podium finishes and came sixth in the World Drivers Championship.

In 2002, he won the Malaysian Grand Prix and in 2003 went on to win the European Grand Prix.
But then, in 2004, Ralf suffered serious personal injuries in a motoring crash during the United States Grand Prix. He sustained concussion, spinal fractures and was forced to spend four days in hospital and months recovering at home in bed. Fortunately, this did not mark the end of his career.

Ralf transferred to the Toyota Formula One team in 2005 but was initially out-performed by his team mate Jarno Trulli. Despite this, Ralf went on to finish eighth in Malaysia, came third in Australia and secured fourth position in France.

But sadly, in October 2006, Ralf announced that he would be leaving Toyota after spending two years with the Formula One team. On announcement of his resignation, Schumacher said: "Having been a Toyota driver for the past three years, I have opted to look for a new challenge.

"Toyota was still a nice and interesting experience - particularly the co-operation with the team, engineers and mechanics. But it's time now to look for a new challenge."

Toyota motorsport president John Howett acknowledged Schumacher's decision and told the media: "We accept Ralf's decision and we wish him the best for the future."This does not fundamentally change Toyota's position; we are still looking at the drivers' market. It just means Ralf is not on our list of candidates any more."

On behalf of sports enthusiasts, we at the CoverGirl Car Insurance Services, the experts in woman car insurance, hope Ralf Schumacher continues to be a success on the circuit and we wish him all the best for the future.

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