Nickname: Schumi or Schuey
Date of Birth: 3rd January 1969
Nationality: German
Place of Birth: Germany
Height: 1.74m
Weight: 75kg
Residency1: Switzerland
Status2: Married on Tuesday,1st August, 1995
Hobbies: Soccer, tennis, swimming and skiing
Career
Michael Schumacher is considered by many to be the greatest driver of his generation and is expected to rewrite most Formula 1 records by the time he calls it a day3.
Michael Schumacher started out his racing career in the same way as all the great drivers, in karting4. At four years old his father built him a kart5 and soon after he became a member of the local kart club. In Germany a person should be 14 years old to get a kart license. So he went to Luxembourg6 and got a kart license there. In Luxembourg a person can get a kart license at the age of 12. In 1983 he got his German license and the year after he won the German Junior Kart Championships. In 1985 he won the German Junior Championships again and came second in the Junior World Championships in Le Mans7.
In 1986 he took part in the German Senior Kart Championships for the first time, and at his very first attempt came third in the final rankings8. The same thing happened at the European Senior Championships. In 1987 he had his greatest victory yet: Michael Schumacher won both the German and the European Senior Kart Championships.
Michael made his Formula 1 debut9 in 1991. Ever since, he built up both his fame and driving skills step by step and won a lot of games. In the 1996 season Michael moved to Ferrari10, the famous F1 group, with a reported salary of $30 million, and he stayed there till today.
Formula 1 racing is considered by many to be the most exciting sport in the world. And few drivers have dominated11 it like Michael Schumacher. He was winner of back-to-back12 Formula One world driving championships in 1994 and 1995, and then again in 2000, 2001 and 2002.
During his successful career, his manager, Willi Weber, played an important role. Willi Weber has been his manager since 1989. In 1989, Weber invited him to a test drive in his WTS (Weber Tuning Stuttgart) Formula 3 team. At the test drive, Schumacher was 1.5 seconds faster than the best member of his team. Then a contract was signed. Schumacher was to serve 3 years in his WTS team. Weber in return receives 20% of all income Michael earns from motor races. The initial13 agreement was to last 10 years; however it was later extended14 for a further several years.
问：在你的车手生涯中，汽车技术起到了什么样的作用？
答：我是位汽车机械师，这是我的职业，所以对赛车技术有一些最基本的了解。至于电子技术，我知道的不多。这方面我肯定不是专家，也没有必要，因为这方面我们拥有一流的专家，但我知道电子技术对我和我的车非常重要。我认为，能够恰当地同我的工程师沟通很重要，要告诉他们具体情况，而不仅仅是“感觉不对”。
问：一级方程式赛车事故频繁给人一种印象——这是一项危险的运动。你同意吗？在比赛中赛车手要采取什么样的预防措施？你采取了额外的预防措施吗？
答：的确，从某种意义上讲，F1是危险的运动。换句话说，你不能百分之百地消除危险，但我们尽最大努力减少危险。我们不断地改善赛道内外的安全状况。我是国际汽车大奖赛车手协会的成员，该协会同国际汽车联合会每时每刻都保持联系，向其提供改善赛道布局、建造特殊弯道等方面的建议。这些改进措施我们做得非常成功。对赛手而言，除了防火服外，没有什么需要特别注意的地方。如果有，那就是不要冒无谓的风险。
问：比赛时，我们经常看到在修理站有一群机械师，他们有什么重要的作用？
答：如果没有他们，任何人都无法参加比赛。很简单，F1是一项集体参与的比赛，即使有时人们会忘记这一点。车手离不开他的团队，他们要控制整个比赛，必要时还要对比赛做出更改。
问：你玩过F1电脑赛车游戏吗？他们同真的F1车赛到底相差多远？
答：我曾玩过一些电脑赛车游戏，但我从中没有得到什么真正的收获。它们同真正的赛车风马牛不相及，我不相信人们可以从中学到东西。
问：最后一个问题，你目前是F1世界冠军，被认为是有史以来最伟大的车手之一，那么请告诉我们怎样做才能在F1中获得成功？
答：如果我能告诉你答案，那么任何人都能够。我要说的是，这里面没有什么秘密让你去借鉴。我认为，要成功你得有相当的天赋、严格的自律和端正的工作态度。后两项你可以左右，天赋则是天生的。
职业生涯
许多人认为舒马赫是他这一代人中最伟大的车手，人们希望他到退役的时候能改写绝大多数一级方程式车赛的纪录。
像所有杰出的赛车手一样，舒马赫的赛车生涯是从卡丁车开始的。在他4岁时，父亲为他做了一辆卡丁车，不久他就加入了当地的卡丁车俱乐部。在德国，一个人要到14岁才有资格拿到卡丁车驾照，于是舒马赫去卢森堡拿了个卡丁车驾照——在卢森堡拿卡丁车驾照的年龄限制是年满12岁。1983年，他拿到德国的卡丁车驾照，次年就获得德国少年卡丁车锦标赛冠军。1985年，他又一次获得德国少年卡丁车锦标赛冠军，同年还获得在法国勒芒举行的世界少年卡丁车锦标赛第二名。
1986年，他第一次参加德国卡丁车锦标赛，初出茅庐就获得总成绩第三。在欧洲卡丁车锦标赛中他夺得季军。1987年，舒马赫取得他职业生涯以来最辉煌的成绩——一举夺得德国和欧洲卡丁车锦标赛双料冠军。
1991年，舒马赫第一次参加一级方程式车赛。此后，他的车技和声望与日俱增，夺得了多项比赛的冠军。在96赛季，他加盟著名的法拉利车队，据说年薪高达3000万美元，直到今天他还在为
法拉利车队效力。
很多人认为一级方程式车赛是世界上最激动人心的比赛，很少有人能像舒马赫那样称霸F1车坛。他于1994、1995、2000、2001和2002年先后五次获得年度车手总冠军。
在他成功的职业生涯中，他的经纪人威利·韦伯起了非常重要的作用。韦伯从1989年起就是他的经纪人，那一年韦伯邀请舒马赫在他的WTS三级方程式车队中试训，结果舒马赫比队中最好的车手还要快1.5秒。接着，韦伯和舒马赫签订合同，舒马赫在WTS车队中参加3年的比赛，韦伯则收取舒马赫比赛收入的20%作佣金。他们最初的协议为期10年，然而后来又延长了几年。
An Interview
with Shumacher
舒马赫访谈
Q: What role has technology played in your development as a driver?
MS: I am a car mechanic15; this is my profession, so I have a kind of basic experience with this racing car technology. As concerns the electronics16, I don't know all the details. I am not a specialist for sure. And I don't need to be, as we have very good specialists in that field. But I know what electronics can do for me, for my car. I think it is quite important to be able to communicate properly with my engineers, to tell them more than just a "strange feeling" I might have.
Q: The accidents in Formula 1 give the impression that it is a dangerous sport． Would you agree? What are the safety precautions17 taken by drivers during a race? Do you take any additional precautions?
MS: In a way it is a dangerous sport, sure. Namely, in the way that you cannot remove all risks to 100 per cent. But we work hard to reduce it to the lowest level. We constantly try to improve safety on and off the tracks. I am one of the directors of the GPDA18, the Grand Prix Drivers Association, which is in constant touch with the FIA19 to give suggestions for improvement about track layout20, special corners, and so on. And we have been very successful in these improvements. As for the drivers themselves, there are no special things beside fireproof21 clothes, or, maybe, not to risk too much if you don't have to.
Q: We always see a crowd of technicians in the pits22 during a race． How important is their role in the race?
MS: Without them none of us could race. It's as simple as this—Formula 1 is a team-sport, even if sometimes people tend to forget this. As a driver you are very much dependant on your team. They have to control everything and, if needed, change something.
Q: Have you played any of the computer games built around Formula 1 racing? How close do they come to the real thing?
MS: I have tried a few computer racing games and I haven't had any real feedback23 out of them. They are much too far away from reality. I would even deny24 you could learn anything from them since they have nothing to do with real driving.
Q: Finally, you are the current Formula 1 world champion and are considered to be one of the greatest drivers of all time． So, tell us what does it take to succeed in Formula 1?
MS: If I really could tell this, everyone could do so. What I want to say with this is that there is no special secret with it, which you can simply follow. I think you need a lot of talent, and a lot of discipline and work ethics25 to make it. The second part you can influence, the first you cannot.
F1赛车知识
F1是Formula One 的缩写，中文译为一级方程式赛车。按共同的方程式（规则限制）造出来的车称为方程式赛车，其中等级最高为F1，其次是3000方程式，再其次是三级方程式。F1在现今赛车领域所代表的地位就如奥运，或是世界杯足球赛。目前F1共有11支参赛车队，每场比赛最多只有22位车手上场，每年规划16至17站比赛，通常约在三月中开跑，十月底结束赛季。就像一般的道路驾驶一样，F1也需要驾照，是一张由FIA颁发的特别驾照，只发给在F3000，F3或CART系列赛事中表现杰出的车手，通常一位车手要花8年的时间才能从卡丁车（karting）逐步升级到F1。
1. residency n．住所
2． status n．婚姻状况
3． call it a day终止、退役
4． karting n．卡丁车赛(微型汽车赛车运动)
5． kart n．卡丁车，微型单座竞赛汽车（cart的变体）
6． Luxembourg n．卢森堡(西欧国家)
7． Le Mans n．勒芒, 法国西北部一城市，位于巴黎西南
8． ranking n．排名
9． debut n．初次出场
10． Ferrari法拉利车队
11． dominate v．统治、支配
12． back－to－back紧接着的，连续的
13． initial adj．最初的
14． extend v．延长
15． mechanic n．机械师
16． electronics n．电子技术
17． precaution n．措施
18． GPDA国际汽车大奖赛车手协会
19． FIA国际汽车联合会
20． layout n．布局
21． fireproof adj．防火的
22． pits [pits] n．(赛车声中跑道旁边的)修车处，加油站
23． feedback n．反馈、反应
24． deny v．否认
25． ethics n．伦理、道德