Netflix has dropped the first trailer for Schumacher ’94 – The Birth of a Legend, a new feature-length documentary that takes a look at the season that, you guessed, gave birth to the enduring legend that is Michael Schumacher. When a 25-year-old driver, who had until that point only ever flirted with the top spot, claimed his first Formula 1 World Championship in extraordinary circumstances.
Premiering globally on 2 October, the German-language documentary goes back to the beginning of Schumacher’s ascent, long before five consecutive championships with Ferrari, during one of the most turbulent seasons in the sport’s history.
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I think for many, we all know Schumacher as we’re meant to: as a seven-time world champion and icon of the sport. But the story of the legend has to start somewhere, and for Schumacher, it was 1994, when he opened the season by winning the Brazilian Grand Prix, following up with three successive wins at the Pacific, San Marino, and Monaco Grand Prix.
The documentary speaks to those who were closest to Schumacher during the period – his wife Corinna Schumacher, former Benetton team principal Flavio Briatore, former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone. We see a chapter in his life when he was still driving for Benetton, and the shape of his career was anything but certain.
The Formula 1 historians in the room will remember the 1994 championship as one of the most controversial in the sport’s history. The tragedy of Ayrton Senna's death at Imola had cast a permanent shadow over a season marred by driver penalties and cheating scandals. Schumacher and Damon Hill came to blows both on-track and off, with an increasingly bitter rivalry becoming one of the defining storylines of the 1994 season.
Public spats made their way out of the paddock and into the press; Schumacher eventually took a direct shot at Hill’s credentials as a championship contender. They arrived in Adelaide, separated by a single point; the rivalry had gone well beyond a straightforward battle on track. The title would be decided in suitably Schumacher-esque fashion.
Schumacher ’94 – The Birth of a Legend premieres globally on Netflix on 2 October.