On This Day – January 6 – in 1998, Michael Schumacher came close to legal strife after his controversial Formula 1 title-deciding collision the year previously.
The climax of the 1997 season at Jerez saw Schumacher come together with Williams’ Jacques Villeneuve, in a contentious manoeuvre that decided the championship.
Schumacher was adjudged to have deliberately attempted to take out the Canadian in the collision, in which the Ferrari came off worse, retiring on the spot.
Villeneuve finished third, which was enough to see him defeat the German and take his one and only Drivers’ Championship.
Schumacher felt the full force of the FIA, stripping him of all his points that season, and subsequently admitted to his wrongdoing that it described “deliberate but not premeditated”.
Ferrari was allowed to keep its second place in the Constructors’ Championship, but the incident added an additional blot on Schumacher’s copybook in the eyes of many, the incident coming three years after his collision with Damon Hill at the Australian Grand Prix, for which he received no punishment, winning the first of his seven titles.
But the matter did not initially end there. With Schumacher no doubt wishing for the dust to settle between then and the kick off of the 1998 season, the matter went further.
German authorities explored the possibility of whether the incident would necessitate criminal charges, which were potentially on coercion and attempted murder.
The idea was quickly quashed and Schumacher was free to race, once again taking the title down to the wire, losing out to Mika Hakkinen at the final round at Suzuka.
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