Michael Schumacher spent much of the 1999 Formula 1 season on the sidelines after his leg-breaking British Grand Prix accident, allowing his number two Eddie Irvine to become Ferrari’s surprise title hope.
Just as Irvine appeared to be on the ropes in his championship fight against McLaren’s Mika Hakkinen (and underdog hero Heinz-Harald Frentzen’s Jordan!) Schumacher returned for the inaugural Malaysian GP and reinvigorated Ferrari’s floundering title bid by blowing everyone away on pace and handing Irvine a win.
It got swiftly taken away with a controversial ruling on bargeboard legality, then given back again.
Gary Anderson and Karun Chandhok join Glenn Freeman to unravel everything that happened in that bizarre row in the latest episode of Bring Back V10s, and to explore whether Schumacher really wanted to be back racing as Irvine’s support act or would’ve preferred to take the rest of the season off – as he’d indicated he planned to just days before a change of heart that seemed to come under pressure from Ferrari chiefs.
ASK US ANYTHING! (about 1989-2005 F1) – Submit your questions for our end-of-series episode using the hashtag #BringBackV10s on Twitter, or you can email bringbackv10s@the-race.com.
Bring Back V10s is available through all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
