Do we like Michael Schumacher?
Our score: 7 out of 10. No harmful words or company turned up, a generous record off track, and two deliberate on-track moves that stain his name.
Schumacher is the German seven-time world champion who defined an era of Formula One, and a man who has been out of public view for years. His family has kept things private, so this card sticks to the racing and the public record.
The black mark on his name is Jerez, 1997. Level on the title chase with Jacques Villeneuve, he turned in on him on lap 48 and ended up beached in the gravel while Villeneuve carried on. The FIA stripped him of his 1997 points, and the sport still argues about it.
Then Monaco, 2006. He stopped his Ferrari at Rascasse right as Fernando Alonso was lining up a faster lap, and the stewards sent him to the back of the grid. He apologised for the disruption but said it was not his intention. Todt, who ran Ferrari, said in April 2026 that Schumacher “did not know how to cheat” but did it twice, and he put both moves down to emotion.
Weber came out swinging, saying anyone who knows Schumacher knows there was no malicious intent. So the old argument is back. Where you land depends on whether you read those moments as a champion crossing a line in the heat of it, or as a pattern. Todt himself is asking for understanding.
On the harm test, there's nothing to report. We found no statements against LGBTQ+ people, women, migrants or the planet, and no pattern of working with people who push that kind of thing. That is a thin record, because he has rarely spoken about politics, so it is an absence rather than a ringing endorsement.
The good stuff is real. After the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami he gave around US$10 million to UNICEF, about a tenth of his yearly earnings, and Todt still cites it. That is the other side of the ledger from Jerez.