It was exactly 10 years ago, on June 24, 2012, that Michael Schumacher stood on a Formula 1 podium for the last time, at the historic European Grand Prix - which featured a memorable performance by Fernando Alonso
I will begin this text by asking you for poetic license. I would like to recall a line from the character Andy Bernard, played by Ed Helms, in the American sitcom The Office. In the last episode of the sitcom, Andy looks at the camera and says that "I wish there was a way to know you were in the good old days before you actually left them." It is possible to adapt this sentence to June 24, 2012, exactly 10 years ago.
On that day, Formula One was experiencing one of the most chaotic races in its recent history. In Valencia, for the European GP, Fernando Alonso won his second race of the year - the first driver to achieve such a feat in the season, which was reaching its eighth round (!!!!!!!!!). And it was a triumph achieved in a heroic way: the then Ferrari driver started 11th, overtook after overtaking on a very complicated track, and had Sebastian Vettel retire on lap 33 to win.
Alonso had a memorable performance. The best of his career, according to him, the best of that season, for sure. Some say it is one of the five best performances of the century in Formula 1. The fact is that while the Ferrari driver was in tears listening to the anthem of his homeland after an improbable triumph, next to him was a familiar face in the third place position.
As fate would have it, in a special race, this was one of the most special podiums in the history of Formula One. There, on that third place step, was Michael Schumacher, on his 155th podium. The last one.
It was the first and only one for the seven-time world champion at Mercedes. And that 2012 season was not exactly smooth sailing for Schumacher. Quite the opposite. His teammate Nico Rosberg had already won one race in the championship, at the Chinese GP. In other words: the Mercedes car was therefore able to fly higher compared to previous years. But the experienced German could not get the best out of the W03.
In that same race in China, while Rosberg had secured the pole-position, Schumacher had secured the third position on the starting grid. The German had been doing well and was promising a podium finish. But in the 12th turn of the race, a loose tire after his first pit-stop forced him to retire. In Monaco, the seven-time champion was the pole-position, but a punishment from the previous race, in Spain, dropped him to the sixth position. In the end, it didn't matter: Schumacher also had to abandon the race on the streets of Monte Carlo. Points, really, only two: one in Malaysia and another in Bahrain.
We arrived, then, at Valencia. The opportunity to turn the season around presented itself, and Schumacher took it - but not without a lot of drama first. In qualifying practice, after a trouble-free Q1, came the problematic Q2. The seven-time world champion made a mistake in his first lap attempt, and in the second round he was noticeably more cautious. The result: a time of 1min38s770 and 12th place on the starting grid - while teammate Rosberg once again stamped his passport for the final part of qualifying.
For the race, Schumacher would start next to Alonso, 11th, on the sixth row. And, just like the Spaniard, he took advantage of the chaos ahead - not without first surviving Bruno Senna's slight touch in his Mercedes. After being overtaken by Jenson Button and falling to 13th, the seven-time world champion saw the German team change its strategy: from one to two pit stops.
This is what saved Schumacher's race. The reason? On lap 27, Jean-Éric Vergne used DRS to overtake Heikki Kovalainen at turn 12. So far, so good. But the Frenchman thought his Toro Rosso was already completely ahead of the rival Caterham, when it was not. Conclusion: collision, a lot of debris on the track, and a safety car.
As he had stopped 10 laps earlier, it made no sense for Schumacher to go into the pits - as most of the grid did, taking advantage of the safety car. This caused the German to move up to seventh. And seventh place soon became sixth, when leader Sebastian Vettel - who had opened a 20s lead on second place before the safety car - was forced to retire due to alternator problems.
As soon as Daniel Ricciardo - who had not stopped during the safety car - finally went into the pits, Schumacher was behind Mark Webber in fifth. Both the Mercedes and Red Bull driver soon made their respective second pit stops. So, with 16 laps to go of the epic race in Valencia, Schumacher was 11th - ahead of the Australian.
With new soft tires, both Schumacher and Webber were flying on the track. Vitaly Petrov, Button, Sergio Pérez, Paul di Resta, Nico Rosberg (who pit-stopped at the end) and Nico Hülkenberg were all left behind. With two laps to go, the top-5 in Valencia was Alonso-Hamilton-Räikkönen-Maldonado-Schumacher.
But on the penultimate lap... the podium fell into Schumi's lap. In the best Maldonado style, the Williams driver used DRS to overtake Hamilton at turn 13, but the then McLaren member closed the door and took the line of the track for himself. When the Venezuelan tried to get back on track, he ended up hitting the Briton hard, throwing his opponent into the wall. Essentially, it was the end of the race for both of them: Hamilton, obviously, had to retire, while Maldonado carried damage to his front wing and, even though he fell to the grid, managed to finish the race (not that it mattered, after all, he was punished 20s after the end of the race).
And so it was. Alonso won - and with the victory, the Spaniard was responsible for taking 111 of Ferrari's 122 points in the season (yes, you did not read wrong). It says a lot about the ability of the two-time world champion driver that his best year in F1 didn't result in a title; after all, that F2012 of the Italian outfit was not unjustly nicknamed one of the worst cars to be a championship contender in F1 history. Räikkönen was second. Schumacher, third. Average podium age? 35 years, 8 months and 8 days. All, with deep connections to the Italian stadium.
"I really didn't think I got the podium at the end of the race. It was crossing the line that I asked the garage staff, 'where did we finish?' When they told me 'podium', I couldn't believe it. It's something I really didn't expect. You kind of lose count, because I was so busy in the last stages of the race," said a surprised Schumacher.
"It's moments like that, definitely, that you enjoy deeply. It's a wonderful feeling to be back (on the podium) after so long. We've been close to it a few times. It happened quite spectacularly, on a track where it's hard to pass, but because of various strategies and differences on the track it was quite exciting and that's obviously the best way to go. It makes you unexpectedly happier," summed up the seven-time world champion.