Young Michael Schumacher confused with delivery boy in hilarious back-story
A remarkable back-story told by Andy Stevenson, then a mechanic at the Jordan Grand Prix team, sheds light on how Schumacher impressed.
"Eddie came to us and said: Bertrand can't drive,” Stevenson told Bild.
Bertrand Gachot, Eddie Jordan’s main driver in 1991, was in jail for attacking a taxi driver.
"Eddie said: 'We have this young driver, Michael, who drove in Japan,'” Stevenson explained.
“We were supposed to stay longer one evening for his seat adjustment.
“So we were still late at the factory, and suddenly a young delivery man came.
“And then we realised: This isn't a delivery man, it's our new Formula 1 driver!”
But Stevenson soon became aware that he wasn’t dealing with an ordinary driver.
“His level of professionalism was already beyond anything we had experienced with other drivers,” he recalls.
“From the moment Michael sat in the car, he immediately knew what he wanted.
“He was totally hands-on, wanted to get involved and help with everything.”
Schumacher had completed a test drive at Silverstone a week before his F1 debut at the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix.
“After two or three laps he was already faster than anything we had previously achieved,” said Stevenson.
“He was beating lap times over lap times.
“I distinctly remember saying to a friend after the testing session 'we've just tested a future world champion'.
“It was completely obvious. He let the car dance through the chicanes.”
The rest is history for Schumacher - a joint-record seven F1 championships, two with Benetton before five-in-a-row for Ferrari during his heyday.
He came out of retirement for three seasons with Mercedes to end his career.
Meanwhile, Eddie Jordan sold his F1 team in 2005.
It became Force India, then Racing Point, then Aston Martin.
Stevenson remains involved, now as Aston Martin’s sporting director.
He recalls a small garage with 12 people working in it. Aston Martin’s HQ now has 700 employees.
“We designed the car on paper in the garage back then and built it with our own hands,” Stevenson said.
“At that time we had three designers for the car. Today there are about 300.”
Stevenson now works alongside the team’s star driver Fernando Alonso, who competed against Schumacher years ago.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
