German F1 drivers before the arrival of Mr Schumacher…….

As a fan of the 1988 to 1995 period of Formula One I was witness (as we all were) to the arrival of a certain Michael Schumacher onto the grid at the Belgium Grand Prix in 1991. A Formula Three champion in Germany and a Mercedes sportscar driver he was well on his way to establishing himself in motorsport before his F1 debut, but a quick move across to Benetton and within four seasons he was a double world champion.

However before his arrival there were a number of German drivers who raced in this late ‘80’s / early 90’s period of the sport without quite the impact. At a time when a large number of teams and therefore drivers were able to try and qualify for each race there were a larger than normal number of opportunities for up and coming drivers.

Just like our current 2020 world of Formula One there were also a very small number of teams who were likely to be challenging for race or championship victories, but five drivers from Germany raced (or at least attempted to pre-qualify or qualify ) over this time.

I should also note at this point that there were of course a number of drivers from Germany who had raced since the inception of the World Championship in 1950 – notably Wolfgang von Trips (double race winner for Ferrari in 1961), Jochen Mass (race winner for McLaren in 1975) and of course Stefan Bellof and Manfred Winklehock in the 1980’s.

After the deaths of both Bellof and Winklehock it was Christian Danner who next made the step up from Formula 3000 champion in 1985 to Formula One driver with the Zakspeed team, also from Germany. His two races for the team both ended in mechanical failures, but a return to the grid for Osella in 1986 for 6 races in turn led to a seat for the Arrows team and at the Austrian Grand Prix his first points finish.

In 1987 Christian returned with Zakspeed, team mate to Martin Brundle, and six race finishes all outside of the points. After a season of touring car racing he returned with the Rial team in 1989 and although the car / team were relatively uncompetitive he scored a fourth place in the US Grand Prix – a race with a significant number of retirements. As Murray Walker often said “to finish first, first you have to finish” ……fourth in Christian’s case!

Bernd Schneider spent two seasons attempting to drag the Zakspeed car around the F1 circuits of the world in 1988 and 1989 – a record of 32 races, only 8 starts and only 2 finishes is very much a reflection of the machinery than the driver, and after 2 races for Arrows in 1990 his F1 career ended.

Volker Weidler, better known as a Le Mans winner alongside Johnny Herbert and Bertrand Gachot for Mazda in 1991, had one season in Formula One in 1989 racing for Rial. Ten races entered; 8 times he was unable to pre-qualify, once he didn’t qualify and in the German Grand Prix he was excluded after receiving a push start!

Jo Winklehock, the late Manfred’s younger brother, raced for the AGS team in 1989 – straight after winning the 1988 German Formula Three championship. 7 races for the French team all led to non-pre qualification, and his short F1 career ended mid-season.

Last of the group is Michael Bartels who attempted to qualify for 4 races in 1991 for the Lotus team. He was subbing for Johnny Herbert who had racing commitments in Japan, but four attempts to qualify all led to him sitting out the Sunday races.

What is significant however is that almost all of these drivers were able to shine in other racing formula, namely Touring Cars. In more level motor racing championships (where the mechanical gap between the front and back of the grid is far less than in Formula One), with a degree of manufacturer support Schneider won the DTM 5 times, International Touring Car Championship once and the FIA GT once as well!

Winklehock won the British Touring Car Championship (1993) and the German Super Touring title in 1995, as well as Le Mans for BMW in 1999. Danner finished 5th in the 1993 DTM championship, in what was a very competitive year for the series, and Bartels was a race winner in the same series in 1995.

Whilst Schumacher made the headlines in 1991, went on to win 7 Drivers titles and wrote a large chunk of Formula One history, clearly his compatriots were also very quick drivers, who it could be argued didn’t quite have the slice of luck / support or the many other aspects that make up the world of racing to make anywhere near the same impression on the Formula One world……..but they were all very, very quick drivers and paved the way with Schumacher for a continuing line of racing drivers from Germany.