Michael Schumacher (IPA-de?m?�a?e?l ??u?max?-De-Michael-Schumacher.ogg; born 3 January 1969) is a Formula One racing driver, currently driving for Mercedes GP. He is a seven-time World Champion (List of Formula One World Drivers Champions) and according to the official Formula One website is "statistically the greatest driver the sport has ever seen"; he holds many of the formulas driver records (List of Formula One driver records), including most championships (List of Formula One driver records#Total championships), race victories (List of Formula One driver records#Total wins), fastest laps (List of Formula One driver records#Total fastest laps), pole positions (List of Formula One driver records#Total pole positions), points scored (List of Formula One driver records#Career points) and most races won in a single season - 2004 (2004 Formula One season). In 2002 (2002 Formula One season) he became the only driver in the sport to complete an entire season finishing 1st, 2nd or 3rd in all races.

After beginning with go-karts (Kart racing), Schumacher won German drivers championships in Formula K�nig and Formula Three, before joining Mercedes (Mercedes-Benz in motorsport) in the World Sportscar Championship. After one Mercedes-funded race for the Jordan (Jordan Grand Prix) Formula One team, Schumacher signed as a driver for the Benetton (Benetton Formula) Formula One team in 1991. After winning consecutive championships with Benetton in 1994/5, Schumacher moved to Ferrari (Scuderia Ferrari) in 1996 and won another five consecutive drivers titles with them from 2000-2004. Schumacher retired from Formula One driving in 2006, staying with Ferrari as an advisor. After an aborted attempted comeback for Ferrari as cover for the injured Felipe Massa, Schumacher signed a 3 year contract to drive for the new Mercedes GP team in 2009.cite weburl=title=Michael happy to help publisher=Michael Schumacher - Official Website date= accessdate=2009-08-08

Schumacher is the only German to have won the Formula One championship (Jochen Rindt raced under the Austrian flag), and is credited with popularizing the sport in Germany. His career has not been without controversy, including being twice involved in collisions in the final race of a season that determined the outcome of the world championship, with Damon Hill in the 1994 (1994 Formula One season) in Adelaide (1994 Australian Grand Prix), and with Jacques Villeneuve in 1997 (1997 Formula One season) in Jerez (1997 European Grand Prix).

Off the track, Schumacher is an ambassador for UNESCO and a spokesman for driver safety. He has been involved in numerous humanitarian efforts throughout his life and donated tens of millions of dollars to charity. Michael and his younger brother Ralf Schumacher are the only brothers to win races in Formula One, and they were the first brothers to finish 1st and 2nd in the same race, in Montreal in 2001 (2001 Canadian Grand Prix), and again in 2003 (2003 Canadian Grand Prix).