Belgian Grand Prix 1998: How Michael Schumacher’s Race Turned Into Rage

“Are you f*cking trying to kill me?”, these were the words of Michael Schumacher after losing a race that he was leading when David Coulthard crashed into him. 

As Coulthard’s McLaren approached to lap Schumacher, who was comfortably leading in his Ferrari at the rain-soaked 1998 Belgian Grand Prix, Schumacher collided with the back of the McLaren, losing both his front wing and a wheel. With both drivers eliminated from the race, however, the drama had only just started.

Drama from the beginning

The race was a fiercely contested championship with significant stakes. Mika Hakkinen and McLaren engaged Ferrari and Michael Schumacher in a titanic battle for championship glory. On the track and in the pit wall, psychological fights predominated, creating one of the most famous team rivalries. Hakkinen led the title by seven points at this stage. That’s about 13 points in today’s currency.  But McLaren needed a strong return after strategic genius had enabled Schumacher and Ferrari emerge triumphant in Hungary. After locking out the front row at Spa, it got off to a great start but quickly descended into despair. Even by 1990s standards, the idea of holding the race today would have been absurd due to the terrible rain at Spa Francorchamps in 1998. There are undoubtedly parallels to the infamous 2021 two-lap race, even if the conditions were different.

It was extremely lucky that none of the drivers suffered any serious injuries. At lights out, David Coulthard’s spin resulted in one of the most notorious crashes in Formula One history, eliminating 12 of the 22 drivers in one go. Only eighteen of the twenty-two vehicles would remain when the race resumed.

Michael Schumacher’s Wrath

Before entering the pits nose to tail, both cars completed the remainder of the lap. When the McLaren technicians started working on Coulthard’s car, their red-clad colleagues joined them in the garage to try to calm a furious Schumacher.

“When I saw Michael storming into our garage, I was still wearing my helmet by my parked McLaren,” Coulthard stated in an interview. With a thunder-face, Schumacher was dragged back to the Ferrari garage, aware that his hopes of winning the championship had been severely damaged in a seemingly cynical manner. 

At Monza two weeks later, Coulthard would bear the brunt of that. Coulthard needed to avoid trouble on the Scuderia’s home pitch because he had suddenly become despised by the Italian supporters.

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