Ralf Schumacher
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Ralf Schumacher (born June 30, 1975) is a German Formula One racing driver for the Toyota team. He is the younger brother of seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher and started racing at age three on his parents' go-kart track in their hometown of Kerpen.
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In 1995, he finished third in the German Formula 3 championship, and then won the Japanese Formula Nippon championship (ex Japanese F3000) Championship in 1996 with two race wins.
Ralf made his Formula One debut in 1997 with the Jordan team and finished on the podium in just his third race, at Argentina. In 1999 he changed to the Williams team and finished sixth in the World Drivers Championship with the underpowered Supertec engine.
The 2000 season was considered by many a bit of a disappointment for Ralf. Running the powerful new BMW engine, he was expected to compete for wins, but despite only four mechanical failures, he was only able to match the three podium finishes of the previous year. In 2001, however, he broke through with his first three Grand Prix wins at Imola, Montreal and Hockenheim. In 2002, he won the Malaysian Grand Prix, and in 2003, he won the European Grand Prix (at the Nurburgring) and the French Grand Prix, helping, along with teammate Juan Pablo Montoya the Williams team finish second in the Constructors Championship in 2002 and 2003.
On June 20 2004, Ralf was seriously injured in a severe accident at the United States Grand Prix. The acceleration was measured at 78 G's (765 m/s²), one of the most severe in all of motor racing history, resulting in a concussion as well as two minor fractures to his spinal column. The accident effectively ended Ralf's career with Williams.
In 2005, Ralf transferred to the Toyota team.
| Constructors and drivers competing in the 2005 Formula One championship: | |||||||||
| Ferrari | BAR | Renault | Williams | McLaren | Sauber | Red Bull | Toyota | Jordan | Minardi |
| 1 M Schumacher 2 Barrichello | 3 Button 4 Sato | 5 Alonso 6 Fisichella | 7 Webber 8 Heidfeld | 9 Räikkönen 10 Montoya | 11 Villeneuve 12 Massa | 14 Coulthard 15 Klien | 16 Trulli 17 R Schumacher | 18 Monteiro 19 Karthikeyan | 20 Friesacher 21 Albers |
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