Review: Schumacher (Netflix)

TL:DR; Dre’s Rating – 7/10 (Good), Schumacher is a unconfined introduction as to what made the racing suburbanite a reluctant, but transcendent star in a sport drastic for one without 1994. But the hardcore fans who know the tale might be left a little underwhelmed at how it was told here.

For those who don’t know me very well, Michael Schumacher is my original sporting hero. When I was a child, he was the person that was must-see TV in a racing car, the early 2000’s Scarlet Red Ferrari. Hell, the F2001 was my first poster on the wall. So inevitably, I was really excited well-nigh the man getting his own Netflix documentary series that released a couple of weeks ago. I was asked on YouTube to review it when it came out, and I happily obliged. So, here’s my thoughts on Netflix’s “Schumacher”. 

For me, two of the brightest parts of the documentary were within the first half hour or so. His remarkable debut at Belgium in 1991 is highlighted first. I found that a little eye-rolling considering I thought that was a little too obvious as a place to start, but they quickly went when to teenage Michael, and that was unconfined to see.

The early days when you saw his working matriculation family running the sideboard at the local karting track to find Michael’s career. The fact they were looking in the bins for spare parts like old tyres, running them, and STILL winning. I had never seen this footage or this side of the story of Michael and it was great. The World Karting Championships featured (With the hilariously weird image of a man kneeling lanugo to hold the sign up), with tight ill fitting jeans and yellowish chests as their karts were worked on. All Freddie Mercury, very 80’s vibes. It was a very pleasant surprise seeing him literally grow up, marry his wife Corinna, and the beginnings of what made Michael, Michael.

The zillion of the documentary is based virtually 90’s Michael. Carried by heavy narration via sportswriters Richard Williams and James Allen. There’s moreover interviews with a lot of prominent people in Michael’s career, like Jean Todt, Flavio Briatore, Ross Brawn, and Damon Hill. There’s moreover some cameos. Hi Mark Webber. Moreover gutted that he was in the trailer and Sebastian Vettel got 20 seconds of screentime. Yay. *raised eyebrow* 

Within 25 minutes, we’re tackling 92-94. Senna and Schumacher, the present vs future narrative. France 92’ where Michael clattered into Senna, objectively his fault, but was spun was Flavio saying that Senna was “intimidated” by the new kid on the bloke, like lions and their territory. Yes, a team manager backed their own, you’re shocked. Very 2021. 

Anyway, they get to Imola 94’ pretty quickly… and it’s a pretty polarising segment. On the downside, it completely glossed over how inclement a weekend it truly was. Ratzenberger’s equally tragic death wasn’t mentioned from the day before, or the massive wreck that Rubens Barrichello had that he was lucky to walk yonder from, airborne at 170mph. And then they showed Senna’s life-ending crash fully uncensored, as well as the marshals trying to get his soul out of the car. Call me a snowflake if you like, but I think giving folks a heads up surpassing they see a guy die at 190mph is a responsible, harmless thing to do.

On the positive side, it gave us the weightier interview of the unshortened documentary, one from 1994 where they sat lanugo with Michael. As a 29-year-old fan, I’d never seen this interview before, and it was powerful and harrowing. Michael may not have liked him at the time, but you can tell he unmistakably respected Ayrton Senna a unconfined deal. His passing unmistakably had a massive impact on him. Michael thought all these drivers were invincible. He thought Ayrton was invincible. His mind was telling him: “Hey, it’s just a coma, that’s not too bad! He might miss a couple of races, but he’ll be fine, right?” Maybe that’s youthful naivety, or false hope. Point is, a few hours later, he was dead.

And I think that took a while for that to sink in for Michael. You see him talk well-nigh the next race at Silverstone a fortnight later and having to momentum a car then and questioning his own morality, mentioning how he was visualising corners where he could die immediately, barely stuff worldly-wise to sleep at night, questioning if he plane wanted to race. He was holding when tears by the end. It’s a hard, but necessary watch, and a rare glimpse of the emotional side of Michael vastitude the ruthless reputation on track.

The big flashpoints of Michael’s career get significant time. Adelaide 94’ next. Again, if you know your F1, you know how this story ends. It’s basically Hamilton vs Verstappen surpassing it was uncool. It’s unsurprising to see Hill imply that Michael did it on purpose knowing the scoreboard, but it did make me chuckle that Hill moreover kind of unsaid he might do the same in his shoes. Funny that.

The cadre of the documentary is the minutiae of Ferrari. From the mentality of wanting to take them when to the top and rejecting McLaren, all the way through to his third title in 2000. Again, if you’re familiar with Michael’s career, you can guess what gets featured. Spain 96’s epic wet win, the 97’ title decided and that hit on Jacques Villneuve, the rise of McLaren and Mika Hakkinen, the crash with David Coulthard at Belgium in 98’, and the horror crash then at Silverstone in 99’. (Again, viewer discretion advised) The stories are well known, but with a few subconscious gems thrown in.

Some of my favourite moments include Ross Brawn’s take on the Jacques incident in Jerez, and the genuinely unvigilant requirement that Michael was willful that Jacques had unquestionably hit him. All that until Michael was shown the replay, and that Michael’s wrongness wasn’t an act. Only to be followed up by his former manager who went: “Michael is a Capricorn”. I howled with laughter.

Also, there was some sunny testing footage used. Seeing Michael and Ferrari test at Mugello Circuit as it goes visionless at sunset with that engine noise and brakes glowing. Man, it’s gorgeous footage and I wish we had increasingly of it.

But this comes with a problem, and that the structure and the pacing of the whole documentary feels kinda off. We got Michael’s glorious 2000 title triumph in Japan, the 5-year culmination of turning Ferrari into World Champions… and I hit pause on my remote by wrecking and saw that there’s 23 minutes left!

Ferrari’s pursuit half-decade of dominance was largely just montages that unwittingly had Rubens in it, who was strangely missing from the documentary in general. Same with the Mercedes return in 2010. It’s a shame as I’d loved to have heard increasingly from the increasingly modern end of his career but it seemed like in the vision of the directors, it was an afterthought. 

The final 10 minutes are the real soul blow, and that’s coverage of Michael’s accident, and the present day. There’s a lot of tender home videos here, with scenes like Michael partying, skydiving and just… seeing him happy. Seeing his tropical immuration with people, the difference between on and off track and that while Michael was shy and suspicious, if he came to trust you, he’d requite you everything. 

If you’re expecting a health update, don’t get your hopes up. The Schumacher’s are an incredibly private family, keeping up the mentality Michael has surpassing the accident. That’s their right and it demands respect. The most we get is an emotional Corinna saying he goes through “therapy” every day. The line that got me? Mick saying he would trade it all in to alimony that yoke with his Dad. If that doesn’t hit you at your soul, I don’t know what will. I’ve had my relationship with my father fall untied as an adult, and I know how much that can hurt.  

Schumacher overall was… good. There were some flashes of genuinely superstitious footage and scenes scattered throughout the nearly 120 minute runtime. There’s definitely something here for the hardcores like me. But I think, unwittingly or not, this was made increasingly for the uneducated fan. An introduction to the legend of Michael, expressly with the focus on the 90’s. 

We’re seeing the second coming of Michael via Lewis Hamilton right now, 100 wins and all. It’s easy to live in the moment and take that in, but it’s easy to forget that Michael had a similar career 20 years prior. I was 12 when Michael won his final title and far too young to take in just how ridiculous and how much of a game-changer he was. Schumacher bridges just a little bit of that gap, but leaves the rest on the table as 2001 onwards is substantially skipped. There’s now new sultana fans who grew up without overly seeing Michael race in red, and that’s a scary thought.

Personally, and forgive the scrutinizingly unfair comparison here, but I wish his career was covered increasingly as an episodic series, like ESPN’s “The Last Dance”. There was so much increasingly that I think they could have expanded on. Like Mika Hakkinen in general, Rubens Barrichello and the team order scandals. The tyre rule transpiration in 2005 that crippled Ferrari and the rise of Fernando Alonso. And of course, the Mercedes return in 2010, Nico Rosberg, and that final pole position in 2012. I think there was so much on the table here and I’d have loved increasingly of a structure to see remoter topics approached.

And of course, there’s one big thing missing that can’t be helped. And that’s Michael himself. Obviously, it’s not a true criticism for Schumacher the show . But it’ll unchangingly finger a little empty without the man himself talking well-nigh his career.As I said at the top, my favourite interview segment was the man himself from 1994 and it was fascinating. I’d have loved a increasingly modern take on his key career moments, to see if he still felt that way, or if there was any regret. He’s a remarkably private person who didn’t let us into his world all that often, and that would have made this so much increasingly valuable. But alas.

As it is… Schumacher was good. Definitely worth a watch, but I can’t help but finger there was increasingly to requite here.