On October 8, 2000, the world of Formula 1 bore witness to a moment of pure sporting drama and redemption as Michael Schumacher finally delivered Ferrari’s first drivers’ championship in over two decades. For the passionate tifosi, the drought since Jody Scheckter’s 1979 triumph had felt endless. But on that unforgettable day at Suzuka, Schumacher crossed the finish line just 1.8 seconds ahead of Mika Hakkinen, cementing his legacy and putting the Prancing Horse back on top of the racing world.
Schumacher’s journey to this crowning moment was anything but straightforward. His Formula 1 career began with a bang in 1991, debuting with Jordan before being snapped up by Benetton. He quickly made a name for himself, clinching back-to-back world titles by 1995. But it was his bold move to Ferrari—a team with a glorious past but little recent success—that set the stage for one of the sport’s most compelling comeback stories.
The early years at Maranello were a mix of brilliance and heartbreak. Schumacher’s first season behind the wheel of a Ferrari showed flashes of genius, such as his dominant wet-weather win in Spain, but also highlighted the team’s struggles to match the pace of their rivals. The German’s relentless drive was clear in 1997, when he pushed the much-faster Williams of Jacques Villeneuve to the brink. Yet controversy struck at Jerez, where Schumacher’s deliberate attempt to crash into Villeneuve in the season finale cost him the title and cast a shadow over his otherwise heroic campaign.
Undeterred, Schumacher kept pushing. In 1998, the McLarens were the class of the field, but Schumacher’s tenacity kept him in the hunt. By the tenth round in Austria, he was only two points behind championship leader Mika Hakkinen. However, retirements in Belgium and Japan dashed his hopes, and for the second year running, he finished as runner-up. The following season brought more frustration, as a leg-breaking crash at Silverstone sidelined him for six races and ended his 1999 title challenge. Even so, his teammate Eddie Irvine took the fight to Hakkinen until the final round, a testament to the team’s growing strength.
With the arrival of Rubens Barrichello as his new teammate in 2000, Schumacher faced a fresh challenge. Barrichello, ever humble, accepted his role: “I am number two driver, but it’s more of a 1B really,” the Brazilian quipped. “I have come to the team much later than Michael. The space is his. This is the chance to measure myself against Michael, who is one of the best, if not the best driver in the world – the chance to prove to myself how good I am. That’s the challenge.”
The 2000 season started with a bang for Schumacher, who seized victory in the first three races. But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. A mid-season slump saw him retire from three consecutive races—one due to engine failure and two from first-lap collisions—allowing Hakkinen and McLaren to close the gap. Heading into the penultimate round at Suzuka, the tension was palpable. Schumacher led Hakkinen by just eight points and needed to outscore the Finn by two points to clinch the title in Japan.
Qualifying at Suzuka was a nail-biter. Both drivers, already two-time world champions, traded blistering lap times. Hakkinen clocked in at 1m35.834s, but Schumacher edged him by a mere nine-thousandths of a second with a 1m35.825s. The margin was razor-thin, and the stakes could not have been higher.
Race day dawned with nerves jangling throughout the paddock. At the start, Schumacher tried to close the door on Hakkinen, but the McLaren driver’s lightning-fast getaway put him in front. For more than two-thirds of the race, the two rivals were locked in a relentless duel, with the gap never exceeding three seconds. The decisive moment came during the second round of pitstops. Schumacher, running longer on fuel, executed a textbook overcut, pitting three laps later than Hakkinen. Emerging from the pitlane, he had snatched the lead.
“All my life, I will never forget that radio signal from Ross [Brawn],” Schumacher later recalled. “I was driving down the pitlane after my second stop, and he said over the radio: 'It's looking good, it's looking good.' I was very tense, and fully expecting him to say 'It was looking good', but suddenly he said: 'It's looking bloody good!'”
From there, Schumacher held his nerve. “I realised immediately that I had emerged from the pitlane in the lead, that if I made no mistakes and there were no problems with the car, then it was in our grasp, because overtaking is almost impossible at Suzuka.”
As the laps ticked down, the tension mounted. For over 40 laps, Schumacher and Hakkinen ran almost identical times, each pushing the other to the limit. “Looking back, I have to say that this race was something very special for me. Not only because it brought me the title, but also because it was such a high-class race. It really was racing at its top level. For over 40 laps Mika and I did almost identical times, like a perpetual qualifying lap. It was certainly one of the best races I have ever driven, if not the best. Mika was fantastic and pushed me to the very limits.”
When Schumacher finally crossed the line, the emotion was overwhelming. “The moment when I crossed the line – crazy! Up to then I hadn't dared feel any joy, because I wanted to be absolutely sure and get that finishing line behind me. Later I was repeatedly asked what my predominant feelings were at that moment, and on no single occasion was I able to find the right words. I didn't know what to do with this happiness. I suddenly felt trapped in the car, trapped in my Ferrari, as if I was about to burst. I banged so hard on the steering wheel they thought it was broken, and, as a precaution, it had to be taken out of service.”
The celebrations that followed were legendary. “I have never suffered so badly after a party,” Schumacher confessed. “From Japan we went on holiday to Thailand and it took me two days to get over the after-effects.”
Schumacher’s 2000 campaign was a masterclass in resilience and skill. He won nine of the 14 races he finished and only missed the podium once when he saw the chequered flag. His four-race win streak to close out the season left him two victories' worth of points ahead of Hakkinen. The triumph was more than just a personal milestone—it was the fulfillment of years of promise and hard work, both for Schumacher and for Ferrari. Legendary drivers like Gilles Villeneuve, Nigel Mansell, and Alain Prost had all tried and failed to bring the title back to Maranello, but Schumacher finally broke the curse.
What followed was an unprecedented era of dominance. Schumacher would go on to win four more consecutive titles with Ferrari, cementing his place as the greatest driver in the team’s storied history. As the dust settled on Suzuka that October day, it was clear: the king was back, and Ferrari had returned to its rightful place at the summit of Formula 1.