On this day 20 years ago, Michael Schumacher accomplished a then unprecedented feat in Formula 1 history by clinching his seventh Driver’s World Championship at the legendary Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. To celebrate this accomplishment, this month’s Gravel Trap will re-watch the ITV coverage of this historic event and take a look at the observations and commentary at the time and find out whether there is anything a knowing viewer from the 2020s would look on with a knowing smile. Furthermore, the author will look at whether there are any rejectful blights on the surface of a glorious accomplishment for Michael Schumacher and the Scuderia Ferrari and at potential interesting stories in this race and around Formula 1 at the time.

A cynic would accuse Jim Rosenthal of desperation to sell a boring championship in the opening monologue. Calling Jarno Trulli the “only man to beat” Michael Schumacher in 2004 is technically correct. However, the notion that Trulli would tantamount to a serious threat to Schumacher is quaint at best, given as Trulli had not even finished on the podium since the Monaco victory that would turn out to be the sole win of his 15-season long career. Still, he is on pole position for the second time in his career. Though after that intro, Rosenthal and the designated expert Mark Blundell talk about whether Schumacher plans to win this race. Both point out the obvious, saying that Michael will go for the win to secure the world’s championship in style.

The qualifying review mostly focuses on Renault’s inspired choice to go with intermediates to secure the pole position for Trulli and third place for Fernando Alonso. The weather is of course a perpetual topic regarding the Belgian Grand Prix, from the first words that will be mentioned. During the conversations regarding qualifying, they point out that Jenson Button is set to return to Williams. Of course, as is well known Button would fight the idea of joining Williams. A juicy payment of £18 million would make this issue go away and set Button up on a path that was a lot more rewarding than a time with the declining Williams team would have been. The topic that brought up this tangent was the qualifying performance from Mark Webber, who would indeed join Williams in 2005 and would indeed not have the best of times there. Watching pre-2009 Mark Webber footage is always fascinating. The author feels safe in saying that no qualifying specialist had their reputation in that regard destroyed harder and more decisively than Mark Webber when matched with Sebastian Vettel.

Proper backmarker joy as Minardi will start this race from the second-to-last row, with Giorgio Pantano and Ricardo Zonta at the back of the grid. On the topic of qualifying, Schumacher’s great performance in qualifying for the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix is of course not going to go unmentioned, especially since he was poised to secure a world championship at the very track he showed himself to the Formula 1 world; the same track Michael would score the first of his at-the-time 82 F1 Grand Prix victories. After the career montage and a quick interview with Chris Dyer, Mark Blundell makes the usual argument that Schumacher never had a really horrible car. Normally, the author would not even mention that inane argument that for some reason British television never seems to make for Sir Lewis Hamilton. However, the way Blundell worded it makes it worth mentioning. Namely he claimed that Michael never had the pressure like a certain He Whose Name Shall Not Be Mentioned in the Minardi does and he would have loved to see that. The author feels it is very safe to say that regardless of how you feel about the Regenmeister, it is indeed true that the racing world is poorer for him never having been a teammate of HWNSNBM at Minardi.

A few more montages regarding Williams follow, but they are not really interesting to the topic at hand. In a demonstration of lack of class, Rosenthal and Blundell talk over the national anthem of Belgium being performed on a blues harp. Even though it is twenty years after the fact and the author never worked at ITV, he still feels the need to apologise on behalf of the channel for the disrespect shown to La Brabançonne/De Brabançonne/dem Lied von Brabant. 

Speaking of disrespectful people: Martin Brundle is on his gridwalk. Though of course it is not the modern gridwalk where he feels entitled to harass celebrities to distract from and compensate for his own aging out of relevance; he even accepts a no from Michael Schumacher regarding an interview. Watching this footage serves as another reminder of just how much Brundle has fallen off as a media personality. His questions to Flavio Briatore in particular about the setup on the car and the strategy are right on point and insightful for audiences, casual and hardcore alike. If the author did not know that father time is undefeated, even for colour commentators in sport, he would feel inclined to start a campaign on X to tell Martin Brundle to re-watch his old performances to rekindle the fire he used to have. Something like #ReturnTheRealBrundle.

James Allen and Martin Brundle take over commentary as the race starts. 44 laps are underway and during the first corner the main topic for the author is wondering why it is illegal to punch people who claim David Croft is a better announcer than James Allen. The race does not make it far, as Mark Webber runs into Takuma Sato, Gianmaria Bruni gets turned around by his teammate (one wonders what he did to incur the wrath of HWNSNBM) and Giorgio Pantano haphazardly crashes into him, getting roasted by Martin Brundle for it. This forces a safety car period, but Martin Brundle is not happy – he would prefer a red flag.

Schumacher’s title hunt is made even easier, as his only rival for the title, 1993 F1 Indoor Trophy World Champion Rubens Barrichello, needs a rear-wing replacement and will rejoin the lineup in last place. Despite Barrichello scoring his first pole at this venue, Spa was never really a happy hunting ground for the Brazilian. In 17 entries at the circuit, he has seven retirements, one DNS and only five points finishes to show for his efforts. Thankfully the extreme length of the track saves him from going down a lap despite the extensive work on his car, as the safety car takes its time to lead Trulli and the cars behind him around the Ardennes.

After an ad break, the racing resumes under green. Kimi Räikkönen immediately attacks Michael Schumacher and a block against him at La Source opens the door for the Flying Finn to pass him decisively on the road to Eau Rouge. Compared to some of his restarts, especially the masterpiece at the 2004 United States Grand Prix a few months ago, this is certainly not Schumi’s shrewdest moment. The Ferrari really struggles after the safety car period, the Renaults and McLarens ahead of him are flying away. Juan Pablo Montoya is ready to take advantage and steals the position. Meanwhile out front, the Belgian camera crew does an excellent job of not showing Kimi Räikkönen overtaking his teammate David Coulthard. If it was Coulthard overtaking Räikkönen not being shown, it would be sensible as revenge for the disrespect to the anthem shown earlier, but so it is just another argument for the world feed. It is amazing to see at Spa just how much slipstream a Formula 1 car enjoys. Despite their ridiculous speed, the 2004 cars were not dependent on DRS to get close to each other at high speed tracks. It really puts into perspective how much this tool trivialises overtaking at high-speed venues.

Meanwhile, Martin Brundle is indulging in a bit of the old Schadenfreude seeing Schumacher struggle to match the pace of the leaders. There is almost a certain degree of delight while talking about how Michael just about secured his sixth world title with a horrible race at Suzuka. He never really liked the Schumachers, did he?

As Christian Klien pits on lap 10, the first piece of the great unknown puzzle is revealed: strategy. Because of the challenging conditions in qualifying, nobody has a real picture of how much fuel everyone is carrying. Trulli pits early, showing Saturday’s run was just as much down to a comparative lack of fuel as much as an inspired tyre choice. Brundle entertains the notion that Schumacher is on a lot more fuel, which is why he struggles to keep up with the cars ahead. The author nowadays feels like the mix-up created by race fuel qualifying really was not worth it, as all the cars put further ahead more often than not naturally drifted out of the way of the actual contenders. Trulli picks up 13 laps of fuel and the author wonders whether Renault are going for a three-stop strategy, which seems like a very questionable strategic choice.

Takuma Sato is interviewed about his retirement, but he gets rudely cut off by Fernando Alonso spinning at Les Combes. Now, the author is not outright stating that Fernando Alonso retiring from a good position at the 2017 Indianapolis 500 won by Takuma Sato is the result of the karma for that, but given as he does believe most of Alonso’s post-2006 career is the result of bad motorsport karma, it cannot be conclusively disproven either. Then again, given as he spins again and retires with a technical issue, the theory can be considered highly unlikely. Kimi Räikkönen would experience similar retirements in the upcoming season, but today he gets to inherit the lead as his teammate suffers a major puncture.

McLaren with a proto-double stack as Coulthard gets new tyres and Räikkönen comes in for fuel. The ITV crew are left to speculate how much fuel Räikkönen received at his stop. Afterwards, the Weetabix Food Company gets some free advertising, as James Allen speculates about the breakfast that gives Montoya his impressive pace around the track and Martin Brundle speculates he had three Weetabix. The author wonders whether an announcer could cash in checks by referring to a certain brand and pretending it’s not an ad because they are talking metaphorically or speculatively. That would certainly explain why Heiko Waßer makes soccer comparisons all the time on German commentary, but that is neither here nor there. Anyway, logic would indicate that the cereal that is the best for racing drivers are Kellogg’s Fruit Loops and its derivatives, given as they already involve circles. Maybe it only works for ovals. Some brand should test this and sponsor a NASCAR team.

Regardless of what breakfast it was, Montoya must feel it coming back up as Schumacher’s fuel load getting lighter means that the German can take huge bites out of Williams’s lead. Montoya pits, avoiding the fight with Schumacher going wrong. Montoya and Massa have a huge fight out of the pitlane. Seeing this, it is always interesting to wonder how the rest of the 2010s had unfolded had Montoya not quit Formula 1. Montoya, after all, left the sport before his 31st birthday. Then again, given that Montoya was already out at McLaren for 2007 ahead of the 2006 season, it forces the question of where he would have gone to the forefront. The only team that, as far as we know, ever tried to get Montoya back into Formula 1 was Scuderia Toro Rosso.

As Michael Schumacher finally gets his fuel stop done, we have a rare and proud moment in the history of GP Rejects upon us. Antônio Pizzonia in the BMW-Williams inherits P1 and we have a certified reject leading a race! This rare event has happened six times in the history of the sport and Pizzonia joins that elite society on this day. To think the author thought Schumacher’s title was the story worth writing about.

James Allen is very happy to celebrate Pizzonia in P1 and GP Rejects get another treat, as the Belgian camerawork lets the fans enjoy a full pitstop by HWNSNBM, who gets refuelled in 8.9 seconds. Martin Brundle once more espouses his insipid conspiracy theories about Sauber intentionally holding up drivers to aid Ferrari. Today, this is particularly silly, as Montoya chose to back out of the duel at Eau Rouge, giving Massa the position. Given their pre-stop pace, it is fairly safe to assume that Schumacher would have exited the pitlane ahead of Montoya regardless.

Fisichella ruins a good day with a dive through the grass that damages his front wing as Jarno Trulli does not profit from his light fuel load and gets easily passed by Michael Schumacher. Juan Pablo Montoya wants in on the action, too. Trying the same move he passed Schumacher with, Trulli is not on the same stratosphere of track awareness Schumacher had and thus ends up shunted into the wall. Though replays make it clear that this was all on Montoya, Trulli had the corner and Montoya should have backed out. Continuing a proud tradition, the stewards decide to punt that investigation to after the race.

As the Grand Prix goes on, Pizzonia is holding on to third place with all his might, staying ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya, whom he passed during the aforementioned incident. Ahead of them, Michael Schumacher is starting to put the pressure on Kimi Räikkönen who had so far led the race quite calmly. McLaren cleverly respond by pitting Räikkönen, fueling him up for the final 15 laps and reducing the pressure on the Finn (where was this decision-making three years ago at Monaco?). This, however, costs them a lap later, as Button’s rear tyre explodes violently, resulting in him taking out the remaining Minardi violently. This helps Schumacher and Pizzonia, who get a free stop and are now right at the spot to attack Räikkönen. Regrettably, Pizzonia is doomed to rejectdom as his gearbox gives up on him, taking him out of third place. 

An unexpected contender for the podium has appeared. After only being seen overtaking midfielders, occasionally being overtaken by those midfielders, and being derided by Martin Brundle, Rubens Barrichello takes the restart in fourth. The Toyota of Ricardo Zonta is there in fifth, the at-the-time first fifth-place finish for Toyota by someone other than Olivier Panis is on the menu. Despite Toyota picking up form from 2005 onwards, Olivier Panis is only behind Jarno Trulli in fifth places for Toyota, given as they are the only two drivers who finished fifth in a Toyota more than once.

As the race continues, Räikkönen easily maintains the lead, but nobody cares as Christian Klien is passing Olivier Panis to enter the points-paying positions. Indeed, the cameras also care a lot more about the battle for seventh. ITV take an insipid ad break for two laps and Kimi still has no issues keeping Schumacher at bay, as Montoya adds another puncture to the Michelin pile. Surely, this is just a coincidence and Michelin’s tyre issues will not cause any major issues at resurfaced tracks in 2005. Michelin feel the need to tell McLaren it is going to be okay. It is not going to be okay for Coulthard, who clumsily runs into the back of Klien, taking himself out and causing one last safety car. The author appreciates the cynicism of the RTBF cameraman showing us the parking lot for broken Formula 1 cars while the safety car is out. 

Räikkönen wins the final restart, Ricardo Zonta’s engine explodes and that is the last story of this race: Kimi Räikkönen denies Ferrari a victory in their 700th Grand Prix. Michael Schumacher comes home second, fighting off one last charge by Rubens Barrichello, though that attack was more symbolic than anything. It is actually amazing that this is only Räikkönen’s second career win after already having been a championship contender the year before. Felipe Massa comes home in fourth, ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella who managed to hold on despite his damaged Sauber. Future HRT driver Christian Klien survived getting bumped by David Coulthard to take his first step towards unrejectification. The two Brazilians in third and fourth were second-to-last and last during the first SC period. To put that into perspective, the highest finish by a pair of drivers to be last and second-to-last at any point in the season is Sir Lewis Hamilton and Guanyu Zhou. The two were second-to-last and last on lap 10 of the Chinese Grand Prix and ended up 9th and 14th. 

Going into this Grand Prix, the author expected to find more statements that would prove hilarious or saddening in hindsight, but to his own surprise there was very little of that. What little there was was not really worth mentioning. It was clear even back then that a changing of the guard was coming, as the generation of drivers that debuted in the mid-to-late 90s was going to go out without ever getting to really inherit the mantle of best driver and imminent title favourite from the German. When you consider that nobody in their right mind ever considered anyone else the best driver on the grid from the time of Senna’s death to Alonso’s ascension to world champion, it just puts Michael Schumacher’s domination of the sport in perspective.

Sources: ITV Sport, motorsport-total.com, StatsF1

Image sources: Cord Rodefeld (licensed under CC BY 2.0, cropped and resized), Fabio Alessandro Locati (licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped and resized), FDITG (licensed under CC BY 2.0, resized), ITV Sport