Two and a half decades after observing the meteoric start to the most successful career in Formula 1 history, Ross Brawn says the fate of Michael Schumacher is nothing short of "tragic" and is adamant the German was instrumental in the early stages of making the Mercedes team the dominant force it is today
Brawn, who was Schumacher's technical boss at Benetton, Ferrari and Mercedes, says he was already in talks with the then 22-year-old when, at Spa, he stunned the F1 world by qualifying seventh on debut in a Jordan for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.
"We [Brawn and Benetton's Tom Walkinshaw] knew Michael from sports cars and so we had a head start over the other teams. We knew that we wanted to have him," Brawn told the German broadcaster RTL in a forthcoming interview.
At Benetton and then again at Ferrari, Schumacher won all of his record seven F1 titles overseen by Brawn, but they were unable to recreate that success when the famous German then returned to the pinnacle of the sport between 2010 and 2012.
"We had no doubts about his competitiveness," Brawn said of Schumacher's Mercedes era, "but it frustrates me that we were not able to give him the car that he deserved."
"Nevertheless, Michael was a part of the process of Mercedes becoming a world championship team," he added in comments published in advance by Auto Bild.
As for Schumacher's post-retirement fate, including his mysterious current physical condition as the result of a late 2013 skiing fall, Brawn said: "I am in contact with the family."
"I've seen Michael since the accident several times. We pray every day that he is making progress. Life can be cruel," said Brawn.
"He's such a wonderful person, and what happened to him is tragic," he added.
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