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August 25: Michael Schumacher starts his first F1 race on this date in 1991

Outside of the clutch failure that ended his race after one lap, Michael Schumacher's debut in Formula One on this date in 1991 could not have gone better. Filling in for a driver on the Jordan team who had been imprisoned, Schumacher qualified seventh in his first time on the track in an F1 car at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. At the time, the 22-year-old was unknown outside Germany, and even in that country F1 racing was seen as something of a sidestep from Schumacher's day job running World Championship cars for Mercedes-Benz. The showing was good enough for Benetton to hire him for the remainder of the season, launching a career that would eventually take 91 wins and seven championships, more than any other driver. Someday we hope to hear Schumacher himself speak about his start; until then, here's the Rain King at Spa six years later, absolutely dominating the competition: