Michael Schumacher makes his F1 debut for Jordan at the Belgium Grand Prix in 1991, but after impressing in qualifying a mechanical failure meant his race was ended on the first lap

Schumacher moves to the Benetton team and in 1992 he wins his maiden Grand Prix in the wet at Spa in Belgium, helping him to third place in the championship

Schumacher showed glimpses of what was to come in his second full season at Benetton, beating new champion Alain Prost's dominant Williams to win the Portuguese Grand Prix

Schumacher is the man to beat in 1994 as he wins the first four races of the season, but the third race at San Marino is overshadowed by the death of F1 legend Ayrton Senna

Schumacher and Benetton dominate a controversial F1 season, winning eight races in total to claim the German's first world championship by just one point from Damon Hill

Controversy surrounds Schumacher's win as in the final race of the season in Adelaide a collision between the German and Hill forces the pair to retire, handing Schumacher the title

There's nothing controversial about Schumacher's second title as, in a Benetton now powered by a Renault rather than Ford engine, he crushes his rivals and storms to nine wins

After winning back-to-back titles with Benetton, Schumacher switches to Ferrari in 1996 hoping to bring the Prancing Horse their first world championship since Jody Scheckter in 1979

Schumacher underlines his talent, overcoming the deficiencies of his car to win three races in his first season, including Ferrari's home Italian GP, to end up third in the championship

Schumacher came close to the title in 1997, but had his points total wiped from the records for deliberately colliding with rival Jacques Villeneuve in the deciding race

Despite winning six races in 1998, Schumacher again finishes second in the championship, this time to McLaren's Mika Hakkinen

Schumacher's season in 1999 is halted after he breaks his leg in a crash at Silverstone, he returns for the last two races of the season but Hakkinen is champion again

Ferrari's 21-year wait for a world championship is finally ended in Suzuka in 2000, Schumacher wins 10 of the 17 races to beat Hakkinen and wins his third title

Schumacher strolled to his second world championship with Ferrari in 2001, winning nine races and amassing almost double the points total of closest rival David Coulthard

Team orders are in the headlines in 2002 as Rubens Barrichello slows down on the final bend in Austria to let Schumacher win and they look embarrassed as they are booed by the crowd

The closest championship battle in years happens in 2003, but Schumacher wins his fourth world championship in a row, his sixth in all, to beat Juan Manuel Fangio's record of five

In 2004 Schumacher emphatically wins his seventh world championship; Schumi's domination of F1 sees him win a record 13 of 18 races and score a record total of 148 points

Ferrari's dominance is ended in 2005 by Renault's Fernando Alonso, Schumi's only victory is in the farcical US GP, where only six cars competed due to safety concerns over tyres

Controversy still follows Schumacher in 2006; he stops his car in Monaco preventing Alonso from taking pole and is put to the back of the grid

Schumacher wins the 90th race of his career in Monza putting him two points behind Alonso in the title race, before announcing his retirement at the end of the 2006 season

A rare Ferrari engine failure in the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka appears to end his hopes of the 2006 world championship as Alonso claims the win

The legendary Brazilian footballer Pele presents the German with a trophy ahead of his final race in Brazil to celebrate his glittering career in Formula One

There is no fairytale ending in Brazil - a creditable fourth place following a puncture sees his slim title hopes end as Alonso seals the title by 10 points