1995 BELGIAN GP

SPA BENETTON B195

6 Schumacher is a six-time winner at Spa, and his 1997 victory is perhaps the most glaring omission from this list. But his ’95 success is surely his most famous, featuring a charge from 16th on the grid and one of several clashes with Damon Hill from that season.

With Hill’s Williams only eighth on the grid, the title protagonists were out of the picture early on, but it took them just 15 laps to restore normality and start fighting over the lead.

The next chapter in their spiky on-track history took shape when Hill pitted for rain tyres on lap 21, and Schumacher stayed out on slicks, convinced that the shower was going to pass. His defence of the lead in damp conditions angered Hill and Williams, who protested his driving, resulting in a suspended one-race ban for Schumacher.

Schumacher’s justification for his behaviour, to the amazement of Hill, was to declare that it was OK because he only took risks in lower-speed corners where the consequences of a collision would not be so severe. Crucially, Schumacher’s robust combat prevented Hill from taking advantage of his grooved tyres and, shortly after the Williams finally got ahead, the weather changed again to leave Schumacher with the upper hand and Hill heading in for another stop.

While the deployment of the safety car appeared to give Hill another shot at victory, his hopes were dashed when he was penalised for pitlane speeding. That left Schumacher in the clear to romp home to the only win of his career that came from starting outside the top 10.