Flavio Briatore thinks nine-podium F1 driver was ‘only one’ who got close to Michael Schumacher at Benetton

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Benetton fielded some of the best drivers in Formula 1’s 75-year history having been headed by one of the mavericks of the sport, Flavio Briatore.

Much like how Red Bull is a soft drinks company that has gone on to achieve impressive success at the top of world motorsport, the Italian fashion brand became synonymous with success throughout the 90s.

This is after Michael Schumacher won titles for the team in 1994 and 1995, with the B194 being one of the most controversial cars of the decade.

Johnny Herbert believed Benetton was doing something that ‘bamboozled’ the rest of the F1 grid, as they focused on mapping out their strategies using computers more than their rivals.

The British driver was one of a long list who struggled to keep up with Schumacher, including Jos Verstappen, but Briatore thinks there was one who was the most capable when speaking on the Beyond the Grid podcast.

Martin Brundle was the closest to Michael Schumacher at Benetton

Brundle had joined Benetton in the 1992 season at the same time as Schumacher after he was bought out of his contract with Jordan.

When he was asked who he thinks was the closest to Schumacher over the four-year period he raced with the team, Briatore believes it was Brundle who went on to achieve five of his nine F1 podiums with the team.

Briatore: “Martin Brundle was the only one, who was close to Michael.”

Clarkson: “So Brundle was the only one closest to Michael that you had in the team?”

Briatore: “Yeah. Because he did not have the idea to beat him [Schumacher], he just wanted to compete. But Patrese wanted to be in front of him, Piquet, it was the worst. The attitude of Martin Brundle was the best attitude.”

Johnny Herbert’s time as Michael Schumacher teammate was a ‘nightmare’

Schumacher was always given preferential treatment by Benetton, largely because they felt he was their best chance of winning championships.

The German also stipulated in his contracts that he would be given favourable status should they produce a car capable of winning the championship.

READ MORE: Luciano Burti shares Michael Schumacher chat that proved his ‘high performance’ mentality at Ferrari

Herbert had been drafted in to support Schumacher during the 1995 season. But after he criticised his approach in the media, Briatore made sure that Herbert’s time at the team was a ‘nightmare’.

According to the Briton, the team boss prevented him from seeing Schumacher’s data which meant that he was always on the backfoot for most of the season.