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Michael Schumacher was once left absolutely furious after ‘stupid’ seven-win F1 driver ended his race

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Michael Schumacher competed in 306 Formula 1 races over 21 years and faced his fair share of incidents on track.

Everyone remembers Schumacher’s big moments – such as his first title win in 1994 which came courtesy of contact with Damon Hill at the Australian Grand Prix.

There’s also the 1997 incident at Jerez, where he was disqualified from the drivers’ championship for that season due to driving into the side of Jacques Villeneuve.

Big moments happened in races that weren’t championship finale’s too, such as his absurd formation lap crash at the 2005 Chinese Grand Prix.

One of the most shocking incidents of them all was his 2004 Monaco Grand Prix crash, which saw him retire from the race under the safety car.

Contact with Juan Pablo Montoya initiated the shunt and allowed Jarno Trulli to take his only win in the sport.

Formula One Monaco Grand Prix
Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images

Michael Schumacher called Juan Pablo Montoya ‘stupid’ after 2004 Monaco Grand Prix crash

Having won the first five consecutive Grands Prix of the 2004 Formula 1 season, Schumacher headed to Monaco with a chance to go within one of Alberto Ascari’s 51-year-old record of seven.

Midway through the Monaco Grand Prix, and attempting to get heat into his tyres, Schumacher locked his front left tyre up in the tunnel.

While trying to avoid running into the back of him, Montoya clipped the seven-time champion and sent him spearing into the barriers.

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It was deemed a racing incident, but Montoya claimed that the most unfair penalty cost him against Schumacher at the United States Grand Prix later that season.

Speaking about the incident at the time, Schumacher vented his frustration at the move which he didn’t feel was necessary.

“I don’t think anyone should accuse him (Montoya) of anything intentional,” Schumacher told RTL, according to Autosport. “But rather it was just a bit stupid of him to wrongly estimate the situation that led to a collision.

“No doubt about it that I’m a bit angry, that’s logical. But in motor racing things happen that you can’t predict. You’ve got to accept that. We’ve had a lot of good races in the recent past. And now it just went a bit bad for us today.”

When Michael Schumacher had a secret meeting with Jacques Villeneuve after controversial championship finale

The aforementioned 1997 season finale was a messy affair, with Schumacher on the wrong end of his own questionable tactics this time.

He retired from the race after attempting to turn into the side of Villeneuve and was disqualified from the entire championship.

It was a deterrent against repeated actions of that nature in the future and it appeared to work, with little controversy in title finales in the 15 years following the incident.

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Mika Hakkinen was absolutely furious with Schumacher for a strong defensive move at the Belgian Grand Prix in 2000, which he believed crossed the line.

The German legend continued with his aggressive approach in doses, which paid off as he went on to win five more championships in the 2000s.