Why Johnny Herbert’s time as Michael Schumacher’s teammate ended in a ‘nightmare’ thanks to Flavio Briatore

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Michael Schumacher is known for being one of Formula 1’s most ruthless competitors during his time on track.

The seven-time world champion stopped at nothing to become the best in the world. Schumacher once pulled off a move that denied Martin Brundle his first win in F1, while he was notorious for employing team orders at Ferrari.

During the 1995 season, Schumacher would go on to win the second of his seven world titles with his first team Benetton. Benetton managed to poach Schumacher from Eddie Jordan, after the German made an impressive debut at the 1994 Belgian GP.

Johnny Herbert would go on to experience Schumacher’s harsh nature when they were teammates at Benetton. Discussing how the German once took issue with comments in the media in the book Lights Out, Full Throttle, it led to a decision made by Flavio Briatore that made Herbert’s life difficult.

Johnny Herbert was ‘prevented’ from seeing Michael Schumacher’s data

Schumacher always made sure that he was given preferential treatment in a team, and his first salaried contract with Benetton was no exception.

The German stipulated that he would be given favourable status to go after the title, but Herbert was under the impression that if he got to within a certain amount of points by the British GP he would also be able to challenge for the title.

Benetton was competitive that year, which is why Schumacher took issue with comments made by Herbert in the media when he was asked what his ambitions were for the season.

“I was doing an interview and the man with the notepad asked me what my ambitions were for the season. ‘To win races and become World Champion’ I said. It was a bit of an innocuous statement. Mr Schumacher, though, was not impressed,” said Herbert.

“He claimed I was being political and said that if I thought I would be challenging for the Championship I had another thing coming. Until then I’d got on really well with Michael and although we were never at each other’s throats thereafter, he obviously went from seeing me as an obedient little helper to a potential threat.

“After that, life became a bit of a nightmare for me. I was suddenly prevented from seeing Michael’s data. He was allowed to see my data, but I wasn’t allowed to see his. Flavio’s orders. I’m not one for conspiracy theories but at my first race for Benetton, I qualified less than half a second behind Michael, whereas my two predecessors in the team, Jos Verstappen and JJ Lehto, had qualified, on average, 1.9 and 2.2 seconds behind him. At the following race, I qualified 1.5 seconds behind Michael and that was pretty much the pattern thereafter.”

Michael Schumacher wins second title while 1995 proves pivotal for Damon Hill

Schumacher’s tenure at Benetton would be marred by controversy, with the entire 1994 season often being referred to as a year Benetton broke the rules on more than one occasion.

In 1995, Schumacher would go on to challenge for another title by winning nine races and amassing 102 points to Damon Hill’s 69 points.

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

That season turned out to be pivotal to Hill’s future in F1, as it forced Frank Williams to make a change beyond 1996. Having elected to sign Jaques Villeneuve for 1997 following Hill’s disappointing year in 1995, it meant the Briton was out of a drive.

He would end up taking up a drive at Arrows for a season, before a final two years at Jordan, although Hill was close to joining his old Williams teammate, Alain Prost, at his team before he made a remark to media that effectively prevented the move.