Simply called Schumacher and featuring authorized interviews with his family and friends, the new Michael Schumacher documentary upcoming on Netflix is probably going to be an exercise in myth-building. But I don’t care, it looks fantastic anyway.
Below is the official trailer, released Wednesday. Brace yourself for some nostalgia.
I did not start watching Formula 1 until after Schumacher’s reign (in part because the Schumi was so dominant), which means I’ve spent the last 15 years trying to catch up. That also means I’ll probably learn a lot from this. It doesn’t hurt that I’m the kind of person that is a sucker for old Formula 1 footage, basically any old Formula 1 footage.
One thing I wouldn’t expect is much of a substantive update on Schumacher’s health. His family has always insisted on privacy following a skiing accident in 2013, which left him with a severe brain injury, though he is apparently making progress in that department. Still, Deadline says there will be a lot of talking heads to go along with all the old racing footage.
Schumacher features interviews with the German driver’s family, including his wife, father and brother, as well as various prominent figures of the motorsport such as Jean Todt, Bernie Ecclestone, Sebastian Vettel, Mika Häkkinen, Damon Hill, Flavio Briatore and David Coulthard. The filmmakers also had access to never-before-seen archive material.
Schumacher won the Formula 1 driver’s championship seven times, equalled only by Lewis Hamilton. Schumacher will always be remembered for his years at Ferrari, though, where he won five consecutive titles from 2000 to 2004 and broke the all-time driver’s championship record then held by Juan Manuel Fangio, who some still consider the greatest driver ever. Schumacher, too, did more than enough in his career to keep himself in that conversation forever.