Bernd Schneider

Nationality:	German	Races Entered:	34
Date of Birth:	20 July, 1964	DNQ/DNPQ:	25
Teams:	Zakspeed (1988-89) Arrows (1990)	Best Result:	12th Germany, 1988 USA, 1990

BIOGRAPHY

Before Formula One

In the midst of Michael Schumacher's success in Grand Prix racing these days, it is easy to forget that before 1994 there had not been a German F1 World Champion. After death cheated Wolfgang von Trips of the 1961 title, and Jochen Mass proved to be good but not great, in the mid-80s a brace of young German stars emerged. Stefan Bellof was hyped to the stars before his life was also tragically cut short; and the next in line was a reinforced concreter from St Ingbert near Saarbrücken, named Bernd Schneider. If his touring car and sportscar exploits in the 1990s are anything to go by, then Schneider may have had the ability to go all the way and beat Schumi to wins and titles had his F1 career not been blighted by a disastrous stint with Zakspeed. In 1976, as a twelve year old Bernd had already come 3rd in the German Junior Kart championship. Finishing 2nd in that competition for the next two years, in 1979 he finally became German Junior Kart champion, also gaining 5th in the World Junior Kart championship.

By 1980 he had matured as a junior kartist, and he took out both the German and World Junior Kart crowns. Progressing into senior kart racing, he was 3rd in Class A in the 1981 German series, and in 1982 claimed the European Kart title. He backed that up the following year by becoming African Kart champion, before finally moving into car racing in 1984. Starting off in German Formula Ford 1600, Bernd was immediately on the pace, taking 2nd overall. After claiming 4th and 5th respectively in the 1985 German and European Formula Ford 2000 championships, in 1986 Schneider made the jump to German F3. Again adapting quickly, he placed equal 3rd with 94 points for the ACE team in a Reynard 863 Volkswagen, before joining the Schübel outfit for 1987. He then launched a blitzkrieg on the opposition, winning 7 of the 8 rounds in his Dallara F387 Volkswagen, scoring 140 points, defeating Joachim Winkelhock who had only tallied 98.

Formula One

With a performance like that, people were asking if Schneider was the next German big thing. There was only one way to find out. Although F3000 would have been the logical step, Bernd was fast-tracked into F1 in 1988. The likes of Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna had made the jump from F3 to F1; why couldn't Schneider? It seemed fitting that not only would Bernd race in F1 in 1988, but he would be doing so for that very German team - Zakspeed from Niederzissen, running its own 1.5 litre turbo in its 881 chassis. Partnering Schneider with Italian veteran Piercarlo Ghinzani, Zakspeed had had a history of producing cars that could be competitive on occasions, but which usually floundered at the wrong end of the grid. In one sense this would be perfect for Schneider, as he could take advantage of the times when the cars were competitive to make people sit up and take notice, but on the other hand, the cars' inconsistent performance would do little to ameliorate his steep learning curve.

As the youngest man in the 1988 field, Schneider's learning curve turned out to be exponentially steep indeed. So steep, in fact, that he failed to qualify for his first three races. After suffering rear suspension trouble in Brazil, he could only manage a time 2.9 seconds away from even the last qualifier on the grid as the 30th fastest entrant, and he was 30th again for the San Marino GP at Imola. He came agonisingly close to starting at Monaco, though, where he was 28th fastest but only 0.1s from making the grid. It was only in Mexico for round 4 that Bernd started his first Grand Prix, and he did so from a magnificent 15th on the grid. The Hermanos Rodriguez track was clearly one where the temperamental Zakspeed worked, and Schneider was only 0.3s off the time set by Nigel Mansell's Williams-Judd, and ahead of Riccardo Patrese in the other Williams! Schneider actually catapulted himself ahead of 'Red 5' at the start and embarked on a great charge, only for his engine to fail after 16 laps.

One would have thought that this would give Schneider a platform to greater things, but in Canada and America he simply could not get his car to work. He again dropped to 30th place in qualifying at Montreal, although he was still only 0.6s away from the grid, and he was only marginally better on the streets of Detroit where he was 29th. The long back straight at Paul Ricard allowed the Zakspeed turbo to stretch its legs, and Bernd qualified 21st for the French GP, although gearbox problems sidelined him after 55 laps. And yet at Silverstone, another power circuit, neither Zakspeed made the grid, and Schneider was once again 30th, almost 2 seconds off even Stefan Johansson's Ligier in 29th. But in Germany he redeemed himself somewhat in front of his home crowd, qualifying in 22nd place, and then delighting his fans by recording his first ever Grand Prix finish in a very respectable 12th place out of 19 classified finishers, and only one lap adrift of Senna's victorious McLaren.

Clearly the Zakspeed turbo was enjoying the power circuits more than the tight, twisty ones, and as such it was not too surprising that Schneider did not qualify at the Hungaroring. But he did get onto the grid in Belgium and Italy, starting 25th at Spa and repeating his Mexico performance by grabbing the 15th starting slot at Monza. However, a gearbox problem forced him out 5 laps from the end in Belgium (although he was classified 13th), and more engine problems ended his run in Italy while running 11th. After missing the cut in both Portugal and Spain, Bernd recorded the 25th fastest time at Suzuka, but in the process suffered a heavy crash. Though dazed, he manfully took the start, only to find his arm in too much pain after 14 laps and pulling out as a result. When the circus came to Adelaide for the final round of the season, Schneider was still feeling the effects of his crash in Japan, and struggled all weekend, rounding off the year as he had started it, with the 30th quickest time and a DNQ.

With a season like that behind him, consisting of 10 DNQs and only two classified finishes, the jury was still out on just how good Schneider was. Perhaps the answer would come in his second year at Zakspeed in 1989. New regulations meant that turbos had been outlawed, and the German team joined forces with Yamaha to make use of the Japanese normally aspirated V8s. Aguri Suzuki duly arrived as Bernd's new team-mate, and with Gustav Brunner on board Schneider had reason to be optimistic, on paper. How wrong he was. The fact that Zakspeed was sentenced to pre-qualifying was bad enough, as it meant that there was always going to be a luck factor in determining whether or not Schneider even got into the main qualifying sessions. But in addition, the Yamaha V8s very quickly proved to be a gutless, unreliable liability. At one stage Brunner even tested to see how long the engines would last, and one self-destructed within six seconds.

Suffice to say that Bernd was looking down the barrel at a very barren 1989. But things got off to a deceptively promising start at Rio, where Philippe Streiff's awful testing accident (which left the Frenchman as a paraplegic) meant that there were only 25 cars left in main qualifying instead of the usual 26. In a moment of generosity, officials took the decision to allow 5 cars through from pre-qualifying instead of four in order to make up the difference. Martin Brundle and Stefano Modena topped the pre-qualifying time-sheets in their Brabhams, ahead of Nicola Larini's Osella and Gregor Foitek's EuroBrun. Then, in that lucky 5th place, was Schneider, having recorded a time 2.7 seconds slower than Brundle. Having got that far he disposed of the likes of Rene Arnoux and Roberto Moreno to put his Zakspeed ZK891 on 25th on the grid. Running slowly on race day, a suspension failure eventually pitched him into Eddie Cheever's Arrows and out of the race.

It proved to be a false dawn. In the next thirteen rounds, Schneider did his best on Friday mornings but to no avail, as he monotonously racked up DNPQ after DNPQ. The closest he came was 7th fastest at Monaco, and usually he his machinery only allowed him to hover in the lower half of the pre-qualifying field. Yet at Imola and Estoril he was second slowest of all, and embarrassingly at Hockenheim he proved to be bog last. For a driver of his undoubted skill, this must have been immensely frustrating. Although by Spa there had been some improvements on the car, it took until the second last round at Suzuka before Bernd finally managed to get out of pre-qualifying once again. Third fastest in pre-qualifying, he then qualified 21st, ahead of Emanuele Pirro's Benetton, both Arrows and Jonathan Palmer's Tyrrell, but after one lap a gearbox problem had sidelined him. To no-one's surprise, Schneider then finished the year off with yet another DNPQ in the Australian GP.

The Zakspeed team folded after 1989, but even if it had remained Schneider would have been hard-pressed to want to drive for them again. Two years struggling to qualify was not what he had hoped for, and had finished off his F1 career before it even got off the ground. For in 1990 he found himself unable to get a full-time Grand Prix drive, getting only a slight reprieve when Arrows boss Jackie Oliver asked him to deputise for Alex Caffi on two occasions, in the US GP at Phoenix and the Spanish GP at Jerez. At Phoenix, where Schneider drove the new Arrows A11 Cosworth V8, despite a crash in wet Saturday qualifying his Friday time had put him 20th on the grid. He then drove conservatively to finish the race in 12th place, two laps down, equalling his best ever F1 result. But at Jerez, where he had an upgraded A11B at his disposal, he struggled to get to grips with both the circuit and the car, and after recording only the 29th quickest time he failed to qualify. With no other offers on the table, it was game over for his F1 career.

After Formula One

Schneider probably didn't care very much, because he was rapidly finding success elsewhere throughout 1990. Not only was he Porsche Cup champion, he raced a Kremer Porsche 962CK6 in the World Sportscar Championship. Sharing the car with a bevy of co-drivers, namely Hideki Okada, Sarel van der Merwe, Steven Andskar, Jürgen Barth and Tomas Lopez, he scored points-paying results with 5th at Silverstone and 4th in a shortened race at Montreal. With 3.5 points, he came 25th overall. That was nothing compared to what he achieved in the Interserie championship though, where he competed for Kremer in the same type of car. Competing in 5 of the 7 rounds, he took pole and the fastest lap of the race at each of those five tracks. With each round consisting of two heats each to determine the overall result, Bernd won 9 of the 10 heats he took part in, coming 2nd in the other, and recorded 4 outright wins and 1 outright 2nd. Having put 97.5 points on the board, he was a runaway champion.

He topped off 1990 by winning a non-championship race at Hockenheim, before doing it all again in 1991. He moved to the Joest team, and with a Porsche 962C in the Interserie championship scored 8 more heat wins, 6 more outright wins, 4 more fastest laps and 6 more poles to retain his title. But with the same team in the same kind of car he had less success in the WSC, retiring from overheating at Le Mans with 'John Winter' and Henri Pescarolo, and coming 3rd in Mexico with Winter, to place 23rd with 12 points. Joest also entered Schneider in a 962C for the IMSA championship in America, where he shared the car with the likes of Winter, Bob Wollek, Paolo Barilla and Massimo Sigala. Although unable to win a race, Bernd came 3rd in the Sebring 12hrs with Wollek and Sigala, plus a 4th and three 6ths en route to 9th overall with 49 points. As if that wasn't enough already, in 1991 Schneider also took part in the German Touring Car series (DTM) for the first time, reuniting with Zakspeed to drive a Mercedes for them.

1991 was of course the year Michael Schumacher, the next brilliant young German after Schneider, made his F1 debut. At Spa, where Eddie Jordan was giving the Wunderkind his first start, in a slip of the tongue the Irishman asked journalists where they thought "Schneider" would qualify. Ironically, by this stage Bernd was well out of F1 and not looking back, although why exactly he would team up again with Zakspeed, the same mob that ended his F1 career in one fell swoop, escapes reason. However, by 1992 the Mercedes top brass realised that in Schneider they had found a driver equally adept in sports and touring cars as he was in single seaters, and the works AMG team hired him to drive in the DTM. Bernd didn't let them down, coming 3rd overall. He had also started the year with three more starts in IMSA in a Joest Porsche 962C, sharing with drivers such as Winter, Sigala, Oscar Larrauri and Frank Jelinski, coming 4th at Miami with Larrauri and scoring 10 points, enough for equal 29th in the series.

In subsequent years, he would devote his time fully to Mercedes, in both their DTM and sports car projects. Driving an AMG Mercedes 190E in 1993, he scored 172 points and came 3rd again after three wins, and success at Hockenheim, the Nurburgring and Singen in particular, plus four fastest laps and two poles. But in 1994, as AMG and the other Mercedes teams developed the new high-tech C-Class racer, Schneider struck reliability and competitiveness issues. After only two wins at Diepholz and Hockenheim, two poles, four fastest laps and a brace of mechanical problems, Bernd was only 10th with 86 points. But that win at Hockenheim was in the last race of the year, and proved AMG had got the C-Class right. So it proved in 1995, as Schneider emerged victorious 5 times in the DTM, twice at Hockenheim, twice at the Nurburgring, and once at the Norisring, and walked away with the crown with 138 points on the board.

The 1995 DTM had been a more limited affair though, with fewer rounds because the DTM teams were also engaged in the separate International Touring Car championship (ITC). Yet Schneider proved that he could carry his DTM form out to the rest of Europe, taking 6 wins at Mugello, Donington, Estoril and Magny Cours, plus solitary 2nd and 3rd place finishes, four fastest laps and two poles. Having gained 155 points, he comfortably beat team-mate Dario Franchitti to the title. For 1996, the DTM was no more, and the ITC expanded to include races at places like Helsinki, Silverstone and Interlagos. Schneider was expected to dominate, and duly took 4 wins at Diepholz, Mugello and Suzuka, plus to 9 other top-five finishes. But Manuel Reuter's Opel snatched the crown, leaving Bernd's Mercedes in 2nd with 205 points. But strangely, both Opel and Alfa Romeo were unhappy with Mercedes' predominance in the ITC, and withdrew at the end of the year, taking the ITC down with it.

AMG Mercedes moved into the FIA GT championship instead for 1997, and inevitably Schneider was part of the squad. Driving a Mercedes CLK-GTR with Alessandro Nannini, Marcel Tiemann, Alexander Wurz, Klaus Ludwig, ex-Zakspeed team-mate Aguri Suzuki and Bernd Mäylander at various times. This high number of co-drivers was because at certain races, he actually had stints in not just his own car but also the other AMG machines. Returning to sports cars like a duck to water, Bernd shared in 6 winning cars, at the Nurburgring, A1-Ring, Suzuka, Donington, Sebring and Laguna Seca. His persistent car-swapping and cross-entering allowed him to rack up 72 points and become the first FIA GT champion. But for the 1998 championship, AMG entered two CLK-GTRs with fixed driver pairings, putting Ricardo Zonta with Ludwig in one car, and current Minardi F1 hero Mark Webber with Schneider in the other.

Bernd and Mark scored 5 wins plus two 2nds, a 3rd and a 4th. But an accident at Dijon cost them dearly, as Zonta and Ludwig pipped them for the title. With those two taking joint first in the championship, Schneider and Webber had to settle for joint 3rd overall, with 69 points. Further disappointment came at Le Mans, where Schneider put the CLK-LM he was sharing with Webber and Ludwig on pole, but was forced to retire from engine problems early in the race. The 1999 season saw AMG Mercedes out of full-time competition, concentrating on its Le Mans effort instead with the new Mercedes CLR. Schneider was the senior driver in the team, paired with Pedro Lamy and Franck Lagorce in one of three cars. But Mercedes' best-laid plans soon went awry, as all drivers, Schneider included, reported aerodynamic instability especially on the fast Mulsanne straight. Their worst fears were realised when Webber spectacularly flipped for the first time in Thursday qualifying.

Schneider blamed Webber for the incident, saying that the Australian had gone too close to the car ahead, thereby losing downforce. Nevertheless, adjustments were made and Bernd came back reporting a much more stable car. Just as it looked as though the problem was solved, Webber flipped again in the warm-up prior to the race. Mercedes were now in a panic, and even called F1 aerodynamic genius (but sports car neophyte) Adrian Newey for advice. The drivers of the remaining two cars decided to go ahead with the race regardless, and Schneider's car was lying in 4th when Peter Dumbreck in the sister machine suffered the biggest flip yet. Without further ado, Bernd's remaining CLR was withdrawn after 76 laps. As Mercedes' lead driver with access to special footage, Schneider later also blamed Dumbreck for the third incident, claiming that he had been launched off a kerb. If it had been up to him, being the racer that he is Bernd may well have elected to continue.

It all spelled doom for any more Mercedes sports car ventures, but fortunately for Schneider, 2000 saw a revival of the big-banger DTM formula, featuring 4 litre V8 machines decked out with heavy aerodynamic kits. Bernd slipped back into this category in his AMG Mercedes CLK-DTM in commanding fashion. In 16 rounds, only twice did he finish outside the top 4, and 6 times he tasted victory. With that level of consistency, no one could touch him, and with 221 points he became DTM champion for a second time. In 2001 Schneider continued his amazing form, establishing himself as one of the legends of the German touring car scene. Out of 20 races in his CLK-DTM, once again he displayed incredible consistency, failing to finish within the top 6 twice only, and once again taking 6 wins. He saw off the challenge from the other Mercedes, Audi and Opel drivers with ease, scoring 161 points to 2nd-placed Uwe Alzen's 101 and claiming his third title.

Proving that he had very much become one of Mercedes' ambassadors, in 2001 Schneider was also the main given the privilege of introducing McLaren champion Mika Hakkinen to a Mercedes CLK-DTM, when the Finn tested a DTM car as part of a publicity stunt. I wonder if Bernd entertained thoughts of trying Mika's MP4/16. In the meantime, in 2002 he will aim for a hat-trick of DTM titles, although he will have to deal with the increasing competition, which this year will include newly-retired F1 star Jean Alesi. On a personal note, Schneider is 1.76 metres tall, and weighs in at 66 kilograms. He is married to Nicole, and has a son and a daughter. His daughter is named Lisa Marie, and his son Luca Maximilian. Away from cars he likes to play golf, squash, billiards and table tennis. With all that he has achieved in the 1990s, it's little surprise that he lives in Monte Carlo, although one suspects if he has ever wondered where he could have ended up had his F1 career at Zakspeed had not been as catastrophic as it turned out to be.

CAREER SUMMARY

Before Formula One
1976	• German Junior Kart Championship, 3rd overall.
1977	• German Junior Kart Championship, 2nd overall.
1978	• German Junior Kart Championship, 2nd overall.
1979	• German Junior Kart Championship, 1st overall. • World Junior Kart Championship, 5th overall.
1980	• German Junior Kart Championship, 1st overall. • World Junior Kart Championship, 1st overall.
1981	• German Class A Kart Championship, 3rd overall.
1982	• European Kart Championship, 1st overall.
1983	• African Kart Championship, 1st overall.
1984	• German Formula Ford 1600, 2nd overall.
1985	• German Formula Ford 2000, 4th overall. • European Formula Ford 2000, 5th overall.
1986	• German F3, =3rd overall, 94 points in an ACE Reynard 863 Volkswagen.
1987	• German F3, 1st overall, 140 points, 7 wins in a Schübel Dallara F387 Volkswagen.
Formula One
1988	• Zakspeed 881 turbo, 16 entries, 10 DNQs.
1989	• Zakspeed ZK891 Yamaha V8, 16 entries, 14 DNPQs.
1990	• Arrows A11/A11B Cosworth V8, 2 entries, 1 DNQ.
After Formula One
1990	• Porsche Cup, 1st overall. • World Sportscar Championship, 25th overall, 3.5 points in a Kremer Porsche 962CK6 with various drivers. • Interserie championship, 1st overall, 97.5 points, 4 outright wins, 9 heat wins in a Kremer Porsche 962CK6.
1991	• World Sportscar Championship, 2 starts, 23rd overall, 12 points in a Joest Porsche 962C with various drivers. • Interserie championship, 1st overall, 6 outright wins, 8 heat wins in a Joest Porsche 962C. • IMSA, 9th overall, 49 points in a Joest Porsche 962C with various drivers. • DTM in a Zakspeed Mercedes-Benz.
1992	• IMSA, =29th overall, 10 points in a Joest Porsche 962C with various drivers. • DTM, 3rd overall, in an AMG Mercedes-Benz.
1993	• DTM, 3rd overall, 172 points, 3 wins in an AMG Mercedes-Benz 190E.
1994	• DTM, 10th overall, 86 points, 2 wins in an AMG Mercedes-Benz C-Class.
1995	• DTM, 1st overall, 138 points, 5 wins in an AMG Mercedes-Benz C-Class. • ITC, 1st overall, 155 points, 5 wins in an AMG Mercedes-Benz C-Class.
1996	• ITC, 2nd overall, 205 points, 4 wins in an AMG Mercedes-Benz C-Class.
1997	• FIA GT championship, 1st overall, 72 points, 6 wins in an AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR with various drivers.
1998	• FIA GT championship, =3rd overall, 69 points, 5 wins in an AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR with Webber. • Le Mans 24hrs, retired in an AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK-LM with Webber and Ludwig.
1999	• Le Mans 24hrs, withdrew in an AMG Mercedes-Benz CLR with Lamy and Lagorce.
2000	• DTM, 1st overall, 221 points, 6 wins in an AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK-DTM.
2001	• DTM, 1st overall, 161 points, 6 wins in an AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK-DTM.
2002	• Will compete in the DTM in an AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK-DTM.

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