'Schumacher was fast, but I wasn't a fan of his driving style'

With Michael Schumacher behind the wheel, Ferrari has had its most successful period. But according to former Ferrari designer John Barnard, the relationship between him and the star driver did not start so smoothly.

When Michael Schumacher joined the Ferrari team in 1996, designer John Barnard had already worked with several big names, including Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost. The latter even considers the designer to be the best driver he has ever worked with.

The relationship between the brand new world champion and Barnard didn't start quite smoothly. "Michael was fast, but I wasn't a fan of the way he set up the car and drove it. For me, that wasn't the way to use that car," Barnard explains in the Beyond the Grid podcast.

Driving with the front

"I've been trying to talk to Michael to explain my position. For me, the car's fast if you can plant the back. If you have maximum traction at the rear at all times, you can open the throttle sooner and be quicker." According to the designer, however, this was not Schumacher's driving style. "He drove the front of the car."

"Michael wanted to have a front that would allow him to simply turn the wheel and blast into the corner and then take care of the rear." The driving style and the car turned out to be a successful combination a few years later, after which Schumacher won no less than five world titles with Ferrari.