Aston Martin sporting director Andy Stevenson has recalled how a young Michael Schumacher was mistaken as a delivery boy by the Jordan team ahead of his sensational F1 debut in 1991.
Stevenson, aged 55, stands as a steadfast member of Team Silverstone. His association with the team traces back to its inception as Jordan Grand Prix in the early 1990s.
Stevenson's journey within the team, and through its various guises as Force India and Racing Point, saw him ascend from chief mechanic back in the day to the role of sporting director by 2005.
Today, the F1 veteran spearheads Aston Martin’s interactions with the FIA.
But back in the summer of 1991, Stevenson and his Jordan crews were on duty one evening at the team’s Silverstone factory and preparing for the seat fitting of their new recruit.
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They knew little about Schumacher, save for the fact that the then 22-year-old had won the German F3 championship the year before and that he was now a Mercedes works driver competing with the manufacturer’s Sauber sportscar team.
When Jordan’s Bertrand Gachot found himself at odds with the law in Britain for a mere traffic incident, Mercedes asked Jordan to hire Schumacher as the Belgian's replacement, which Jordan readily accepted in exchange for hard cash.
Stevenson, speaking to German publication Bild, remembered his first encounter with Schumacher.
“Eddie came to us and said: Bertrand can't drive,” he recalled. “Eddie said: 'We have this young driver, Michael, who drove in Japan’.
“We were supposed to stay longer one evening for his seat adjustment. So we were still late at the factory, and suddenly a young delivery man came. And then we realised, this isn't a delivery man, it's our new Formula 1 driver!”
Before travelling to Spa, the team put its new charger through his paces at Silverstone, just to verify that the rookie wasn’t out of his depth at the wheel of an F1 machine.
“After two or three laps he was already faster than anything we had previously achieved,” said Stevenson. “He was beating lap times over lap times!
“I distinctly remember saying to a friend after the test session 'we've just tested a future world champion'.
“It was completely obvious. He let the car dance through the chicanes.”
Several days later, despite never driving at Spa-Francorchamps, Schumacher officially burst onto the scene at the daunting Ardennes track where he qualified seventh, matching the team’s season-best grid position and outpacing teammate Andrea de Cesaris.
Sadly, his race only latest a few hundred years due to a failed clutch. But the young German had undoubtedly made his mark.
“His level of professionalism was already beyond anything we had experienced with other drivers,” remembered Stevenson.
“From the moment Michael sat in the car, he immediately knew what he wanted. He was totally hands-on, wanted to get involved and help with everything.”
Aston Martin team owner Lawrence Stroll with sporting director Andy Stevenson.
But some astute dealing behind the scenes after Spa by Benetton’s Flavio Briatore allowed the flamboyant Italian to poach Schumacher from Jordan for the following event at Monza.
In 1994, Schumacher claimed his maiden F1 world title with the Enstone squad. And the rest, as they say, is history!
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