Two legendary stints define Michael Schumacher’s career — his dominance with Ferrari, and his early success with Benetton. But history could have unfolded quite differently. Before his time with Ferrari, Schumacher was much closer than most people realise to ending up at McLaren, a move that would likely have altered the landscape of the sport.
1993: The First Attempt
Having impressed in his early Benetton days, Schumacher came to the attention of then-McLaren boss Ron Dennis. With Ayrton Senna’s future uncertain, and McLaren searching for its next champion, Schumacher was a top candidate. But the deal collapsed for a number of reasons:
McLaren had Ford engines but Ford had its focus on Benetton so Schumacher’s switch was complicated.
Briatore had been close with Schumacher, persuading him to remain with Benetton.
At the time, even McLaren was less competitive than Benetton, and Schumacher wanted a car to win.
This was the first of many missed opportunities.
1998: The Secret Negotiations
By the late ’90s, Schumacher was already more than a two-time world champion with Ferrari. But that window opened before his reign of dominance began. In 1998, McLaren and Schumacher had secret negotiations, later revealed to be true according to former Mercedes Motorsport Vice President Norbert Haug.
McLaren, thanks to Adrian Newey’s aerodynamic genius, had just given the world one of the most dominant cars in F1 history. Schumacher’s arrival might have formed a superteam to rival — perhaps with a little similarity to the bitter split of the late ’80s Senna-Prost pair.
Haug said, recalling the conversations, “It could’ve happened — in theory — but it didn’t come together.” He suggested that Schumacher was tempted, but chose to stay with Ferrari and guide them to their first title in 21 years.
What If? The Alternate F1 Timeline
If Schumacher had gone to McLaren, history would be very different:
He might have won more titles at an earlier stage, for example, competing with Mika Häkkinen in 1998 and 1999.
There might not have been a Ferrari’s long-awaited championship in 2000.
If Schumacher and Häkkinen had been team-mates in F1, this would have been one of the most intense intra-team rivalries in history.
In the end, Schumacher’s Ferrari allegiance defined his legacy, but McLaren was closer than most realize to rewriting that narrative. Had a couple of pieces fallen differently, Schumacher in a silver McLaren might have gone down as one of F1’s great “what ifs.”
