RACING legend Michael Schumacher was handed his Formula 1 debut after French driver Bertrand Gachot was imprisoned for Actual Bodily Harm. Eddie Jordan’s racing team began the 1991 season with the driver pair of Gachot and Andrea de Cesaris. This gave Schumacher his breakthrough opportunity – something Gachot was not aware of until someone told him in jail. And while he was then forced to retire from the race on the first lap, word soon got back to Gachot about the talented driver that had replaced him. Speaking about the events on the Beyond The Grid podcast in 2021, Gachot said: “I didn’t know [about Schumacher].

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