Michael Schumacher cost himself two F1 titles after 'losing control'

Former Ferrari boss Jean Todt believes Michael Schumacher lost two F1 world titles after he "lost control" in key moments.

The seven-time world champion was not far from controversial moments in his career, with two of the most high-profile being the 1997 title-deciding European Grand Prix and qualifying for the 2006 Monaco GP. 

In the former, Schumacher headed to the finale at Jerez one point ahead of Jacques Villeneuve, with the two famously among three drivers to set identical pole position times of 1:21.072, with Canadian Villeneuve on pole. 

During the race, just after a pit-stop, Villeneuve lunged up the inside of Schumacher who initially turned out of the corner only to try to ram the Williams off the road, but only succeeded in beaching himself in the gravel, and ended his race.

Villeneuve survived to finish third and take the title in the second collision involving Schumacher in four seasons to decide a title after 1994 against Damon Hill, and the fourth time in nine seasons the crown had been won in such a manner after the infamous Alain Prost-Ayrton Senna crashes at the 1989 and 1990 Japanese GPs.

Afterwards, Schumacher became, to date, the first and only driver to be disqualified from an F1 championship season, and later conceded to his mistake.

Just under a decade later, Schumacher was on provisional pole in Monte Carlo after the first runs of Q3, and was looking to snap the early-season momentum of Fernando Alonso - the reigning champion who had won three of the first six races and finished second in the other three.

Alonso was up on his second run by nearly two-tenths until Schumacher feigned a 'crash' at the Rascasse corner, travelling at just under 10mph, bringing an early end to the session and preventing Alonso from setting his lap.

A race steward even commented that the move was "pathetic", as 1982 champion Keke Rosberg called it the "cheapest, dirtiest thing I have seen in F1."

Schumacher was promptly stripped of his pole position and dumped to the back of the grid as Alonso converted his inherited pole to a win, and the German recovered to fourth place.

At season's end, Schumacher finished just 13 points behind Alonso, although he lost a certain race victory in the penultimate race in Japan with a rare Ferrari engine failure whilst leading, and was level on points with Alonso in the standings.

Reflecting on the near-misses which could have made Schumacher a nine-time champion, Todt believed that Schumacher's loss of control was to blame.

"Slowly we rebuilt the team in 1996, we won three grands prix, and in 1997, we lost the drivers' championship at the last race with the controversial overtaking move on Villeneuve, where Michael made a mistake," Todt told the High Performance Podcast.

"I mean, he crashed into him purposely, but he did it badly, and Michael was an amazing guy. 

"But every time he lost control, he paid for it very expensively, as it cost him the championship. 

"Like in 2006 in Monaco qualifying with Alonso, he had to start at the back of the grid, and it cost him the championship.

"So the two mistakes he made cost him the championship."