Michael Schumacher crushes McLaren after absurd Ferrari request

As was often the case during his time with the Scuderia, Michael Schumacher would often make a mockery of his F1 rivals with some kind of absurd strategy.  

There was the famous 2004 French GP, where he used a four-stopper to defeat Fernando Alonso's Renault, where the 'sprint style' racing between pit-stops moulded perfectly to Schumacher.

But perhaps the most iconic of all the Schumacher-Ferrari masterstrokes came on this day, August 16th, in 1998, during the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Ferrari had to try something. 

In qualifying at the Hungaroring, the McLarens of Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard took a comfortable one-two on the grid, and all things being equal in the race, it meant Schumacher would likely finish third behind his title rivals.

Enter Ross Brawn, Ferrari's strategy guru. His mission, much easier said than done.

"Michael, you have 19 laps to pull out 25 seconds. We need 19 qualifying laps from you."

Brawn had committed to a three-stopper pre-race, but it was crucial not to alert McLaren until the last possible moment to protect the plan.

Schumacher pitted for the first time on Lap 25 - nothing out of the ordinary there, and rejoined in fourth behind the leading McLarens, who responded accordingly, with Jacques Villeneuve briefly interloping. 

But by the end of Lap 43 of 77, the plan was out in the open. Schumacher was only fuelled for 6.8s, nowhere near enough to put enough in the tanks for the rest of the race.

McLaren did not respond with Hakkinen, seemingly believing Schumacher could not make up the 25 seconds he needed for the third stop in less than 20 laps. 

After Hakkinen's lengthy stop to brim his tanks, he faded away with handling problems and became a mobile chicane to Coulthard in the sister car. The Scot lost six laps behind Hakkinen before being waved through, as he tried to set off in pursuit of the leader, but carrying a lot more fuel. 

A brief off for Schumacher handed Coulthard some time back, but at the end of Lap 62, Schumacher pitted for a splash and dash, rejoining comfortably in the lead for a famous, iconic victory. 

Game. Set. Match. Schumacher.

But not the championship, he would lose that to Hakkinen, who fell away to a lapped sixth on an afternoon Schumacher pulled off one of F1's greatest drives.