Throwback: German prosecutors consider charging Michael Schumacher with attempted murder

On 6 January 1998, F1 found itself at the centre of one of its strangest ever off-track dramas.

German prosecutors in Cologne revealed they were considering criminal charges against Michael Schumacher over his infamous collision with Jacques Villeneuve during the 1997 European Grand Prix at Jerez, an incident that had decided the world championship just months earlier.

The showdown in Spain on 26 October 1997 had been a thriller — with Schumacher leading Villeneuve by a single point in the standings going into the final lap of the season.

But the title fight imploded on lap 48 when Schumacher, in a desperate bid to defend his advantage, turned into Villeneuve’s Williams at Curva Dry Sac (Now Curva Dani Pedrosa), taking himself out of the race while Villeneuve went on to finish third and secure the championship.

The FIA had already delivered a landmark sporting judgement in November 1997. In a rare disciplinary hearing, FIA President Max Mosley declared that the World Motor Sport Council concluded Schumacher’s actions "were deliberate but not premeditated" — stripping him of his second place in that year’s drivers’ championship.

But the controversy didn’t end with the FIA. German prosecutors announced they were reviewing a written complaint and were obliged under German law to investigate whether Schumacher’s move could constitute criminal offences, including attempted murder, coercion, grievous bodily harm and various driving offences.

A spokesman for the state prosecutor’s office said they had received a formal complaint from a German citizen in Frankfurt and were assessing the matter.

The prospect of a racing incident of that manner crossing over into criminal law was unprecedented. Schumacher, as a German citizen, could theoretically have faced prosecution at home even though the collision occurred in Spain — but authorities soon concluded that no criminal act had been committed and the case was dropped within days.

"An investigation into Schumacher’s behaviour has not revealed that any criminal act was committed," prosecutor Hans Bernhard Jansen told Reuters.

Schumacher himself was reflective about the whole saga, acknowledging the heat of the moment on track.

"I am human like everyone else, and unfortunately, I made a mistake," he said in the aftermath of the season.

The Jerez collision remains one of the most talked-about incidents in F1 history — not just for the title it decided but for the brief moment when the sport’s fiercest rivalry seemed headed to a courtroom rather than the stewards’ room.