Michael Schumacher thought David Coulthard tried to kill him during a Formula 1 race, according to the latter.
Coulthard made the sensational claim in a new docuseries about the seven-time world champion called 'Being Michael Schumacher', due to be released by German broadcaster ARD next month. The incident unfolded at the Belgian Grand Prix in 1998.
Coulthard and Schumacher were involved in a crash during that race. The latter was challenging for his third world title and first with Ferrari, and he needed to win that race at Spa-Francorchamps to keep the pressure on championship leader Mika Hakkinen.
Yet Schumacher was forced to retire following his collision with Coulthard. The latter has now revealed that Schumacher was furious and claimed the crash was intentional. Coulthard was team-mates with Schumacher's title rival Hakkinen at McLaren.
Hakkinen also retired at the Belgian GP. As quoted by The Sun, Coulthard recalled in the docuseries: "Michael thought it was some sort of conspiracy to kill him and try and help my teammate Mika. But it was simply an accident. It was just one of those things."
The result left Schumacher seven points behind Hakkinen with three races to go (10 points were awarded for a win). Hakkinen went on to win in Luxembourg and Japan to claim his first world title before making back-to-back triumphs the following year.
Schumacher knew the importance of the Belgian GP and was visibly angry in the pit lane after the crash. The German told reporters at the time: "David is a sensible driver, so I don't understand at all why he acted like this."
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The docuseries also shows Coutlhard speaking to reporters in 1998. He said: "I can’t understand him (Schumacher), he has just accused me again of wanting to kill him. He has to take that back, it can't be true. I hope he has some regret over his comments."
Schumacher did eventually dominate F1 with Ferrari, winning five consecutive championships between 2000 and 2004 to add to the two he won with Benetton in 1994 and 1995. Coulthard believes Schumacher's ruthlessness was key to his success.
He added in the docuseries: "Schumacher could be very ruthless, he could be cold, he could be distant. I think that's probably the level you need to be at to be that successful. My understanding of where the limit was perhaps more in line with the rest of the drivers."
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Schumacher retired from F1 in 2012 before suffering a skiing accident in the French Alps a year later. It left him with a severe brain injury, with his family providing few updates during the last decade. He hasn't been seen in public since the accident.
Speaking in a 2021 Netflix documentary about his life and career, Schumacher's wife Corinna revealed her husband is "different, but he's still here". She added: "He still shows me how strong he is every day. We're trying to carry on as a family."
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