Benetton's story is a rather anomalous one. It arises from the dream of an industrialist--who has never made cars but instead pullovers--to race his cars in the Formula 1. It was a dream that became a reality in an extraordinarily effective manner. It was a phenomenon, a unique and probably unrepeatable event that overturned the parameters of the world of Grand Prix.Today, Luciano Benetton can look back with pride and mull over how good his team was during those 19 years on the track, first as sponsor and then as constructor. He can remember the figures who took part in the adventure and recall the major events in each season and the numerous drivers, the best being Michael Schumacher, who was unknown when first hired. Benetton as an adventurer in a field not his own and Formula 1 as the backdrop to a thousand episodes that cannot be overlooked--this is the basis for the story that unfolds for the protagonists of this book, which covers a busy, in some ways raging, epoch. Men can now allow themselves the luxury of telling the story, sometimes even contradicting each other, of what happened between 1983 and 2001, with their own behind-the-scenes anecdotes, technical details, secrets and emotions.

Michael Schumacher: the greatest of all time. A champion with a reputation founded on records, the man who has brought most glory to Ferrari in the modern era. With a dramatic coda to the story that we like to think of as a pit stop before a return to the race, to normality. Michael Schumacher enthralled a generation of fans, but not all the episode in his remarkable career are widely known. While it is true that it is in the nooks and crannies of life great novels are born, in this book there is a search for that which in the emphasis on celebration and success has gone unnoticed, painting a picture of a Schumacher full of enthusiasm but with a degree of fragility. The man behind the driver, with his loves, his manias, his passion concealed behind a veil of stubborn reserve that is by no means violated but rather observed from a certain distance, over time, in all its guises and nuances.