Ralf drove Karts from an early age. His journey to the Jordan team began at the age of three at the kart track owned by his parents in Germany. He won his first race at six and was a multiple kart champion by the time he graduated to the ADAC BMW Junior Formula Championship when he was 17.

He launched into his racing career in Formula Three in 1994, joining WTS Racing, which was owned by brother Michael's mentor, Willi Weber. His first win for the team came at the end of the 94 season giving him needed points to rank third overall, behind Jorg Muller and Alexander Wurz.

His second season was a battle for the title with Norberto Fontana, which he lost. In 1996 he progressed to Formula 3000, winning three races and taking the title at the final round. 1997 saw his entry into Formula One, racing for the Jordan team. He proved fast, achieving his first podium result, a third place, in Argentina, the third race of the season. Although he had the raw speed, Ralf tended to crash a lot. The 97 season saw him retire from 10 races, half of which were accident related, and it appeared as if 1998 was to be the same. Partnered with Damon Hill, by mid season he showed that he too, like Michael, could excel under wet conditions, bringing home Jordan's first point for the season in a wet Silverstone race.

From that race on, he showed speed and consistency, culminating in his best finish ever, a second, in horrendous conditions at Belgium. Despite his good results, he finished 10th overall, and decided to partner Alex Zanardi at Williams for the 99 season. He was on the podium often through the season, outshining his CART champion teammate, who failed to win a point.

Ralf sat on 19 points and 6th in the championship at the halfway mark, and he continued to impress not only his bosses, but also most of the paddock. His passion was obvious as was the fact that he had learned to control his earlier erratic drives very well. He finished the season with thirty-five points while his teammate was pointless. He remained with Williams in 2000, the team merging with BMW, in their return to the sport. Although many expected that the outfit would only run mid field at best, including the team themselves, Ralf put in some very strong drives throughout the year, including a podium finish in their debut race at Albert Park and they ended up third in the constructors championship.

2001 saw his debut win as well as a further two victories throughout the season. A strong run throughout the year saw him in a three way battle with David Coulthard and Rubens Barrichello for second in the drivers battle, however this failed to materialize and he was forced to settle for fourth place.

2002 didn't get off to a good start for Ralf after he was involved in a first lap accident with the Ferrari of Rubens Barrichello. The Williams driver went airborne over the Brazilian and came to rest in the gravel trap, thankfully uninjured. Malaysia was a lot better, as here he took the chequered flag for the first and unfortunately, only time in the season. Ferrari proved to be too strong throughout the year and Ralf was forced to settle for fourth place once again.

In 2003, Ralf Schumacher put together a tremendous mid-season, claiming victory in back to back European and French Grand Prix. However, the German was unable to sustain the pace and a huge testing accident ahead of the Italian Grand Prix saw Ralf miss the race. Indeed, the finals rounds yielded just five championship points for the younger Schumacher and and he ended the season a disappointed sixth overall.

2004 promised a great deal, by the FW26 chassis was never a match for the dominant Ferrari design and the team also found themselves out-paced by both BAR Honda and Renault. For Ralf Schumacher the season was one to forget as a huge accident during the US Grand Prix saw him miss a bulk of the season to recover from back injuries sustained in the accident.

Schumacher took part in the final three races of the season with Williams, running a strong race in Japan to finish second but for Ralf, his immediate concern is the pace of the Toyota F1 team as he has a contract with the German-based squad that will see him race with them in the 2005, 2006 and 2007 seasons. He ended one of the most hardest season in a disappointed 9th place.

Ralf drove the TF104B for the first time at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain at the November test session. He recorded the fourth fastest test time of the year at Barcelona and was quicker than brother Michael's pole position time for the 2004 Spanish Grand Prix. "I was immediately impressed by the Toyota team," said Ralf. "The potential and motivation of the team encourages me greatly. From the first test I had with Panasonic Toyota Racing, I had a warm welcome and I felt at home. I am sure that we will share a fruitful and enjoyable future together."

Season 2005 wasn’t easy to Ralf too. At the beginning of the season Ralf performance was quite poor in comparison with his new tem mate Jarno Trulli. But Toyota made big step forward in developing the car this year and Ralf was able to show stable results in the middle of the season. Second part of the season 2005 was more successful for Ralf, when Toyota brought modified version of the car what suit more Ralfs driving style. Ralf finished third in Hungary and again third in the last race of the season in China. New version of the car allowed for Ralf took pole position in rainy Japan and to show fastest lap in race in Belgium (first fastest lap for Toyota team ever). After touch season Ralf ended 2 points in front of his team mate Trulli with 45 points on the place 6 in championship.

Season 2006 promised a lot of for Ralf. He already was adapted to new car and new team. Howether the season was very dissapointing mainly because of Toyota car and new Bridgestone tyres. Not reliable car forced Ralf to retire 7 times. This situation was paintful not only for Ralf but also for the team because second driver Jarno Trulli's performance was even worse. Luckily Ralf managed to score podium finish once in Australia (he finished 3rd) and end the season with 20 points total in 10th place of drivers championship. Last few races of the season Toyota showed quite good peace with missing reliability. It gives a little motivation for upcoming season.

2007 Ralf still remains with Toyota. It iwas very difficult year for Ralf especially because of Toyota being not able to deliver good enough car for both drivers. Ralf finished season in 16th place and did not extend his contract with Toyota. After that followed test with young team Force India, but Ralf decided to leave Formula 1.

In 2008 Ralf moves to DTM series. It is completely new experience with completely new and different cars. Its 11 races during season during which we wish Ralf all the best!