Michael Schumacher achieved nearly everything in motorsport, but the 24 Hours of Le Mans was one thing he failed to win.
The German, instead, was beaten by his future Formula 1 teammate during his only outing at the world’s most famous endurance event.
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Herbert (left) overtook his future teammate Schumacher to take the race leadCredit: Sutton Images
Back in 1991, Johnny Herbert helped claim Mazda’s only Le Mans triumph, before having to wait 20 years to stand on the podium.
Schumacher did the reverse, as one of 22 F1 world champions to have attempted to do the double by winning the iconic endurance race.
However, the Ferrari icon, whose son Mick is competing in the 2025 event, was denied the opportunity to join the exclusive five-person club to have won both in his 1991 entry.
For the uninitiated, Le Mans, the oldest and most prestigious race of its kind, requires a different set of skills than those needed to succeed in F1.
Where a traditional Grand Prix prioritises pure speed, its French marathon counterpart rewards reliability and fuel efficiency.
It’s that key distinction which means F1’s most famous race, in Monaco, and the jewel in the endurance category, each make up two-thirds of the unofficial Triple Crown of Motorsport.
Le Mans also requires teamwork via relay racing, where three drivers take turns behind the wheel over 24 hours.
In contrast, F1 stars usually consider their teammate as their most direct rival – something Herbert can attest to more than most.
The British motorsport legend was alongside Schumacher for the first of his seven world titles at Benetton in 1994 and 1995.
By then, the two were well acquainted, having gone wheel-to-wheel at the 59th Grand Prix of Endurance on June 22 and 23, 1991 – a month before Schumacher made his F1 debut at Jordan-Ford in Belgium.
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Mick Schumacher is competing in the Le Mans 24 Hours for the second timeCredit: Getty
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Graham Hill is the only driver to have completed the Triple Crown of motorsport
Every driver at Le Mans is pushing their body to the physical limit, but Herbert’s stint came a mere three years after a horror crash.
In 1988, he survived a life-altering collision that the 60-year-old admitted to talkSPORT he’s still ‘stiff and painful’ from 36 years later.
Herbert’s feet and ankles were smashed while competing in International Formula 3000 at Brands Hatch, with doctors saying he would never walk again – let alone race.
Against all the odds, the Essex-born driver made his F1 debut after a six-month recovery, but his injuries resurfaced in Le Mans.
Herbert was the sole Brit flying the flag in the unfancied Mazda 787B alongside German Volker Weidler and Belgian Bertrand Gachot.
Weidler made a strong start in the Number 55 Mazda that started from 19th on the grid, but victory was still Sauber Mercedes’ to lose.
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Herbert miraculously recovered from his crash in 1988Credit: YouTube
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The Brit racer underwent multiple surgeries that permanently altered his mobilityCredit: YouTube
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That had a knock-on effect when he was pulled out of his Mazda 787B by medics
The German powerhouse had three teams fronting their C11 cars, which included Jochen Mass, who’d won Le Mans in 1989.
And a 22-year-old Schumacher, who smashed five seconds off the lap record that had been set the previous year, with his turn at 10:45pm.
Mercedes-Benz’s reliability issues opened the door for Herbert in the Mazda 787B to take the lead. He was in pain, but had to keep pushing.
To compound his issues, Herbert had exhausted his water supply, yet team manager Jacky Ickx, a six-time Le Mans winner himself, made the call for him to do a double stint to finish the race.
The same determination that saw Herbert recover from a hospital bed to the elite of motorsport also enabled him to cross the finish line of France’s Circuit de la Sarthe – with the 787B’s 362 laps covered two more than the second-placed Jaguar.
Ironically, though, his superhuman efforts carried him back to the medical centre after he collapsed shortly after leaving the car.
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Schumacher impressed in his only Le Mans race, but the No.31 C11 let him downCredit: AFP via Getty Images
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Herbert’s win remains a landmark moment in the 105-year history of MazdaCredit: Getty
It meant Herbert missed out on receiving his trophy on the podium, and photos from the 1991 race will only show two drivers celebrating.
Detailing that unique experience during an exclusive interview with talkSPORT in October, via Genting Casino, Herbert revealed: “Well, at that particular weekend, I never saw it [the podium celebrations], no.
“Jackie Ickx was actually part of our team at that time, and he only told me about two years ago that he never saw the podium either, because he was looking after me, taking me to the hospital to put me on a drip.
“So I look back and it’s annoying, embarrassing in some way that I never made the podium.”
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The 787B had 28 pit stops but just one oil top-up during the 362 laps the trio droveCredit: Getty
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Weidler and Gachot attended the podium ceremony without Herbert
Fortunately, Herbert did recover in time to join the after-party, as Mazda became the first Asian manufacturer to win Le Mans.
He told talkSPORT: “I did actually get there, so I was back into the world, and it was just brilliant.
“It was just so good, I suppose, not being on that podium with Volker and Bertrand, but then it was seeing both of them because we’d done a couple of years together.
“I’d raced with Bertrand when we did Formula Ford in the very early days.
“It was nice seeing them and enjoying that surprise victory that I suppose we probably didn’t expect, but we all drove the wheels of it, but we did it together as a team – And that was the most important thing!”
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Herbert did manage to join his teammates at the after-partyCredit: AFP via Getty Images
Schumacher remains one of the global figures in motorsport, a decade on from his accident, such was his legacy on track.
He won five of his seven titles at Ferrari from 2000 to 2004, after taking his first pair with Benetton in 1994 and 1995.
After stepping away from the sport in 2006, he returned in 2010 for Mercedes’ first season back in F1, helping put the team on a path to unparalleled success with Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff at the helm.
The year after his return, Herbert finally had his moment by standing on the Le Mans podium in 2011, twenty years after winning for Mazda.
The wait to stand on the top step in a race both he and Schumacher competed in didn’t take nearly as long in F1.
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He later got his crowning glory at Silverstone – if at the expense of his winners’ capCredit: Getty
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Alpine’s de facto team principal has never revealed what happened to the iconic piece of F1 memorabiliaCredit: Getty
The setting was the 1995 British Grand Prix at Silverstone – a career-high that Herbert admitted does still carry one slight regret.
That was handing his F1’s winners cap to ex-Benetton team principal Flavio Briatore, now at Alpine, with its current whereabouts unknown.
“Well, I suppose I should go and break into Flavio Briatore’s house to be able to get that back,” Herbert joked. “Because I gave it to Flavio stupidly.
“The original is only going to be [meaningful], so it wouldn’t be anything [to receive a replica].
