On November 27th, 2010, the CEO of Audemars Piguet – Philippe Merk shook hands with a top rallyist to formally declare him to be its new icon with emotion in the Meilenwerk Automuseum which was converted from an old airport in Dusseldorf, Germany, and he is the very god of F1 – Michael Schumacher. In his legendary career, he won the world champion as many as seven times, and he holds unshakable status in auto racing history not only for this; what’s more, he has, shockingly, obtained 68 pole positions, scored 91 Formula One victories, and stood on the podium for 154 times. All these miraculous records have made him an unprecedented great race car driver. In 2010 he returned to the racetrack and people especially his fans are looking forward to seeing him standing on the highest podium for the 18th world automobile race and creating superb records right along.
No driving doesn’t determine to transcend time, and just like Schumacher once said that two miuntes to the race car drivers are just as foreverness for they have gotten used to strive for 0.1 second. Schumacher is extremely keen on watch – making craft; meanwhile, he is an expert on timekeepers that everybody knows. He said his friend Jean Todt – president of FIA as well as the former CEO of Ferrari introduced AP to him, and he has always loved to mention timekeepers in the same breath with racing cars while AP, with high – tech material, top R & D technology, and the most consummate mechanical performance, is just like the top racing car. And he said he also thinks highly of Le Brassus & Le Locle work team of AP for each wristwatch presents in front of us contains its members’traditional and top watch- making craft as well as bold design.
AP is familiar with and is good at motorsport field for it has constantly sponsored many a classical automobile racing, such as the National Classic Tour in Belgian, the Gstaad Classic in Swiss, and the Tour Auto in France. Moreover, AP’s brand ambassadors also include three other race car drivers, namely Rubens Barrichello, Jarno Trulli, and Sébastien Buemi. All these make AP pay more attention to as well as give more enthusiasm to motorsport. Philippe Merk stressed once again that AP’s selecting these well – known and hot sportsmen or racing drivers its brand ambassadors is mainly because they completely echo its three major basic spirits, namely tradition, perfection, and innovation. And he also said Schumacher is not only a great racing driver but also a man who has a big mind as well as is careful in his acts and words; he has always been ready to exert his influence hoping he can help more people; he also embodies his courage and determination on both challenges and motorsport, and he, as it were, is a brand ambassador who combines elegance and humility; of course, the Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph he chose to wear is a real humdinger among the top sports watches.
Schumacher was born in Germany, 1969 and he started his motorsport learning experience at an early age for his father Rolf ran a small – scale velodrome in Kerpen, Germany. When he was about four, given a nickname of Schumi, he started his first car racing. Though a small boy, he had shocking speed, according to the earliest news report about his car racing in 1973. Then, after taking the crown in five consecutive pint – sized automobile racings as of 1983, he won the first prize in the Formula Ford 1600 for Eufra as a one – seater car driver in 1988. Meanwhile, he also attended the Formula König circuit in Germany and triumphed over nine of the ten races. Moreover, he won the F3 automobile racing in Germany in 1990 for WTS. Nearly two years after that he pushed open the door to the F1 and kept winning in almost each grand prix till 2006 when he decided to retire.
Nevertheless, Schumacher’s love for automobile racing has already been in his blood and has become part of his body. Accordingly, he resolutely decided to return to his former career three years later. On December 23th, 2009, he announced he joined the Mercedes GP Petronas to sequentially team up with Ross Brawn who has won world champion seven times with him. And as a talented racing driver, he was full of passion as before. Actually, his returning has proved his incomparable passion for car racing as well as his courage against all risks. After undergoing hard races, he as well as his team gained respected results, which indicated that he would do better in 2011. Schumacher showed his spirit to surmount difficulties and his talent on motorsport; even so, he still affirmed that victories grow out of team work instead of efforts of a single man.
