Glenn Freeman

which was a big hit to Benetton's budget, as although the team brought in more sponsorship money for 1996, off the back of now being constructors champion as well as two times drivers champion with Schumacher, that extra income didn't cover the increase in driver costs.

So, in fact, Benetton were worse off in terms of the money they had to spend on car development and

Matt, do you think that's actually... Is that a short-sighted move here to sink so much money into your driver costs, almost as a reaction, I guess, to losing Schumacher?

You end up with a really expensive wage bill across two cars.

When Benetton launched its 1996 car, Briatore was in bullish mood, reminding people that the championships of the previous two years had been won by Schumacher and Benetton, saying some of the races would have been difficult for him to win without us and a few races would have been difficult for us without him.

It's always the combination that wins the race.

But my overall view is that the team is more important.

In Damian Smith's Benetton book, Pat Simmons said the loss of Schumacher was a huge blow as one of the most important pieces of this wonderful team was breaking away.

And while the team knew it was going to be difficult, the attitude was it would be really nice to win a championship without him to know that it's Benetton and not just Michael.

Ben, where do you think that balance was, though, by the end of 1995?

Was there a feeling that Schumacher had carried Benetton to these titles, or had they really started to look like a legitimate top team as well?

You don't get that many one twos in the championship for the team with the best car.

Absolutely.

No, true.

Especially because they don't exist, although don't be my daughter.

Things got off to a tricky start in 1996.

As even before the new car had launched, Berger was finding the championship-winning 1995 car really difficult in testing.

He crashed it several times and was then pointing out that Schumacher had a very special driving style.

Once they got their hands on a 96 car, Berger said it was OK to drive in race trim, but on low fuel in qualifying, it was difficult.

And he said things hadn't clicked yet for the team or the drivers.