Real reason Michael Schumacher was ‘revealed’ as The Stig on Top Gear
While Jeremy Clarkson might have just revealed the true identity of The Stig, there was one moment in time where the entire world thought that title belonged to Ferrari's legendary Formula One champion, Michael Schumacher.
It was a staggering 15 years ago now that Top Gear teased the idea of revealing the identity of the man behind the iconic white crash helmet.
With Top Gear on top of the world through its presenting trio Richard Hammond, James May, and Clarkson, The Stig had also firmly established within the British pop culture psyche. Just who exactly was the man behind the mask?
Schumacher is The Stig, apparently
German racing superstar Michael Schumacher, now 55, was revealed as The Stig back in 2009, leaving viewers wide-eyed and opened mouthed at the idea that it had been him all along.
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The revelation was made when The Stig was invited to be a guest for Top Gear's iconic 'star in a reasonably priced car' segment, where Clarkson would interview a celebrity about car-related topics before watching a clip of them doing a lap of the Top Gear race track in a standard family car (Suzuki Liana, iconic).
Schumacher did a lap in the Liana but did not finish, with Clarkson saying he had 'got lost'.
"I don't think Michael Schumacher is The Stig," Clarkson told the audience and viewers at home.
Why Schumacher was 'revealed' as The Stig
There are a few reasons Schumacher was revealed as the iconic man in white.
Then 40, Schumacher was not racing in any capacity after suffering a neck injury from a motorbike accident, so his schedule will have been pretty free.
In the months after the show, he almost returned to the Ferrari F1 team following an injury to then team racing driver Felipe Massa but this fell apart due to the German's injury.
The 'revelation' was also the first episode of the nineteenth season of Top Gear, so it is accepted by some that it was an editorial decision to increase viewership and make the clip go viral in an age before going viral was really a thing. Top Gear was hot property and always looking to go bigger and better.
One source told the Guardian at the time: "It was a tongue-in-cheek piece which wasn't meant to be taken seriously.
"The Stig is merely a character."
Did Ferrari play a part?
Before Schumacher was revealed as The Stig, the man in white took a lap around the Top Gear test track in the £1 million rated Ferrari FXX.
After finishing the lap, the FXX recorded the fastest ever power lap time on the show's test track, seven seconds quicker than the previous number one.
And the man who drove it? Yep, Schumacher himself.
Reports suggested that Ferrari trusted no one more than their own man who had won seven F1 titles with them over the span of a decade; a stance that no doubted influenced the creative juices at the BBC when it came to the entire 'revelation' segment that has gone down in British TV history.
Who is the real Stig?
During a recent Q&A at his newly opened Cotswolds pub, Clarkson revealed the real men behind the black visor.
“The original Stig was Perry McCarthy, followed by Ben Collins, followed by Phil Keen,” he said.
“There isn’t a current Top Gear so there isn’t a current Stig, but the last one was Phil Keen.”
Keen, aged 40, is a racing driver and the most successful driver in British GT history, meaning he clearly has the talent to live up to the reputation of the fictional character.
Topics: Michael Schumacher, Top Gear, TV, BBC, Celebrity, Entertainment, Sport, Formula 1
Tom Earnshaw