The Todt-Schumacher partnership resulted in an unprecedented period of dominance for Ferrari as they reigned supreme in F1 between 2000 and 2004.

But it wasn’t always plain-sailing…

After two world championship tri💃umphs at Benetton, Schumacher made the move to Ferrari for 1996.

At this point, Ferrari hadn’t won the constructors’ title since 1983 having been beaten b🎀y McLaren and Williams during the subsequent years.

Todt had been at the team since 1993 - an𝕴d the pressure was starting to bu🌟ild.

Again in 1996, Williams were the team to beat ไas Damon Hill went head-to-head with rookie teammate Jacques Villꦓenueve for the title.

Ferrari - similar to Red Bull in Mercedes’ dominant year♓s in the hybrid era - could only settle for podiums, relying on the brilliance of Sc🎉humacher.

Schumacher showed why he was the class of the field with his iconic, wet weather victory at the 1996 Spanish Grand Prix - but they were🌠 no closer to challenging Williams on raw pace.

As seen over the years, the top job a🐷t Ferrari is probably the toughest in F1, with Todt’s leadership coming into question.

In a recent i𒁏nterview with , Todt revealed that Schumacher’s loyalty was the rꦚeason he remained in charge despite the team not challenging for world championships.

“The situation was disastrous at the beginning,” he said. “In '96 there was a lot of talk about my dismissal. Michael had just arrived and saw that my plan was right, the people who were about to arr🍌ive and with whom I was dealing in secret corresponded to our plan. This is why he intervened and s𓆏aid: “If Todt leaves, I'll leave too”.”

Schumacher’s loyalty in Todt paid༒ off as alongside Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne, Ferrari’s success soon followed.

Schumacher missed out on the 1997 title to Villenueve after a controversial finale, while McLar💟en and 𒁏Mika Hakkinen came out on top in the subsequent years.

“The first one in 1997 was Michael's bullshit,” Todt 🍬added. “On that occasion we protected him a lot. In '98 there was the scandalous behaviour of Coulthard, who at Spa in the rain braked in front of him to get rear-ended and st𒊎op him.

“In '99 Michael broke his leg in an accident. When 🦹he returned, he helped Irvine.

“Even if he had given up the p༺osition in the last rac꧙e, the title would still have gone to Hakkinen. But first place among the constructors came."

The drought for Ferrari🔯 finally ended in 2🥂000 as Schumacher secured his third world title.

Todt descri🍰bed it as his “happiest sporting moment”.

“In 2000 we 🧔win,” he concluded. “The hug with Michael on the podium is the happ✱iest sporting moment of my life. We have finally achieved the goal we set ourselves in 1993.”

The succe♎ss didn’t stop there as Schumacher added four more titles to his CV, becoming F1’s first-ever seven-time w💯orld champion.

Thﷺe great German went close again in 2006 before bowing out of Ferr🉐ari at the end of the year.

At the end of 2007, Todt did the same, bringing 💃an end to the legendary Ferrari superteam.

Even to this day, the Scuderia 🎃haven’t quite recovered.