Schumacher gets married

A couple of days after sending Germany into a wild nationalistic fervor by winning his home Grand Prix at Hockenheim, Michael Schumacher married his girlfriend Corinna Betsch in a quick civil ceremony in Mannheim, not far from the circuit.

Plans to marry at the registry office in Schumacher's home town of Kerpen, near Cologne, had to be canceled when German newspapers printed stories telling fans where and when the ceremony would take place and the office was besieged. Schumacher thus headed south to Mannheim and escaped the limelight.

The couple had to go through the civil ceremony before Saturday when their marriage was celebrated in the chapel of the German government's guest house, which is situated in the hills above Bonn. This site was chosen because of its high security, which meant that the couple were not worried by invading fans.

The new Mrs. Schumacher, incidentally, has something of a taste for German racing drivers and is clearly something of a talent spotter. Before she started going out with Schumacher at the end of 1991, she was Heinz-Harald Frentzen's girlfriend for four and a half years!