There's not much we don't know about who Michael Schumacher was as a motorsport personality. Quite simply, you can't talk about Formula One without ever involving the German legend. He's one of those people whose name became synonymous with the sport he competed in. At one point, he was the most successful F1 driver, and it took 17 years before his record was beaten by Lewis Hamilton. Michael and Ferrari were the team to beat in the early 2000s, similar to the dominance enjoyed by Hamilton and Mercedes in today's V6 turbo hybrid era.

Today, Michael's son, Mick Schumacher, is competing in Formula One, driving for the Haas F1 Team, and it's sad that Michael isn't there to see his son's progress. Since he had his skiing accident in 2013, we never heard much about the seven-time world champion, as his true condition remains private to his family. Netflix's Schumacher documentary reminded us of Michael's greatness behind the wheel and gave us an inside look at what the German legend was like outside a Formula One car, revealing fascinating secrets about his private life.

10 Schumacher Was Not Born Rich

Unlike other Formula One drivers, Michael never had rich parents to support his racing career, and even said in the documentary that he never thought it would be possible for him to graduate into single-seaters.

Perhaps, the only key thing that brought him to racing was the fact that his father, Rolf, managed a local kart track in Kerpen, and his mother took care of the track's canteen.

RELATED : How Much Michael Schumacher Is Worth Today

9 Michael Knew What He Wanted At An Early Age

Schumacher's father, Rolf, spoke about his son in the documentary, saying his son "was already practicing like a world champion when he was a kid", and people quickly noticed in his karting days how different his lines were compared to other competitors.

Michael also knew how to bend the rules to favor himself when he obtained a karting license in Luxembourg at the age of 12, as it was cheaper to acquire, and didn't need to do qualifying races as they were the only competitors compared to his native Germany.

RELATED : 5 People In Michael Schumacher's Inner Circle (10 He Never Got Along With)

8 He Beat His Kart Rivals Using Discarded Tires

As mentioned earlier, the Schumacher family didn't have the financial ability to support Michael's career, but to the German's credit, he used his situation to his advantage. With his dad managing the kart track in Kerpen, Michael used discarded parts left by karting teams at the track and put them on his kart.

It was here that Michael had the most satisfaction of winning, with him saying "I was always glad to have won with the worst and not the best equipment, and having to really fight like that was additional motivation for me."

RELATED : Own This Limited-Edition Helmet Signed By Michael Schumacher

7 Win At All Costs Mentality

We all knew Michael Schumacher was a ruthless competitor, and would not stop at anything that prevented him from achieving success. He possessed a win at all costs mentality, which sometimes may have gone a bit overboard.

The documentary highlighted his on-track battles with Mika Häkkinen, Damon Hill, and David Coulthard, with Ross Brawn sharing that Michael rarely admitted his mistakes and believed he was never wrong.

6 Senna Was Shaken By The German's Speed

One of the main highlights of the documentary was the story surrounding Michael Schumacher's debut in the 1991 season at Spa that put the F1 world on notice, including the legendary Ayrton Senna who was the face of Formula One at the time.

Senna knew that Michael was an exceptional talent that would make his life difficult in F1, and was keen to put the German in his place when he confronted Schumi following their collision at the 1992 French Grand Prix.

5 The Story Of Imola 1994

The 1994 San Marino Grand Prix will forever be remembered for Ayrton Senna's fatal crash, and the Schumacher documentary further shined light on other things that happened on that fateful day.

Schumacher won the race and appeared to have celebrated on the podium, but that was because they hadn't been informed about Senna's condition at the time, and Michael even initially thought the Brazilian would recover from his injuries. His rival's fatal crash left a lasting mark, and Schumacher even famously broke down in tears years later when he equalled Senna's win tally at the 2000 Italian Grand Prix.

4 Michael Stayed Up Late To Work On His Car

As stated in the documentary, Schumacher loves a challenge. He was already a back-to-back champion with Benetton when he famously switched to the Ferrari team in 1996, which hadn't won a championship since Jody Scheckter back in 1979.

However, his new Ferrari was a complete dog of a car, and his teammate Eddie Irvine even deemed it as "almost undriveable." Because of that, his wife Corinna said Michael worked until at least 10 in the evening with the mechanics to extract every ounce of performance from his car, especially in his first season, highlighted by his impressive win in the rain at the 1996 Spanish Grand Prix.

3 Ferrari Came Close To Dropping Him

Current FIA President Jean Todt was instrumental in bringing Schumacher to Ferrari, together with Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne, which completely transformed the fortunes of the team. However, after coming up short in winning the 1997, 1998 and 1999 seasons, Todt shared that Ferrari management began to question whether Michael was the right driver for the team.

Even the unbreakable Schumacher had doubts whether he could bring a title to the Scuderia as his wife revealed, but those thoughts quickly diminished when they finally broke through and won the first of five straight championships in 2000.

2 His Condition Remains A Secret

We were hoping to see a glimpse of the current state of Michael Schumacher in the documentary as we haven't seen the German legend since 2013, and unfortunately, we may have to wait a little bit longer.

However, it's good to know that he's being given the best care possible, with Michael's wife Corinna revealing that the seven-time world champion "is here, but different". For sure, no one will ever be the same after a devastating brain injury, but we'll take into consolation that there is still hope that we'll be able to see him in the future.

1 Mick Sorely Misses His Father

We all know that Michael Schumacher's son Mick is now competing in Formula One, a sport his father dominated in the past, but the documentary reveals the seven-time world champion was a loving father to his kids, showing his devotion as a family man, especially in his latter days in F1.

After the skiing incident in 2013, Mick could only wish of having a father-son bonding in sharing racing knowledge with Michael, and even said "he'd give up everything" just for a chance to talk about motor racing with his father, and that they "would understand each other now in a different way", as they "speak a similar language, the language of motorsport".