Formula One's Michael Schumacher Turns Cab Driver

Formula One's Michael Schumacher--one of the most recognized faces in sports outside the U.S.--apparently used his celebrity to commandeer a taxi cab that was going too slow for comfort.

The Schumacher family flew to southern Germany from Switzerland on Saturday via private jet to buy a puppy. The cabbie drove the family to a breeder in Gesuelz, then back to the airport.

But on the ride back, the cabbie apparently wasn't going fast enough for Schumacher's taste, so the seven-time Formula One Champion--the most successful FO driver in history--told the cabbie to skooch over.

"It was sheer lunacy," cabbie Tuncer Yilmaz told the Muenchener Abendzeitung newspaper. "He took the curves with full speed, but you couldn't even notice it. He just knows how to do it."

Schumacher showed his appreciation by giving the cabbie a €100 ($146.72) tip, on top of the €60 ($88.03) fare.

Yilmaz' only regret? He wishes German photo radar would have caught Schumacher speeding.

"I so much would have loved to get a speeding photo of this ride," Yilmaz told the Abendzeitung. "I would have gladly paid a ticket for that."