Australian Formula One star Daniel Ricciardo has revealed the Michael Schumacher “moment” that helped him establish his own self-belief.
Having made his Formula One debut in 2011, Ricciardo said his confidence as a race driver started to change when he held off the seven-time world champion at the Japanese Grand Prix in 2012.
Ricciardo, who was with Toro Rosso at the time, earned a championship point by finishing 10th.
But it was defending his position against Schumacher, who was with Mercedes at the time, that stuck out to him most when asked by high-profile MMA journalist Ariel Helwani.
“The first moment, It was about 2012 and I’m about a year into my F1 career… I had Michael Schumacher behind me,” Ricciardo told The Helwani Show.
“He was still racing when I started, which was surreal in itself. I still can’t really believe that because he was a hero of mine growing up.
“He was behind me and at the time he was in a better car and this and that, and he was also Michael Schumacher. I defended him for the last 10-15 laps and it was for the last point, so it was a top-10 [finish] which was big for me at that time in my career.
“It was then when I didn’t fall under the pressure and I wasn’t overwhelmed by the fact that it was Schumacher behind me.
“I knew that was an internal moment for me where I was like, ‘OK, I do have what it takes to sustain the pressure and everything’.”
Ricciardo went on to reveal that after the race, Schumacher personally congratulated him.
“Probably what was even cooler was at the following race, we have the drivers’ parade a couple of hours before the race and we’re all together going around and waving to the crowd and that,” Ricciardo told Helwani.
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“He (Schumacher) came up to me, and I hadn’t really spoken to him yet — he came up and goes, ‘good job in Japan, you defended really well’.
“I was just like, ‘wow, cool’.
“That was really the first moment where I was like, ‘OK, maybe I do belong’.”
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