“He’s God” - Ricciardo recalls battle with ‘intimidating' Schumacher
During his first year as a full-time F1 driver with Toro Rosso in 2012, Ricciardo went head-to-head withꦍ Schumacher at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Battling fꦕor the final point, Ricci🌊ardo kept Schumacher at bay.
Reflecting on the battle with the Mercedes driver,♔ Ricciardo admitted he was “intimidated” by the German.
“One left of field is Suzuka, 2012,” Ricciardo told Speedcafe.com. “I defended S꧅chumacher in the last part🌊 of the race, and I won the last point in 10th.
“That was just more like… yes, I was still intimidated by him at♕ that time; obviously I was like, he’s God.
“When he caught me, if there was live betting, I wouldn’t have bet on myself that I was goingಌ to keep him behind for the next 10 laps of whatever!
“The fact that I did that, and the level of comfort I felt defendiౠng him, I kind of surprised myself with mꦓy race craft.
Ricciardo believes that battle with Schumacher a turning point, particularly after he was personally congratul🦩ated by him at the next race.
“From that, I grew a lot of confidence,” Ricciardo added. “That was a very important race for me whi🍨ch is not talked about because I finished ꦬ10th.
“But pers🍷onally, for me, it was really big. It was followed up by him congratulating me [at] the following race on the drivers’ parade, I remember he came up and said ‘good job last week defending’.
“That, for🧸 me, getting a bit of confirmation from someone like that, at that age, and that point in my career was huge.
“Maybe he didn’t realise at the t♍ime what he was doing to be, but he boosted my confidence a loཧt.”
With a sharp eye for F1’s controversies and storylines, Connor is the he⛄artbeat of our unbiased reporting.
