Michael Schumacher is one of the greatest drivers to ever drive a Formula 1 car. He has won 7 Championships and 91 races. However, this did not stop the German driver from being kind to rookies. Ex-Formula 1 driver, Karun Chandhok recently shared a story about his initial interactions with Michael Schumacher.
“I remember my first-ever F1 test in 2007 with Red Bull in Barcelona.” Karun Chandhok stated. “I pulled out of the pit garage and Michael had come back to do a one-off test for Ferrari, he’d done his first retirement at the end of the previous season and he came back to do some testing and he was there that day.”
“I came out of the garage and followed him out of the pit lane and thought to myself ‘This is just bonkers’. It was my first-ever day in an F1 car and I was following Michael Schumacher in a Ferrari, it was quite nuts.
Jordan 191, Mick Schumacher e Karun Chandhok. Fotografias via @SkySportF1 e @karunchandhok pic.twitter.com/NX0ZIhxtpA
— Demetriou Neto (@NetoDemetriou) July 20, 2021
“When I did my first race in Bahrain in 2010, on the Thursday, the media day, Michael was the first driver that said hello to me and said ‘welcome to F1’. He then spent five minutes just chatting, asking about my background and where I was from, and wished me luck for my season. He didn’t need to do that.”
Karun Chandhok drove in Formula 1 from 2010 to 2011. Although his career as a driver in Formula 1 was short and unsuccessful, he now has a successful career as a Journalist for Sky Sports F1.
Despite being a kind person like in the story mentioned above, Michael Schumacher has had his moments where he was filled with rage. One such moment was during the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix.
Angriest Michael Schumacher moment after crashing into David Coulthard
The 1998 Belgian Grand Prix was crazy enough as it was. It had one of the worst starts in Formula 1’s history. Somehow, Michael Schumacher escaped the first-lap drama and went on to lead the race.
David Coulthard had an incident-filled race that saw him towards the end of the grid. The race itself was one of the wettest Grand Prix in the track’s history. This made visibility really poor. Back then, the FIA was not very concerned about visibility being as low as they are today.
We all know of the famous 1998 Belgian GP as Schumacher slams into the back of Coulthard amid a wall of spray, ultimately causing them both their race.
It didn’t end there either as the only thing keeping DC safe from the Ferrari driver’s rage off-track was his wall of mechanics pic.twitter.com/Jfz3holk3w
— Maisie (@vetteled) June 6, 2020
Coulthard was having a poor race in the second half of the field. Schumacher came up behind him to overlap. However, he was not expecting the McLaren in front of him to slow down on a straight. Schumacher ran into the rear wheel of David Coulthard. Schumacher’s front left wheel went flying off the car. However, the car was still running but unable to complete the race. He was able to complete the lap to bring it into the garage to retire. Coulthard was also forced to retire his car due to the incident.
After retiring the cars, a rage-filled Micheal Schumacher got out of the cockpit and angrily walked towards the McLaren garage to confront the British driver. The two exchanged some harsh words while being held apart by the mechanics. The German driver finally retreated back to his garage after Ferrari’s team principal Jean Todt convinced him to leave it alone. This was the angriest anyone had seen the German Champion.