“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 with Schumacher at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Battling for the final point, 🃏Ricciardo kept Sc𝕴humacher at bay.
Reflecting on the battle with the Mercedes driver, Ricܫciardo admitted he was “intimidated” ✅by the German.
“One left of field is Suzuka, 2012,” Ricciardo told Speedcafe.com. “I defended Schumache💃r in the last part of the race, and I won the last poꦅint in 10th.
“That was just more like𝔉… yes, I was still intimida🌠ted 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 going to keep him behind for the nex🍰t 🐽10 laps of whatever!
“The fact that I did that, and the level ღof comfort I felt defending him, I kind of surprised myself with my race craft.
Ricciardo believes th🅘at battle with Schumacher a turning point, particularly after he was personally congratulated by him at the next race.
“From that, I g𓄧rew a lot of confidence,” Ricciardo added. “That was a very important race for me which is not talked about♓ because I finished 10th.
“But person🐽ally, 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 tha꧟t age, and that point in my career was huge.
“Maybe he didn’t realise at the time whaꦜt he was doing to be, but he boosted my confidence a lot.”
With a sharp ey♑e for F1’s controversies and storylines, Connor is the heartbeat of our unbiased reporting.
