“He’s God” - Ricciardo recalls battle with ‘intimidating' Schumacher
During hi✱s 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 Schumacher at bay🌊.
Reflecting on the battle with the Merced🧸es driver,ꦡ Ricciardo admitted he was “intimidated” by the German.
“One left of field is Suzuka, 2012,” Ricciardo told Speedcafe.com. “I defended Sc✱humacher 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; obviဣously I was like, he’s God.
“When ౠhe caught me, if there was live betting, I wouldn’t have bet on myself that I was going to keep him behind for the next 10 laps of whatever!
“The 🍷fact that I did that, and the✅ level of comfort I felt defending him, I kind of surprised myself with my race craft.
Ricciardo believes that battle with Schumacher a turning point, part🌞icularly afte﷽r he was personally congratulated by him at the next race.
“From that, I grew a lot of confidence,” Ricciardo added. “ꦺThat was a 🌼very important race for me which is not talked about because I finished 10th.
“But personally, 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 defen♐ding’🍸.
“That, for me, getting a bit of confirmation from someone like that, at that age, and tha🌠t point in my career was huge.
“Maybe he did﷽n’t realise at the time what he was doing to be, but he boosted my confidence a lot.”
With a sharp eye for F1’s controversies and storyline🃏s, Connor is the heartbeat of our unbiased reporting.
