F1 News: Former Driver Reveals Michael Schumacher Memory From Racing Debut

"He didn't need to do that"

Sky Sports pundit and former F1 driver, Karun Chandhok, has reflected on his chaotic Formula 1 debut and how Michael Schumacher's conversation "meant a lot" to him. 

Chandhok made his F1 debut in 2010 driving for Hispania Racing alongside Bruno Senna. However, before signing with Hispania, Chandhok was in extensive talks with Toyota, USF1, Lotus, and Virgin. 

During a recent appearance on the Beyond the Grid podcast, Chanhok was asked how he felt ahead of his debut. He responded:

“Well, physically, I felt ready because I knew this was the one real opportunity with these new teams coming in. So I made sure I was physically prepared for it.

“Mentally, of course, it was all a bit daunting, because there’s so much going on. There’s so much noise going on around all of these conversations with these five teams.

“It was a little bit tricky, but actually when I went to Dallara to do the seat fit, that was the first time it felt real.

Chandhok continued:

“I spent time with Geoff [Willis, Hispania technical director] and Mr. Dallara, Gian Paolo Dallara, I’ve got a great relationship with him, and you know, actually spend time with the designers and having a look at the wind tunnel and things like that.

“And they said to me, ‘look, the car we’ve got here really should have just done the launch at the hotel, but now we’re kind of stuck with it, we don’t have time to go testing’.

“We’d end up doing the first four flyaways, but the update package they had for Barcelona was like 60 points of downforce, you know, it would have taken that car to the head of the new teams, probably not far off a Toro Rosso which, funnily enough, if you look at where Haas and Dallara arrived in f1, that’s sort of where they ended up, actually.

“So it’s such a shame that the Hispania team, Collin, and [José Ramón] Carabante sort of fell out with Dallara, and that update never arrived. So that launch car, which was meant to go to a hotel, basically ended up racing in that spec for the season.”

The former racing driver went on to discuss the highlight of his debut race weekend was his encounter with F1 legend, Michael Schumacher. He added:

“In some ways, as much of a mess as it was, in other ways, it kind of took the pressure off, because we just needed to get out there and do some laps.

“And when you’re doing your first Grand Prix weekend, there’s so much other stuff and noise outside of the car going on. This just got swept up with a whirlwind.

“But on that first weekend, my standout memories, actually from the Thursday, where I walked in the paddock, and it’s my first time walking into the paddock at a Grand Prix weekend as a race driver, and the first driver I spoke with was Michael Schumacher.

Schumacher was making his return to F1 driving for Mercedes at the time. Chandhok added:

“This was Michael making his return to F1, he was the biggest star at that time, you’d have to say he’s bigger than Lewis [Hamilton], Fernando [Alonso], all these guys at that time. And I was a nobody, right?

“But he actually walked up to me and introduced himself to me, as if he had to, and said ‘welcome to F1’. And we had a conversation, where are you from? And asked a bit about my background, we had a really polite conversation. He didn’t need to do that.

“And til today, and I told Mick [Schumacher] this story as well, when he came to me, and I said, I really appreciated that as a young kid coming into F1 with a guy who was on my bedroom wall. That meant a lot and still means a lot even today.”