F1 pundit Karun Chandhok has revealed a touching story about racing legend Michael Schumacher.
The Sky Sports presenter praised the seven-time champion’s kindness that he showed him back when Chandhok was making his Grand Prix debut.
The pair briefly crossed over in 2010 and 2011, when the presenter, now 39, was racing for HRT and Lotus.
The Indian speedster never fully established himself at the top level and moved onto other racing categories, winning the Formula Asia Championship before he took an analyst job with Sky.
But now he has told of the German racing icon’s sweet gesture ahead of a race.
Speaking to OLBG, he said: “When I did my first F1 race in Bahrain in 2010….Michael was the first driver that said hello to me and said ‘welcome to F1’.
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“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. This was the race where he was making his big comeback with Mercedes and at that time he was the biggest star.”
The TV pundit continued: “I was a nobody, he didn’t need to do that and I always really appreciated that, the fact he took that five minutes to make me feel welcome in the sport.
“He was a great guy and a fantastic driver.”
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“Michael Schumacher was one of my heroes,” he added, stating that no matter what he always “appreciated his utter brilliance”.
Earlier this week, an F1 pundit was forced to apologise after making a grossly offensive joke about Michael Schumacher on live TV.
Schumacher’s name was brought up during a post-race discussion on Spanish TV after the Japanese Grand Prix by presenter Antonio Lobato.
The insensitive comment arose when a fellow pundit said: “Let Adrian Newey [Red Bull’s chief engineer] be shaking because Antonio Lobato is coming.”
Lobato responded with: “Let Michael be shaking! Well… not Michael, he cannot shake.”
The remark sparked outrage online among fans, while some even called for the presenter to be sacked by DAZN.
Schumacher, considered by many to be the greatest driver in Formula One history, hasn’t been seen in public since his life-changing skiing accident nearly a decade ago.
The racing superstar suffered a horrific ski accident while with his son Mick, on the slopes above Méribel in the French Alps in 2013.
Any information about the state of his condition is tightly controlled by his privacy-focused family led by wife Corinna.
His ex-team mate, Johnny Herbert has even said recently that his friends are often left in the dark about his health.
It comes as earlier this month, Chandhok was lucky to escape an injury after his car burst into flames during a race.
Chandhok was in seventh place in the Lavant Cup revival at the time of the incident, which forced him to abandon.
Footage showed the moment an explosion caused his car to spin out of control but the TV presenter managed to steer it onto the grass and out of danger.
Reflecting on the incident, Chandhok wrote on X/Twitter: “Lucky to get away with that with nothing more than a melted boot.
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“Something went bang and seized up the back wheels and sent me spinning.
“Such a shame to end a race in my dream GT car like that but happy to get out ok!”
Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
