The Day I Met Michael Schumacher

“And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

– Paulo Coelho

When I was 18 years old, for 15 of those years, I have been following the sport where cars are not just machines, the drivers are not like ordinary human beings. The world that is F1 is not known to the common mind and yet I at such a tender age had petrol flowing in my veins. My dad introduced me to the sport and it was love at first sight. It was around the ’99 season that I got hooked onto F1, it was the era of Ferrari vs. McLaren then. Those red and silver cars were always at the front and well, a certain driver in red overalls had quite caught my attention. It was none other than Michael Schumacher.

I was so intrigued and fascinated by his sheer domination and determination to win at any cost, his ever smiling face on the podium and well to be honest, the color red suited the guy. Ferrari and Schumacher became my childhood companions. Before kids of my age could even start differentiating between trucks and cars, I was already chanting words like “Racing, F1, Ferrari and of course Schumacher”.

Naturally as a hardcore fan, I felt that I’d won the race when Schumi won, and well I skipped meals when he lost just because I was too upset, which did not go too well with my mom. During the 5 year domination, I was on cloud 9. But then crashing came Alonso and brought that era of Schumi and Ferrari to an end. I was thoroughly devastated. In 2006, after the Italian Grand Prix, Michael announced that he was going to retire. Well, my anger knew no bounds then. I felt so helpless. I was so angry that I skipped the ’07 season because “it wasn’t fun anymore”.  To me, the game had lost all its charm without Schumi.

In 2010, the Legend came back to sport and well, the love re-ignited. He didn’t succeed in his second stint in F1 but I always used to look at the time sheets for the name Schumacher. He had this aura about him that made him a perfect role model for an aspiring racing driver like me.

In 2012, F1 was scheduled to come to India and I was ecstatic, but the ticket prices were a little too much for my Dad’s pocket and well my dream came crashing down. It was Schumi’s last year in F1 and I’d miss it. What a shame. I participated in various competitions which had the tickets as prices. Long story short, I came third all over India in the Airtel Simulator Challenge, and as my reward, I earned two tickets for the weekend, and a chance to meet Nico Rosberg.

Little did I know that life has something else planned for me.  As promised, I arrived at the Buddh International Circuit on Thursday for my meet and greet with Nico. He was 10 minutes late, and arrived in a Mercedes SUV. I saw someone else get off but I just wondered if it was his physiotherapist. Taking a closer look, I was shocked. I took off my glasses, cleaned them back and again put them on again, just to confirm what I saw a few seconds ago. It was none other than, Mr. Schumacher.

At that moment I forgot to blink, I forgot to breathe and I forgot that Nico was there as well. It was just too unbelievable for me to think that my idol was 3 feet away from me. He was in his early 40’s at that time but my god, he looked like a regular 20 years old. His neck was thicker than my whole thigh. Such was his level of fitness. He looked surreal. Standing out from the rest.

Towards the end, I had time to go ask him for his autograph. I gave the pen to him, and a sheet of paper. My voice was shaking, my feet were trembling. It was just too good to be true. After the autograph, I just stood there, and I just very stupidly asked him, “Can I just please, shake your hand?” He smiled, winked at me and said “Sure!” Such humble gestures are not expected from a 7-times world champion. He’s one human being that well, redefines humbleness. He held out his hand and I shook it and, I just can’t put that feeling into words. Imagine yourself shaking hands with God. It was something like that for me. My 15 years of devotion finally paid off.

It was a weekend I can never forget. He’s one legendary racing driver I can never forget. He has won 91 Grand Prix’s but the fight that he’s fighting now is something he has to and will definitely win. We are all with you Rain Master. #KeepFightingMichael