The severity of the crash wasn’t initially known as he posted, “The checks showed nothing and I just wanted to say that I am fine” on his official website. But it was actually a lot more serious than that. It stopped him from returning to F1 in 2009 to fill Felipe Massa’s seat after the Brazilian’s shocking accident during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix. “What I did learn from it was what my limits were and what I was going to do in the future,” he tells us. “It happened. It was a lesson to me and I guess it’s part of the natural learning that you go through in life.” It didn’t put him off. He got back on his mechanical horse and continued riding at tracks - even during his second crack at F1 with Mercedes. And that’s why he’s at Paul Ricard today.

“Today’s not about beating anybody.” Says Schumacher. “I just want to hang out with friends. It’s not about going out to find that extra tenth of a second, just to go as fast as I feel comfortable. The point whenever I have a doubt, that is my lesson, I ease off completely. I don’t even want to try anything that could be exciting as there’s no warning or feeling of the limit. The next step is you’re down on the ground. And there’s no point to being down on the ground.”