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April 18, 2014

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Home » Supplement » Formula one

Chinese race fans still love Schumacher

IF you ask F1 race fans in Shanghai which driver is their favorite, Michael Schumacher will undoubtedly be named by many even though the retired seven-time world champion is encountering his biggest challenge in life.

Schumacher slammed his head on a rock while skiing off-piste in the French Alps resort of Meribel on December 29. He has been in stable but critical condition since then in a hospital in the eastern French city of Grenoble. Doctors started lowering his sedation at the end of January to wake him up from an artificial coma.

On April 4, Schumacher’s agent said he was making progress and showing signs of waking from the coma.

“I first heard the news on TV and was totally shocked,” said Zhang Qian, a Schumacher fan who has followed Formula 1 for two decades. “I immediately turned to the Internet and other friends for confirmation. It took me a long time to truly believe it.”

Zhang is a native of Zhengzhou City, capital of Henan Province, and has worked for two years in a finance and investment business in Shanghai.

Zhang started watching the sport when he was still a primary school student in 1995. Schumacher, then driving for Benetton, won his second world championship that year. The German’s smart and stylish passes attracted Zhang, who is now a member of Schumacher’s army of fans all over the world.

“His temperament as a king on circuit, his passion and personality attracted me most,” Zhang said. “He always made fans dream and kept the hope alive in all circumstances. Despite the controversies, he has become a spiritual pillar, for lots of his fans like me.”

To express his best wishes to his childhood idol, Zhang bought a birthday cake on January 3, lit candles, took pictures and posted them online to celebrate the comatose Schumacher’s 45th birthday.

Zhang said he skipped a college class in Zhengzhou and borrowed money from his family to come to Shanghai International Circuit for Schumacher’s last race before retiring for the first time in 2006.After his idol’s second retirement from F1 in 2012, Zhang said he has lost some of his passion for the sport, but now follows Sebastian Vettel, who is considered Schumacher’s successor.

As a member of Racing Club, one of Shanghai’s largest motor racing fan clubs, Zhang took part in its online memorial campaign named “One Picture to Show Your Love for Schumi.” The club encouraged fans to upload pictures of Schumacher to show their love and concern for the driver.

Some pictures will be exhibited at Racing Club’s booth at the Shanghai International Circuit during the Chinese Grand Prix.

The club received 250 pictures within one week after launching it on April 2. Some Schumacher pictures were taken by fans, some featuring famous moments in his career.

“We did not do much promotion work for the activity,” said Zhao Zhichao, manager of Racing Club. “We just wanted to give our members a way to show their concern, let out emotions and express their love toward Schumacher.”

Schumacher grabbed the F1 spotlight in the middle of the 1990s, which was also when live F1 races were first televised on the Chinese mainland. China Central Television started showing live races of the entire F1 season in 2003, when Schumacher clinched his third-straight crown for Ferrari. The first F1 Chinese Grand Prix was held in 2004.

Schumacher won the Chinese Grand Prix in 2006 with Ferrari, and finished that year second in the overall standings. He finished 12th in the debut Chinese GP in 2004 and retired the following year. His best performance in the three Chinese GPs he raced after joining the Mercedes team after a comeback from his first retirement was a 10th place finish in 2010.

Sun Yue, another Schumacher fan, told Shanghai Daily he was at both the 2006 and 2010 Chinese GP races.

“I was conquered by Schumacher’s techniques,” he said. “A lot of people give praise to his character and personality, and to me, to be able to merge his personality with his ability is what is unique about him.”

Sun also followed other racers like Finnish Mika Hakkinen. But it was the German who became his favorite. He also started collecting footage of Schumacher’s early races.

“During the Spanish GP in 1994, a gearbox failure left Schumacher stuck in fifth gear. He finished the final 20 laps in fifth gear and placed second, which was simply amazing, and illustrated how he became such an icon to his fans.”

Sun hasn’t followed F1 as closely since Schumacher’s retirement. He said he was hoping the media had exaggerated Schumacher’s condition when he first heard about the skiing accident.

It was not the first time Schumacher injured himself outside of auto racing. Schumacher sustained a serious neck injury in a motorcycle accident. When Ferrari driver Felipe Massa was injured after being struck by a suspension spring during Hungarian GP qualifying, Schumacher, then a race advisor to Ferrari, was asked to step in to replace him. But the neck injury was too severe and Ferrari hired Luca Badoer and Giancarlo Fisichella to take Massa’s place.

“He is a motor racing great, but suffered his most serious and life threatening injury when skiing, it’s gut-wrenching news for fans,” said Sun.

Fans clearly believe in Schumacher.

At one Chinese Grand Prix, fans held a banner that read “Michael, look up in the sky, that is your only limit.”




 

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