F1 | Ralf Schumacher comes out to his partner

A post on Instagram, to free himself from a burden. It took him almost 50 years of his existence to come out, but Ralf Schumacher finally got there: “The most beautiful thing in life is when you have the right partner by your side with whom you can share everything.”

For the brother of the seven-time world champion, Michael, it must not have been an easy journey. The photo accompanying the post shows Ralf hugging his teammate Etienne in front of a splendid sunset.

The coming out of the German, now a TV commentator for Sky Germany, was greeted by almost 400 thousand likes and many comments supporting his decision. The most touching message came from his son David, the 22-year-old GT driver: “I’m very happy that you’ve finally found someone who makes you feel truly comfortable and safe. It doesn’t matter if it’s a man or a woman. I support you 100%, dad, and wish you all the best! Congratulations!”.

Even the world of motorsport has opened up to talking about homosexuality because in the past the precedents have been very limited: in the 70s only Mike Beuttler is remembered, the driver of Clarke-Mordaunt-Guthrie Racing, the team founded and financed by friends who had made a March available to him for three years.

Ralf had a long career in Formula 1 and not only because he was the younger brother of King Schumi. Gifted with a marked ability to sprint, Schumacher was a protagonist of the Circus for a decade with Jordan, Williams, BMW Williams and Toyota. In five years with the German manufacturer he achieved six victories, six pole positions and 27 podiums.

F1 in the 2000s was still seen as a chauvinistic environment and the resulting image had to be that of the macho, in perfect antithesis to the homosexuality of one of its great protagonists. In the Circus many knew but no one spoke, also because Ralf had been asked not to reveal his condition. There were those who spoke of codicils added to the contracts so that he continued to give an image of himself in line with that of the brand he represented, increasing a situation of discomfort and pain.

He already felt ready to declare himself homosexual, but it took more than twenty years for him to actually come out. It took a long time, but in the end, well done Ralf!