by VALERIO BARRETTA
Schumacher, talent and head
Who was lucky enough to work alongside Michael Schumacher will tell you how much the German impressed in the tests at Fiorano and Maranello with his ability to turn in tenth gear for dozens and dozens of consecutive laps. Which denoted an ability to concentrate in every context and an out-of-scale mental strength: qualities that are partly natural but which are also structured over time, in parallel with human maturation. On the occasion of the German's 55th birthday, former AlphaTauri team principal Franz Toast underlined precisely this aspect of Kaiser Michael.
Tost's words
“Despite the talent and control of the car, champions are champions because they have the will to continue to improve. And this will is fueled by the mind“, his words to Bild. “This was an extremely pronounced characteristic in Michael“.
The Austrian added how on that unfortunate day of the Méribel accident he was absolutely calm, as he was aware of Schumacher's skills on the ski slopes: “I wasn't worried because I often went skiing with Michael. He was an excellent skier who took no risks. When I realized the consequences of the accident, I couldn't believe it“.
Tost and the budding champions
The Tyrolean knew Schumacher well before the German arrived in Formula 1: it was in fact 1989 and Kaiser Michael was just a young hopeful from his manager Willi Weber's German Formula 3 team, which had Tost in its team manager. That Tost who, about 25 years later, would discover another driving phenomenon, Max Verstappen, with whom comparisons with Schumacher are becoming more frequent every day.
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