And a number of the drivers have been recalling their memories of Schumacher this weekend.
Lewis Hamilton said: “I remember coming here in 1996, my first grand prix, and watching Michael come by out of Turn 1 and the engine just shook my rib cage – it was incredible. And that was when my love for the sport took another step.
"I grew up watching him and I would play him, I would always be… particularly when he was in a Ferrari, when I was racing in computer games I was Michael a lot, the majority of the time.
"Having the privilege, I raced with him in Kerpen many, many years ago and yeah, just trying to think of the best moment. I’ve always had good, fond memories of him. Another really good one was Abu Dhabi, just before he left. I plucked up the courage to go ask if he would swap helmets with me. He was welcoming and did, so yeah, that’s definitely one of the coolest things in my house."
Sebastian Vettel said: "I've known him for a very, very long time, the age of six or seven I met him for the very first time, he was handing over the trophies to the kids at the go-kart track in Kerpen, his home track, not far away from here. Yeah, it was massive. We were more than a hundred kids and he took the time to shake all our hands, hand over the trophies, so as a child I think that was indescribable.
"Obviously he was my hero. I had his posters everywhere in my room and he was pretty much the only guy I followed when I was young. So, yeah, big inspiration and we then I think we had a lot of good moments, a lot of fun moments. He’s a great guy, good fun and I think the admiration for his skills is the same as day one.
"We shared a lot of good moments at the Race of Champions together and even if you can argue about the format and so on, still you have to drive different cars, adapt and the way he drives a go-kart is… I don’t know… it’s just so different to everybody else I’ve ever seen."
Daniel Ricciardo said: "In Suzuka 2012, I was defending him for the last point and a point for us was like a podium. I feel I learnt a lot that day watching Michael in my mirrors. I could kind of feel what he was doing and it felt like we were on the same page which was encouraging for my career and really cool. At the next race on the Drivers’ Parade, he gave me a little pat on the back and said I defended really well."
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