"I think I cried that day": Esteban Ocon opens up on the Michael Schumacher moment that made him cry

Esteban Ocon opened up about the one Michael Schumacher moment that made him cry. The incident took place in the 2004 F1 Monaco GP, where Schumacher suffered a collision and had to retire from the race. Ocon has always been a great admirer of the German legend and even his crash helmet is designed as a tribute to Schumacher.

For Ocon, Schumacher was an inspiration growing up and in a guest column on F1's official website, the Frenchman opened up about how it was growing and watching the Ferrari legend on television. Ocon talked about how when he was young, there was this recognizable picture of Schumacher in his red car dominating the sport.

The Alpine driver opened up about one vivid incident where he was watching the 2004 F1 Monaco GP on TV and Schumacher suffered a race-ending collision in the tunnel. Admitting that he cried that day, Ocon said:

"When I was younger and watching the TV, I was just seeing how much Michael Schumacher was dominating the sport with that red car – and when you’re young, red is a very recognizable color! My Dad always watched Formula 1, and back then it was on TF1 in France, with Jean-Louis Moncet commentating, and we’d sit in front of the TV on Sundays."

"I have a memory of playing with a model car when the Monaco Grand Prix was on, and it must have been 2004 because it was the race where you see Michael go into the tunnel – and back then there were not such good images inside the tunnel – and then we see him coming out with three wheels! And then I was like, I just could not believe my eyes, like, what has happened?! And I was just I was not understanding. I think I cried that day! So yeah, it was that bad," he added.

Esteban Ocon on the only Michael Schumacher race he went to see as a fan

Esteban Ocon revealed that the only Michael Schumacher race he went to see as a fan was the 2006 F1 French GP in Magny-Cours. It was the German's final season with Ferrari before his first retirement and Schumacher ended up winning that race, beating Fernando Alonso in his Renault.

"I only went to one race as a fan, and it was the French Grand Prix in 2006, back when it was at Magny-Cours. I remember I was sat in the grandstand three corners before the end of the lap – the 90-degree right-hander – and I was wearing a Michael T-shirt," Ocon recalled.

Schumacher would come back to race in 2010 and spend three more years with Mercedes before his final retirement.