F1 ICONS: Jack Doohan on why he values childhood neighbour and seven-time champion Michael Schumacher

Not many people can say they grew up with a seven-time F1 World Champion as their neighbour, but Haas reserve Jack Doohan can. Not only was Michael Schumacher close friends with Doohan’s father Mick – himself a five-time World Champion on two wheels – but he gifted the young Jack his first go-kart, a moment that helped spark his own journey in motorsport.

In our latest edition of F1 Icons, Doohan explains why Schumacher is his idol in the sport and how that admiration stems from much more than performances and titles…

My father and Michael Schumacher were very close friends. After 1994 they both won their first world championships and somehow were neighbours – one winning on two wheels and one on four wheels. The relationship started there and all my very early years were crossed over with Michael.

I would spend time around the house so, on four wheels, Michael has never been out of the equation for being my idol. I also received my first go-kart from him – for me and my sister – and that was really the start to getting where I am now.

Even if we don’t touch further on what he’s done in the sport, or how successful his F1 story is, I’m incredibly grateful for having such a close relationship with him.

The magnitude of him as an athlete definitely didn’t hit early on. I was a three, five, seven-year-old kid coming home from school and he was just with my father – whatever it might be. When these people are close to you, they’re just another good human like we all are. That’s the basis that gets lost sometimes in the F1 paddock.

At the end of the day, drivers are just normal people. I always say that – apart from being a performer, which essentially we are right? Athlete performers, no different to the circus!

You’re just another Joe Blow. You’ve got the same routine, you wake up, you have your coffee, you do your stuff, you go to work and you come back home.

I always wanted to stick so true to those values of being no different to anyone else no matter where on the schedule you are in life. With Michael, I was sort of embedded in that and I really wanted to carry those values in myself.

On track he carried himself with confidence. Obviously, he had good people around him, but he had the right amount of aggressiveness. His calculated tolerance was very assertive and the way he placed the car on track, what he would do with it on track, was extremely strong.

He was always there, you know? Even when things weren’t flowing – whether it be gearbox issues or failures – and he was very, very passionate on and off the track from what I’ve heard from my father.

So, the values are very similar. Especially correlating that between other drivers that my father knew around that time compared to Michael, and hearing the lengths and extent that he worked away from the track, it’s clear to see why he was as successful as he was.

The standouts were being physically fit and being mentally fit. Both him and my dad, instead of getting two hours of work done and saying, ‘I did my deed’ they were consistently going tail for tail and pushing one another. They weren’t just doing what was needed and then moving on.

It's difficult to put his legacy into words, right? And it's going to vary from person to person.

It really comes down to statistics. You can be the most successful Formula 1 driver of all time because in the 1960s, you might have jumped in for one race and won. On a spreadsheet they might have a 100% success rate but are you better than Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher or Sebastian Vettel?

That’s an argument to be said because there will be different perspectives on statistics. Arguing what’s going to be right or wrong really varies from person to person.

For me, regardless of winning seven World Championships over two different decades – with different machinery and different types of vehicles – it’s incredibly inspiring to keep so strong for so long. And then to rejoin in a different time again with a new team fresh off the bat.

There are multiple aspects to praise him, but for me there is so much more beyond his performances inside the car that make Michael Schumacher my F1 idol.