Race of Champions honours Michael Schumacher with emotional tribute

The Race of Champions, held in Sydney, Australia's Accor stadium on March 7-8, sees some of the greatest drivers from around the world compete against each other. During the event, they honoured former Formula 1 driver Michael Schumacher with a banner that read, "Keep Fighting Michael - We Miss You," in what must have been an emotional moment for fans.

This tribute featured Schumacher's son, Mick Schumacher, and his close friend and former teammate Sebastian Vettel, helping hold the banner in front of a cheering crowd. Both drivers are attending the event as a 'super team' in the ROC Nations Cup.

Michael Schumacher is widely regarded as one of the greatest F1 drivers in history. With seven World Championships and a record breaking career, he has been an unparalleled influence on the drivers that came after him. 

Unfortunately, a skiing accident in 2013 resulted in severe brain injuries. And after the initial treatment, the former driver withdrew from the public to recover under the care of this family, including his wife Corinna.

What is the Race of Champions?

The Race of Champions is an annual racing event that sees the greatest drivers from across the globe, regardless of their discipline, come together in pairs to compete against each other. Once the initial competition is complete, the pairs will then compete in head-to-head races for the 'Champion of Champions' title. 

Vettel, the four-time F1 world champion, already claimed this title in 2015 where he competed alongside Michael Schumacher at London’s Olympic Stadium. Vettel and Mick have also competed together on another occasion in 2019, where the latter finished second behind the Mexican rally sensation, Benito Guerra.

Sebastian Vettel, Porsche 963

Photo by: Porsche Motorsport

The Keep Fighting Campaign

The Keep Fighting Foundation was founded by the Schumacher family in 2017. Its objective is to continue the charitable work that the driver started, supporting education, public health, science, and culture with the same level of perseverance that Michael Schumacher was known for. The foundation's name was born from the public's use of the hashtag #KeepFighting after his accident. 

With an image of the tribute being shared to the Formula 1 Reddit page, fans of the sport were quick to share their thoughts. 

"It must be an incredibly strange and heavy feeling - standing there, holding a flag in support of your father, knowing every detail of his condition. You know the prognosis, the treatments and the statistics. And yet, you’re there, holding a symbol of hope, of solidarity, of something that might feel just a little too simple for the complexity of what you carry inside," one said. 

Leading up the event, Vettel said the following on joining his godson once again:

“I’m delighted to be coming back to the Race Of Champions and teaming up with Mick again. It will be exciting to race in the former Olympic Stadium in Sydney that looks like it will be a great venue for the Race Of Champions.”

He continued:

“All the drivers who have the honour to participate in ROC fall in love with the event, because it reminds us about why we first started racing; pure competition and of course with the identical cars there are no excuses.

“I will do everything I can to help Germany win another ROC Nations Cup title with Mick on the Friday evening, but I will not be doing him any favours when we are going for the outright win on the Saturday night, especially as he beat me in the semi-finals of the individual ROC in Sweden in 2023!”