Enrique Bernoldi shares heart-warming Michael Schumacher story after famous Monaco race

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Former F1 driver Enrique Bernoldi has shared an amazing story about the legendary Michael Schumacher after a famous race at Monaco.

Bernoldi was speaking on the Beyond The Grid Podcast about his time in the sport.

The Brazilian driver wasn’t a fixture of the Formula 1 grid for too long but is synonymous with one race.

Monaco has always been a race where overtaking was been notoriously difficult.

Enrique Bernoldi’s Arrows was far from the fastest car on the grid and he qualified nearly four seconds behind pole sitter David Coulthard in 20^th.

However, the Scottish driver stalled on the grid and had to try and make his way through the pack on the streets of Monte Carlo.

There were plenty of retirements with only 10 cars managing to finish the race and Bernoldi came home in eighth.

At the time, that didn’t earn you any points, but he’s most famous for preventing Coulthard from overtaking him for 35 laps.

Bernoldi was criticized by McLaren team boss Ron Dennis for his antics at Monaco but he had a very famous ally in the form of Michael Schumacher.

Driving for Ferrari at the time, he went on to win the race but he also stood up for the young Brazilian.

It was a very kind gesture from a driver who barely raced against Bernoldi during their time in F1 due to the staggering difference between their cars.

Bernoldi tells Schumacher story after Monaco incident

Speaking about that famous race, Bernoldi said: “I get called for the press conference with David [Coulthard], Michael [Schumacher] and Jacques [Villeneuve]

“And I’m sitting and I remember the first question to Enrique Bernoldi and I’m thinking, I’m beside Michael Schumacher, David Coulthard, Jacques Villeneuve, why pick questions for me?

“The question was about Monaco and Michael took the microphone and didn’t let me answer and he said, ‘Enough with you guys, he did what he had to do, and I hope if he gets in that situation again, he does it again’.

“I got a text from him [after the Monaco race] that night that said you did completely right.

“I had a sort of relationship with him because during my Red Bull years in Austria, Ralf [Schumacher] lived in Salzburg and imagine for two drivers, there’s not much to do in Salzburg, so we met quite often.

“Yes, that was a really good gesture from him, I really enjoyed that, that meant a lot to me, it was a really good support.”

Schumacher’s gesture after the race in Monaco have lived with Bernoldi for more than 20 years which shows just how much it meant to him.

Drivers on the grid are a lot closer now, but at the time this wasn’t the done thing.

There was a lot more animosity between races back then and some of the racing was ruthless. Coulthard’s frustration that day was understandable, but the treatment Bernoldi received after that weekend wasn’t acceptable.