Istanbul: Boyhood memories of Michael Schumacher keeping calm under fire helped McLaren's Lewis Hamilton to stay cool in a crisis and win in China last month.
The 2008 world champion said ahead of tomorrow's Turkish Grand Prix how watching the great German as a teenager taught him the importance of holding his nerve.
In Shanghai, with the McLaren mechanics swarming around his car and racing against time to fix a fuel problem and get the car out to the starting grid with seconds to spare, Hamilton stayed focused.
"It was good experience for myself as well to see how I was able to maintain my nerves and remain calm," said the 26-year-old, who won in Turkey last year after his Red Bull rivals collided while leading.
"I remember growing up watching Schumacher — there was a race at the A1-Ring [the last Austrian Grand Prix in 2003] where his car caught fire in a pit stop.
"You could see his head just didn't move, he stayed calm. And that definitely helps the guys around you.
"I just think from things you've learned from watching TV over the years, you try to apply that to your mentality and the way you approach things.
Experience
"Perhaps that experience from watching him, and some other experiences I saw from watching some others, I've tried to take that on board and I was able to apply it for that occasion."
Hamilton joked in Shanghai after the race that he would have to devise some new routines for his mechanics and engineers to keep their hearts racing as they had delivered some of their best ever pitstops that Sunday. He smiled when asked what he was planning next.
"Maybe before the race I'll say my pedals aren't there or they aren't working or something like that, make them panic and then see if it works again," he said.
Joking apart, Hamilton was cautious about his prospects for the weekend in taking on the Red Bulls of world champion Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.
McLaren were gifted a one-two by them last year but they cannot hope for lightning to strike twice.
He was speaking before Vettel crashed his car in a wet first practice on Thursday. The German was unhurt.
Hamilton and teammate Jenson Button, the 2009 world champion, must also make sure they do not put each other out of the running either.
Driving ability
"We have to be faster than them and outpace them, which I'm not confident is going to happen," said Hamilton. "I have confidence in terms of my driving ability. I have no worries about that.
"We're teammates, we want to finish as high up as we can for the team, and we have no problems racing together.
"We proved that in the last race, and we proved here last year. We're fair fighters, but of course aggressive in hopefully the right ways."
