Ralf Schumacher comes out publicly in loving Instagram post with his boyfriend

Six-time F1 race winner Ralf Schumacher, younger brother of seven times world champion and Ferrari great Michael, has come out publicly as gay via an Instagram post .

Schumacher, who drove for the Jordan, Williams and Toyota teams between 1997 and 2007 and who is the younger brother of seven-time world champion Michael, was previously married to Cora-Caroline Brinkmann. They have a son, David, born in 2001.

Ralf Schumacher appears to have come out as gay in a post on social media alongside a picture which shows him with another man with their arms around each other watching a sunset over the ocean.

Alongside the image, Schumacher wrote: "The most beautiful thing in life is when you have the right partner by your side with whom you can share everything."

The younger Schumacher won six grands prix in an 11 year career that ended in 2007. The Hürth-born made his F1 debut with Jordan Grand Prix in 1997. Schumacher moved to the Williams team in 1999, finishing sixth in the Drivers' Championship that year. He won his first Grand Prix in 2001 with the Grove-based outfit.

The German left Williams at the end of 2004 and joined Toyota Racing in 2005. After leaving Formula One at the end of the 2007 season, Schumacher joined the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) in 2008, achieving minor success, and retired from motorsport at the end of 2012 to enter a managerial role within DTM, mentoring young drivers. He is now a co-commentator for Sky Sport in Germany.

"I am very happy that you have finally found someone with whom you really feel that you feel very comfortable and secure...I am 100% behind you dad and wish you all the best and congratulations," David wrote on Instagram.

The only other known male gay driver in the history of Formula One was the late Briton Mike Beuttler who raced from 1971 to 1973 and died in 1988.