Michael Schumacher: news of F1 legend’s health not good, says former Ferrari boss

Luca di Montezemolo hints seven-time F1 champion has suffered setback


Michael Schumacher is still receiving intensive treatment at his home in Switzerland. Photograph: Jose Jordan/AFP/Getty Images

The condition of the multiple Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher was the subject of fresh concern on Thursday evening following a remark from his old Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo, who said: “I have news and unfortunately it is not good.”

The former Ferrari president, who said he was “always checking up on the driver”, was speaking to journalists in Milan, and added: “Michael was a great driver, and we experienced a long time together in both our personal and professional lives. But life is really strange. He was the most successful driver of Ferrari and in his career he had only one accident, in 1999. But unfortunately a fall in a ski accident has broken him.”

The news about Schumacher has not been good for more than two years. On 29 December 2013 he suffered severe head injuries in a freak skiing accident in France. He had been enjoying a holiday with his wife, Corinna, and children Mick and Gina Maria, in a villa owned by the family in Mirabel. He underwent emergency surgery after being airlifted from the mountain and spent months in a coma in hospital before being transferred to his home by Lake Geneva in September 2014.

There, he received intensive treatment from a team of therapists but there have been no encouraging official bulletins and it was widely believed that the German was becoming increasingly frail as he lost more and more weight.
Advertisement

There was some good news last month, with reports in the German magazine Bunte that he was walking again and moving his arm. A “friend” of the driver said: “Michael is very thin. But he can once again walk a little with the help of his therapists. He manages to make a couple of steps. And he can also raise an arm.” But an angry Sabine Kehm, Schumacher’s manager, denied this.

She said: “Unfortunately, we are forced by a recent press report to clarify that the assertion that Michael could move again is not true. Such speculation is irresponsible, because given the seriousness of his injuries, his privacy is very important for Michael. Unfortunately they also give false hopes to many involved people.”

A more accurate assessment, it seemed, came from the FIA president and former Ferrari team principal Jean Todt during November’s Mexican Grand Prix. Todt said: “I see Michael very often and Michael is still fighting. Michael is a close friend, his family is very close to me and I am very close to them as well. We must keep him fighting with the family.”

Todt’s worried words were in keeping with the general air of pessimism that has pervaded the world of Formula One for the past two years. Philippe Streiff, a friend of the driver, said in November 2014 that the former champion could not speak. He added: “It’s very difficult. Like me, he is in a wheelchair, paralysed. He has memory problems and speech problems.”

Schumacher’s records may never be broken. He won the world title on seven occasions and also won more races, 91, than any other driver. He won his first championship with Benetton in 1994, retaining his crown the following year. But it was with Ferrari that his driving assumed legendary status.

He won five successive titles before retiring in 2006. He was totally dominant in 2004, when he won 12 of the first 13 races. He finished with 13 wins, beating his record of 11 set in 2002.

He returned to Formula One in 2010, when he drove for Mercedes alongside Nico Rosberg. But in his three seasons with the Silver Arrows he could not recapture old glories, with a best finish of third at the 2012 European Grand Prix in Valencia.

Read more...

Michael Schumacher news: A year after coming out of coma there have been precious few signs of progress

With no update on German's progress since anniversary of accident in December, mood music does not suggest German is on path to full recovery



There has not been an update on Michael Schumacher's progress since the anniversary of the accident last December Photo: GETTY IMAGES

A year ago came ago the news which left Formula One and Michael Schumacher’s devoted fans finally feeling upbeat, with hope of more positive updates to come. But in the 12 months since Schumacher’s manager announced he was no longer in a coma, there have been precious few messages or signs of progress.

There have not been any bulletins – sparing throughout Schumacher’s ordeal – since the anniversary of the skiing accident last December. Tellingly, the last words on Schumacher came from Bernie Ecclestone, F1’s chief executive and friend of the former Ferrari driver. Confirming he had not visited Schumacher, Ecclestone did not offer encouraging signs.

"I don't want to see Michael like that,” Ecclestone said. “I remember Michael as he was. That is how I want to see Michael. If he comes back, that is how I want Michael to be."

On June 16 last year, Sabine Kehm, the seven-time champion’s manager, confirmed Schumacher had left hospital in Grenoble, France, nearly six months on from the skiing accident in the French Alps which almost killed him.

The German F1 legend was moved to a rehabilitation clinic in Lausanne, Switzerland, closer to the family home on the shore of Lake Geneva. He spent three months there before he left hospital to be at home with his wife, Corinna, children Mick and Gina-Maria, and a specialist team of nurses and doctors to help his recovery.


Fans of Schumacher gathered outside hospital in Greenoble to mark his 45th birthday last year

After that announcement in November, Kehm said: “Considering the severe head injuries he suffered, progress has been made in the past weeks and months. There is still, however, a long and difficult road ahead.

“We ask that the privacy of Michael’s family continue to be respected, and that speculations about the state of his health are avoided.”

Since then, other than the rejuvenation of Schumacher’s website and a message in December that he faces a “long fight”, that has largely been it. Instead it has been left to speculation and so-called ‘friends’ of the former driver to fill the void.


Schumacher's website has been relaunched since the skiing accident

Ever since a journalist dressed as a priest to try and gain access to Schumacher’s hospital room in the days immediately after the accident in the Alpine resort of Meribel, his family, and particularly his wife, have guarded their privacy fiercely. Schumacher’s son Mick has also been kept from the press on his debut season racing cars in Formula Four this year.

All this means that – officially – very little specific detail is actually known about Schumacher’s condition. The updates from Kehm have simply said he is out of a coma and continuing the long progress of rehabilitation. To where that might eventually lead is unknown, but the mood music does not suggest Schumacher is on the path to a full recovery.

The speculation is that Schumacher is able to recognise his family, but not a great deal more. Philippe Streiff, a former F1 driver who was himself paralysed in a testing accident in 1989, said last year Schumacher “had yet to recover the power of speech” but was “starting to recognise those close to him”.



But Kehm swiftly rebuffed those comments as “factually wrong”. She added: “He is making progress appropriate to the severity of the situation. We need a long time. It's going to be a long time and a hard fight.”

It is a process that seemingly will take many years and even then the eventual outcome is not clear. As the relaunch of Schumacher’s website encouraged his legions of fans to do, the time has come not to stop hoping for good news – his former Mercedes team still carry the ‘#keepingfightingmichael’ message on their car - but to remember all the German’s astonishing achievements.

The record 91 race wins, the seven championships – two with Benetton in 1994 and 1995, and then five with Ferrari from 2000 to 2004 – and the countless drives which astonished F1 and will live long in the memory of many.

As Ecclestone said, this is the Schumacher everyone knows, the one who divided opinion at times but won plaudits as a record-breaking machine. The Schumacher of the last 18 months, even a year on from no longer being in a coma, remains largely a mystery, as is his family’s right. The wait for good news goes on.

Read more...

F1 legend Niki Lauda says the sport still holds out hope for Michael Schumacher recovery

Schumacher suffered a serious head injury following a ski accident in 2013 and updates about his health have been infrequent and sketchy ever since.

 

Niki Lauda says F1 is hopeful of a Michael Schumacher recovery

Formula One legend Niki Lauda says everybody within the sport is still holding out hope for Michael Schumacher.
Schumacher, the most successful driver in F1 history, suffered a serious head injury following a skiing in the French Alps in December 2013.
Due to his family's desire for privacy, little is known in the public domain about the German's current plight.
Updates about his health have been infrequent and sketchy over the past two years.

Getty

Schumacher suffered a serious head injury in a skiing accident in December 2013

He left hospital in Grenoble to return to the Schumacher family home in September 2014, but stories about his health since then have been largely conjecture.
Three-time world champion Lauda admits he understands the family's desire for privacy.
"The family protects him and I understand that completely," Lauda said. "But it means that all those who would like to know something, do not.
"I often think of him, but unfortunately I have no contact. We all just hope, hope, hope."
In pictures - Michael Schumacher's career:

VIEW GALLERY

Earlier this month Schumacher's manager Sabine Kehm revealed the racer harboured a desire to "disappear" from the public eye at the end of his career.
"In general the media have never reported on Michael and [wife] Corinna's private lives," Kehm said. "When he was in Switzerland, for example, it was clear he was a private individual.
"Once in a long discussion Michael said to me: 'You don't need to call me for the next year, I'm disappearing.'
"I think it was his secret dream to be able to do that some day. That's why now I still want to protect his wishes in that I don't let anything get out."

Read more...

Michael Schumacher German race–car driver

Michael Schumacher, byname Schumi (born January 3, 1969, Hürth-Hermülhein, West Germany [now in Germany]) German race-car driver who set records for the most Formula One (F1) Grand Prix race victories and F1 series championships.

As a youth, Schumacher became interested in go-kart racing, an enthusiasm that was supported by his father’s management of a go-kart track. In 1984 and 1985 he won the German junior karting championship, and in 1987 he captured the German and European karting titles. The next year, at age 19, he left karting and became a driver of Formula Three (F3) cars, vehicles that were less powerful than the F1 racers. Two years later, in 1990, he won the German F3 championship.


In 1991 Schumacher moved up to F1 competition as a driver for the Jordan team. He switched to Benetton the following year and won the drivers’ world championship for that team in 1994 and 1995. Before the 1996 season he moved to the Ferrari team and finished third in the championship standings. After suffering a broken leg in a crash in 1999, Schumacher rebounded to win a third championship the following year, which was Ferrari’s first drivers’ title since 1979. His 2000 win was the first in a string of five consecutive world championships (2000–04), and his grand total of seven F1 titles broke Juan Manuel Fangio’s record of five that had stood for nearly 50 years. In 2005 and 2006 he finished in third and second place in the F1 standings, respectively.

Schumacher retired at the end of the 2006 campaign to serve as a test driver and adviser for Ferrari. At the time of his retirement, he had 91 F1 Grand Prix race victories, which shattered the previous record of 51, held by French driver Alain Prost. In December 2009 Schumacher announced that he would return to F1 for the 2010 season as a driver for the Mercedes team. He spent three seasons with Mercedes, but he never won a race and never finished higher than eighth in the overall F1 standings during his comeback, and he retired again in 2012.

While Schumacher experienced unprecedented success on the track, he was also—through a combination of winner’s purses and endorsements—one of the best-paid athletes in the history of sport. His annual income was estimated at $100 million at the peak of his career. Schumacher was also known for his charitable efforts. He was named special ambassador for UNESCO in 2002 and made headlines for his $10 million donation to the relief effort for the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004.

In December 2013 Schumacher fell while skiing in France and hit his head on a rock. Despite his wearing a helmet at the time of the accident, he sustained a significant brain injury and was placed in a medically induced coma until the following June.

Read more...

The enigma of Michael Schumacher

We've heard the phrase "the end of an era" in abundance since Michael Schumacher announced his impending retirement but, despite the cliché, that's precisely what it is. Love him or hate him, Schumacher is the most successful driver of his ...

We've heard the phrase "the end of an era" in abundance since Michael Schumacher announced his impending retirement but, despite the clich?, that's precisely what it is. Love him or hate him, Schumacher is the most successful driver of his generation and, indeed, in the history of Formula One. We may never see his like again -- for some people that would not be a bad thing.

Michael Schumacher celebrates his 90th win and the 190th for Ferrari with Ferrari team members.
Photo by xpb.cc.

Before we go any further, let me note that I'm not going to reminisce over Schumacher's titles and the records that he broke and neither am I going to dissect his controversial moments. When I sat down to write this article I found myself pondering exactly how I felt about Michael and to be honest I'm still not sure.

I'm one of those few that neither love nor hate Schumacher. I readily acknowledge his formidable talent but it fails to spark any excitement in me. I don't know why -- why does anyone support the drivers they do? I'm exasperated by his domination of the sport but it doesn't move me to anything more than a brief snigger when some incident befalls him.

I'm not indifferent to Schumacher's presence -- that's pretty much impossible given his history, both the successes and the controversies. I got emotional when he took Ferrari's first drivers' title for 20 years back in 2000 and I got annoyed when he used Rascasse as a car park in Monaco this year. But for some reason Schumacher fails to make a big impression on me one way or another. He's just there.

Of course, after this season he won't be there. The announcement of his retirement at Monza did not come as a surprise; the signs had been pointing to it for some time. I wasn't ready to believe it until the man himself said the words but when he actually did I felt oddly perplexed. I won't be particularly sad to see him go but at the same time it seems strange to think of him not racing.

Many people are passionate about Schumacher, in good and bad ways. Some -- not all -- fans love him to the point of blindness, where their slavish devotion means they see no bad in him and any controversy he may be involved in is automatically not his fault. On the other side, some detractors are equally blind and take any opportunity to verbally attack the German with disturbing viciousness.

Michael Schumacher.
Photo by xpb.cc.

It's fair to say that Schumacher has never stirred any passion in me, either in the way of support or denigration. When Fernando Alonso took the flag at Interlagos last year to become the youngest ever champion I cried buckets with delight. At Istanbul this year I popped open a specially bought bottle of champagne when Felipe Massa took his maiden F1 victory. Both were events that I had been waiting for with unflagging conviction.

On the downside, when Juan Pablo Montoya was dropped by McLaren I was ready to steal a Chieftain tank and trundle my way to Woking to trample all over the team's poncey Technology Centre. Likewise, when Red Bull dropped Christian Klien I was ready to fire up the tank but I contented myself with vowing never to drink Red Bull again. Not that I do anyway -- it's absolutely disgusting and looks like piss, but it's the principle of the thing.

Yet for all Schumacher's controversies I've never had the inclination to do much more than roll my eyes and perhaps utter a few choice swear words. His victories produce pretty much the same reaction. It's not that I don't care; I do but I take Formula One as a whole rather than a stage for one player. Sure, I'm upset when one of my guys gets the boot but I get over it because I love the sport.

I know that there will be folks out there thinking how can I love the sport without either waxing lyrical about Schumacher's achievements or venting my spleen about how detrimental his attitude is. Well, while I recognize both his talent and his less-than-appealing approach of victory at any cost, he is not the be all and end all of F1.

I'm not denying that Schumacher has made a major contribution to the modern F1 era but before him there were drivers of equal presence and the sport has gone on just fine without them. Those drivers may not have been as successful as Michael but success is not necessarily the dominant factor in why one driver is more popular or more significant than others.

Race winner Michael Schumacher celebrates.
Photo by xpb.cc.

Schumacher has as many detractors as he has supporters so the idea that F1 will be lacking without him is unfounded. Naturally his fans will probably feel their interest in F1 is not the same once he is not racing, but there will be just as many others who believe the sport will benefit from his absence. That's an argument for personal opinion but really I don't think Michael's retirement will change much.

There have always been heroes and villains and there always will be. While other drivers may not provoke quite the level of passionate response that Schumacher has over the years, if anyone approaches any where near the same kind of success you can bet your bottom dollar that they will become the object of equal love and hate.

Fernando Alonso was generally neither a figure of one or the other until he won the championship last year, then the amount of new fans and new detractors he gained was astonishing. His fight with Kimi Raikkonen for the title gave rise to a new villain and a new hero, depending which was favoured, for fans to trade insults about. Apart from the die-hard supporters Schumacher was not the main focus.

With Alonso at McLaren in 2007 and Raikkonen at Ferrari, we can presumably expect them to be once again fighting for the title and the battle lines will be drawn between their fans. It's the nature of any competition to have friction and passion, from those taking part and from the sidelines as well. Schumacher's presence will be missed but his absence will not cause F1 to suddenly disintegrate.

When I met Michael in person I got a very different impression between the racer and the man. As a racing driver I find him brilliant at handling a car but flawed by his obsession to win no matter what. As a man he made me laugh and was very amiable and relaxed. It was not an interview situation so perhaps that was the difference, but he was genuinely likeable.

And that, at the end of it all, is probably my conundrum with Schumacher. I appreciate his brilliance behind the wheel but dislike his cold calculation, yet without the trappings of cameras and microphones and his veil of control in the face of the media, he's not a bad bloke. There's two sides to every story and, for me, there's two sides to Michael Schumacher. I won't miss the racer but I wish the man well -- and will always ponder the enigma.

Read more...