• Schumacher enjoys watching F1 on TV and he is making progress in his recovery.
• Driver has not been seen since he suffered head injuries in a ski accident in 2013.
Image: /REUTERS
Michael Schumacher enjoys watching Formula 1 races on TV and he is making progress in his recovery, his former boss at Ferrari said.
Jean Todt provided F1 fans with a rare update during an interview with Radio Monte-Carlo. Todt, one of Schumacher’s closest confidantes, said the F1 star was making ‘good progress’ and the pair watch races together on TV.
He added: “I’m always careful with such statements, but it’s true. I saw the race together with Michael Schumacher at his home in Switzerland. Michael is in the best hands and is well looked after in his house.”
“He does not give up and keeps fighting.”
Todt added that his friend’s difficulty with communicating has saddened him.
“His family is fighting just as much and of course our friendship can not be the same as it once was. Just because there’s no longer the same communication as before. He continues to fight. And his family is fighting the same way.”
Todt is the head of motorsport’s governing body FIA and makes regular visits Schumacher in Switzerland.
Michael suffered severe head injuries in the accident and had to be placed in a coma, with doctors saying he was lucky to survive. He has not been seen in public since.
The former Formula One world champion, who turned 50 on January 3, fell and hit his head on a rock while skiing off-piste at the Méribel resort in the French Alps in December 2013. Michael suffered severe head injuries in the accident and had to be placed in a coma, with doctors saying he was lucky to survive. He has not been seen in public since.
Four months after the accident doctors began pulling Schumacher out of the coma, and in June 2014 the process was completed. He was transferred to a rehabilitation clinic, and in September that year was taken home to continue his recovery in privacy. Since then, little has been said about his state of health - though lawyer Felix Damm revealed in court in 2016 that Schumacher ‘cannot walk’, as the family sued a German newspaper for reporting otherwise.
Respecting the family, who have asked to keep his condition out of the spotlight, Todt added: “It’s something very private’ but did reveal the retired German was ‘very well taken care of; he lives with his family in his house between Geneva and Lausanne. In the end, only positive thoughts help him.”
“I and his whole family are positive in the mental sense, despite the circumstances.”
Michael’s son Mick, who was at his father’s side aged 14 when he hit that rock and suffered a brain haemorrhage, is the F3 champion and has signed to race for Prema in Formula Two, F1’s feeder series. His future is promising, with seats at Mercedes or Ferrari a possibility one day.
Mick, who is said to be as private as his father, rarely delivers medical bulletins to outsiders, but last year he told Germany’s RTL channel of his relationship with Michael before the accident.
“My dad asked if I wanted to do racing professionally or whether we should just do it for fun, as a hobby. I, of course, said I wanted to do it professionally. The one person I would want to [be like] is my dad,” he said ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix in May this year.
Asked what it was like to look back over his father’s career, he added: “It’s never easy. What my dad did was extraordinary. I appreciate it more every day. I always want to compare myself to the best, and my father is the best. He’s also my idol. I’m pleased if I can compare myself to him.”
“Many world champions compare themselves to my father. Even on days when the karting track was closed we’d go there and we were allowed to do some laps. That was always the best time,” he added.
Last month, F1 boss Bernie Eccleston also gave an insight into the famous driver’s health. In a trailer for ‘Schumacher’, shown to audiences at Cannes Film Festival, the billionaire says: ‘He is not with us at the moment. But when he gets better, he’ll answer all the questions.’
The film is due to be released in Germany this year, with international rights still in the process of being sold.
Schumacher’s father Rolf, 74, also appears in it, saying: ‘He knew what he wanted as a child. That was no wonder, that was the skill he had worked for himself.’
In January this year Corinna, who has been helping medical teams nurse her husband back to health, shared a rare update ahead of his 50th birthday.
She wrote on Facebook: “We are pleased and wholeheartedly thank you for celebrating Michael’s 50th birthday with him and with us. You can be sure that he is in good hands and we are doing everything humanly possible to help him.”
“Please understand we are following Michael’s wishes and keeping such a sensitive subject as [his] health... in privacy. At the same time we say thank you very much for your friendship and wish you a healthy and happy 2019.”