Michael sSchumacher. More than a name. More than a former racing driver. Even well after his most serious accident, which is celebrating its tenth anniversary this month. “Someone hears Michael’s name and immediately thinks of ‘Formula 1’. Only the really big ones have managed that. “Ultimately, Michael personifies Formula 1,” says his manager, Sabine Kehm.
Michael Schumacher made Formula 1 a cult in Germany, and Bastian Schweinsteiger also remembers Sundays in front of the television all too well, as the 2014 soccer world champion tells in a multi-part documentary on ARD (“Being Michael Schumacher”) from this Thursday in the media library and on December 28th (11:25 p.m.) on Erste. “Schumacher is an icon,” says former NBA star Dirk Nowitzki in the documentary.
Michael Schumacher set records on the track, he gave the broadcasters top ratings and the organizers full ranks, he caused unbridled admiration worldwide, but also heated controversy. The day after the worst accident of his life, the then Chancellor even got in touch. However, since those days at the end of 2013, Michael Schumacher has disappeared from the public eye. Since December 29, 2013, when he suffered a severe traumatic brain injury while skiing in France.
February 2016. “Of course Michael is missing on days like today,” says manager Kehm. An exhibition opens in Marburg. You can only hope patiently and support him in everything “that he will be there again one day,” says Kehm. The exhibits, some of which are exclusive and belong to the Schumacher family, will be on display for three years; due to the rush, the exhibition will even be extended.
Corinna Schumacher’s tears
The permanent exhibition “Private Collection” has been available at Motorworld Cologne since June 2018. Not far from the home of the native Rhinelander, not far from the go-kart track in Kerpen, where Michael Schumacher’s career began. The hope that Michael Schumacher would one day be there again has not yet been fulfilled. Not even in July last year.
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This time, wife Corinna and daughter Gina accepted the honor on their behalf. Michael Schumacher is awarded the State Prize of North Rhine-Westphalia. “I hope, we all hope, that the great fighter Michael Schumacher keeps fighting, never gives up, that he makes progress on the difficult path he is on,” said Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst in his speech. When the applause at the handover gets even louder and the invited guests stand up from their chairs, Corinna Schumacher can no longer hold back her tears.
July 2022: Corinna Schumacher next to NRW Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst
Source: picture alliance/dpa/Revierfoto
It is not known how Michael Schumacher is really doing today. The family has been shielding him since the skiing accident in Méribel. Despite wearing a helmet, he sustained severe brain injuries. While swinging at the edge of the piste, he hit an invisible stone that was slightly covered in snow, was levered out, and hit his head on another stone. Days of fighting against death began, days with huge media crowds in front of the hospital in Grenoble and sometimes absurd attempts to get information. The family has not published any details about Michael Schumacher’s condition for years. He will be 55 years old on January 3rd.
The family lawyer spoke out in October
“It was always about protecting private matters,” explained the Schumacher family’s media lawyer, Felix Damm, in an interview with the “Legal Tribune Online” in October. “Of course we discussed a lot about how this is possible. So we also considered whether a final report about Michael’s state of health could be the right way to do this,” said Damm: “But that wouldn’t have been the end and there would have had to be constantly updated ‘water level reports’. Because as those affected, it is not up to you to put an end to the media.”
August 2004 in Spa: Schumacher celebrates with his Ferrari team
Source: dpa/Oliver Weiken
Michael Schumacher’s family does what he did in his career: protect the family. There was the racing driver Michael Schumacher: uncompromising, only focused on winning, obsessed with success. Without a helmet, without a racing suit, Michael Schumacher was just the man and family man Michael Schumacher. The limit for the public came shortly after the tire stacks.
He also embodies values that Formula 1 conveys, says manager Kehm: “Striving for excellence, perfection, belief in the future, progress. Then there is the human side and the fact that he always stayed with himself. His fighting spirit, his work ethic, his need for harmony, but also his toughness and stubbornness and sometimes ruthlessness. It all creates a very special mix, which I believe is the basis for the fascination that it triggers.”
In 2009, Schumacher had a serious motorcycle accident
A fascination that was at best paused after his first resignation after the 2006 season. Schumacher enjoyed time with his family, without the constant pressure of success that he had imposed on himself. But then Schumacher made headlines with a motorcycle accident. In February 2009 he fell in Cartagena, Spain. He then had to cancel his planned start at the opening race of the International German Motorcycle Championship at the Lausitzring.
Schumacher spokeswoman Sabine Kehm on December 31, 2013 in front of the hospital in Grenoble
Quelle: picture alliance/AA/Mustafa Yalcin
It was only months later that it became known how seriously he had been injured: fracture of the 7th cervical vertebra and the first rib on the left, a fracture in the base of the skull and one in the cervical spine. In his own words, Schumacher experienced perhaps the hardest moment “I have had in my career”. It was mid-August 2009 and the 77-minute press conference in a luxury hotel in Geneva became an event that attracted worldwide attention.
With dark circles under his eyes and a forced smile, he had to cancel his sensational comeback in Formula 1 for Ferrari after Schumacher’s former teammate Felipe Massa seriously injured his eye in Hungary. “I don’t feel able to think about the future now,” said Schumacher. A good four months later, Schumacher and Mercedes announced the record world champion’s return to Formula 1.
“The Gladiator is retiring”
And again he was the center of attention, even though that was never Michael Schumacher’s motivation. He didn’t manage to win again in the Silver Arrows’ three years of development. On November 25, 2012, Michael Schumacher finally said goodbye to Formula 1. “The Gladiator is retiring,” wrote the British “Times” at the time. But especially during his comeback period, Schumacher presented himself as more approachable, more humane, and more sensitive to the public.
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At the same time as the end of the Schumacher era, friend Sebastian Vettel continued his most successful Formula 1 period with his third World Cup triumph: “Sometimes I began to forget that he was the Michael that I admired so much as a child. It wasn’t the same Michael because you get to know him and then you see him as a person first and not his achievements.”
Michael sSchumacher. More than a name, more than a former racing driver.
