Schumacher’s Confidant: Shocking Revelation

December 29, 2013: Twelve years ago today, Michael Schumacher had an accident while skiing. It was an accident whose horror only became clear little by little.

Especially for those who were familiar with Schumacher. Like the former AlphaTauri team boss Franz Tost. The Austrian was initially hardly worried when the first reports of a skiing accident involving the seven-time Formula 1 world champion emerged exactly twelve years ago.

“I just thought: How important must Michael be if a fall on skis is worth reporting?” the 68-year-old once recalled SPORT1. The shock was even greater when it became clear how serious the fall was. What a terrible gap he had created in the world of sports and especially in the Schumacher family.

Tost looked back on a long personal relationship with Schumacher. He already knew the Kerpener when he dreamed of F1 in his manager Willi Weber’s Formula 3 team in 1989, but was still a long way from the premier class of automobiles. Tost was team manager in Weber’s racing team and a kind of tutor for Schumacher.

The Tyrolean analyzed his driving style, went through data with him and also took care of the appropriate mental support, because Tost was convinced: “Despite all the talent and vehicle control – in the end, champions are champions because they have the will to keep improving. And this will is fed by the head.”

Tost emphasized: “This trait was extremely pronounced in Michael. This also included the fact that when he was down, he quickly got up again and came back even stronger.”

Based on this experience, Tost initially simply could not imagine how badly Schumacher had been affected by the ski fall: “I wasn’t worried because I often went skiing with Michael. He was a very good driver who didn’t take any risks. When I then became aware of the effects of the accident, I couldn’t believe it at all. I was stunned and shocked.”

Schumacher underwent emergency surgery in Grenoble, and the hospital was besieged by fans and journalists in the following days. Manager Sabine Kehm was surrounded by countless microphones every time she made a statement about the record world champion’s health.

The media interest became increasingly absurd. A journalist even disguised himself as a priest to take photos of the record world champion in his hospital bed. Brother Ralf Schumacher once explained at SPORT1: “It was surreal. I’ve never experienced anything like that. That’s why the family decided very quickly that Michael’s health would be declared a private matter from now on. That hasn’t changed to this day.”

But the jungle of cameras and microphones also showed one thing: what importance Michael Schumacher had in society.

Especially, but not only in Germany. The simple boy from the gravel pit in Kerpen in the Rhineland, who never wanted more than to drive a car as fast as possible, had woken up an entire country and sparked a euphoria that even eclipsed the tennis boom of Boris Becker and Steffi Graf.

In Italy he is revered like a saint because of his five titles with Ferrari. On the day of his accident, which happened a year after his retirement as a racing driver, this became even clearer than during his active time, which made him the most successful racing driver of all time with seven world championship titles and 91 race victories.

Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton has equaled Schumacher’s world championship record and won more victories than the German. But what tragically separates him and the other superstars of the scene like Jackie Stewart and Alain Prost from Schumacher: They are present.

Schumacher, on the other hand, has an aura similar to that of the legendary Brazilian Ayrton Senna. His death in Imola in 1994 made the three-time world champion immortal. It’s similar with Schumacher. Even if he is alive, he is no longer there for the public.

This leads to fans and admirers putting him on the same level as only the Senna myth.

It remains pure speculation what Schumacher would do today without the skiing accident that struck him just as he was finding a new phase in his life. Loyal companions like ex-Mercedes team boss Ross Brawn have a hunch.

The Brit, who led Ferrari as chief technician together with Schumacher from a dead end onto the road to triumph, said: “I can well imagine that Michael would have a team today. There were already discussions at Mercedes as to whether he could act as a shareholder at some point. The first stage has already happened, because he acted as a brand ambassador in 2013.”

And another thought that Brawn shared in conversation SPORT1 said: “It’s becoming increasingly clear to me that he may have hung up his helmet too early. He planted the seeds of success at Mercedes in the years 2010 to 2012. And Fernando Alonso is still showing today, at a similar age to Michael back then, that you can achieve world-class performance even when you’re over 40. If Michael had still been active in 2014, he could have won the title.”

What remains: Schumacher is missing. Twelve years now. And it’s not just as an athlete that he will be sorely missed.

Franz Tost opened up his emotional world: “I miss him, not only as one of the best racing drivers of all time, but especially as a person. You could always talk to him openly. He never pretended, always said straight out what he was thinking. There were no politics or intrigues with him.”

One thing is certain: the Schumacher myth will continue to exist. The legend lives. Although nothing will change when it comes to news about his health. Fortunately for most people, the family takes care of that.

Wife Corinna impressively summed up the reason for the silence when, in an extremely rare moment of speaking in the Schumacher documentary on Netflix, she emotionally revealed: “Michael used to protect us. Now we protect him.”