29 December 2023 , 04:00
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Ten years ago, Formula 1 legend Michael Schumacher suffered life-changing injuries in a tragic accident while out skiing with his then 14-year-old son Mick in the French Alps.
Schumacher was an accomplished skier, but went off-piste on the Combe de Saulire ski run and hit his head on a boulder. The seven-time world champion suffered a near-fatal brain injury as a result of the crash and was rushed to hospital, where he underwent two major surgeries and was placed in a medically-induced coma.
He spent 250 days in a coma and now receives constant medical care at the family's home in Switzerland. Schumacher's wife Corinna has kept news about his recovery private since the accident, stating in the 2021 Netflix documentary that she wanted to 'protect' him.
"I miss Michael every day," she said. "But it is not just me who misses him. It's the children, the family, his father, everyone around him. I mean, everybody misses Michael, but Michael is here. Different, but he's here, and that gives us strength.
"We're together. We live together at home. We do therapy. We do everything we can to make Michael better and to make sure he's comfortable. And to simply make him feel our family, our bond.
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"'Private is private', as he always said. It's very important to me that he can continue to enjoy his private life as much as possible. Michael always protected us and now we are protecting Michael."
The accident occurred just over a year after Schumacher's final F1 race, with the German retiring in 2012 after a record-breaking career. Schumacher is a seven-time world champion, a record he shares with Lewis Hamilton, having won two with Benneton and five with Ferrari.
Michael Schumacher suffered a near-fatal brain injury while skiing 10 years ago and now requires constant medical care (AFP/Getty Images)In 2014, Schumacher's friend and fellow former F1 driver Philippe Streiff said the German was "in a wheelchair paralysed". Streiff said: "He is getting better but everything is relative. It's very difficult. He can't speak. Like me, he is in a wheelchair paralysed. He has memory problems and speech problems."
Jean Todt, who was Ferrari's team principal when Schumacher won five consecutive world titles between 2000 and 2004, is one of few people outside the immediate family who has visited Schumacher regularly since the accident.
"Michael is here, so I don't miss him," Todt told L'Equipe earlier this year. "[But he] is simply not the Michael he used to be. He is different and is wonderfully guided by his wife and children who protect him.
Jean Todt worked with Schumacher during his best years at Ferrari and is one of the few who regularly visits him (Paul-Henri Cahier/Getty Images)"His life is different now and I have the privilege of sharing moments with him. That's all there is to say. Unfortunately, fate struck him 10 years ago. He is no longer the Michael we knew in Formula 1."
Todt previously told Bild: "I've spent a lot of time with Corinna since Michael had his serious skiing accident on December 29, 2013. She is a great woman and runs the family. She hadn't expected that.
"It happened suddenly and she had no choice. But she does it very well. I trust her, she trusts me. Thanks to the work of his doctors and the cooperation of Corinna, who wanted him to survive, he survived - but with consequences."
Schumacher with his wife Corinna (AFP/Getty Images)Schumacher's former Benneton teammate Johnny Herbert describes Corinna as a "lovely lady" and has praised the way she has handled the situation. "I knew Corinna a little bit because she used to be with Heinz Harald Frentzen before she met Michael," Herbert told Grosvenor Sport.
"She has said they are trying to carry on as a family as Michael would have wanted. They are getting on with their lives but private does mean private. Corinna is a lovely lady. She has been around the paddock a long, long time.
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"My wife used to sit around with her and have long chats during our time together in 1995. She is a very family oriented woman who was obviously very strong even at that time, dealing with all the pressures of being the wife of Michael Schumacher then bringing up the kids as well was always a big deal."
Schumacher was out skiing with his son Mick when the accident happened (Instagram/@mickschumacher)In 2016 the family's lawyer Felix Damm told a German court that Schumacher could not walk, while Mick said in 2021 that his father struggles to speak. Mick, who spent two seasons racing in F1 for Haas, said: "Since the accident, of course, these experiences, these moments that I believe many people have with their parents, are no longer present or to a lesser extent.
"And in my view, that is a little unfair. I think me and dad, we would understand each other in a different way now. Simply because we speak a similar language – the language of motor sport – and that we would have a lot more to talk about. And that is where my head is most of the time. Thinking that would be so cool … I would give up everything just for that."
Recent reports from Bild state that up to 15 doctors and assistants provide round-the-clock care to Schumacher, who has also been driven in a Mercedes-AMG in an attempt to stimulate his brain with familiar sounds from his racing career.
Schumacher's brother Ralf was also a Formula 1 driver (ullstein bild via Getty Images)Schumacher's brother Ralf has also offered a rare update on his condition, stating: "I miss the Michael of the old days. Life is unfair from time to time. Michael was very lucky throughout his life. But then there was this tragic accident. Fortunately, advanced medical science provides many opportunities.
"However, nothing is like it used to be. It has been a significant experience for me but, of course, even more so for his children. Life is unfair at times. That day held a lot of bad luck. This fate has changed our family.
"Michael wasn't only my brother. When we were kids, he was also my coach and mentor. He taught me literally everything about kart racing. There may be an age gap of seven years, but he was always by my side. We raced together, we practised overtaking manoeuvres and everything that matters in motorsports."