09 January 2024 , 12:23
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Michael Schumacher's recovery journey now has him "sitting at the table for dinner", according to former team-mate Johnny Herbert.
The ex-Formula 1 driver, who raced with Schumacher at Benetton, was keen to stress that his information comes second hand as those involved in the sport seek to get updates on the wellbeing of the seven-time world champion, who has not been seen for years.
Schumacher was involved in a tragic skiing accident back in 2013 which left him in a coma. Since then his family have remained incredibly private with little to no information coming out. Herbert has heard positive news, but concedes that he doesn't think the German has recovered like many had hoped.
He told Betting Sites: "I hear bits only second hand. I hear, from those within F1, he does sit at the table for dinner but don’t know if that is true. I can only read between the lines. We haven’t heard much from the family and understandably so. That has always been very much a part of Michael and the family’s way to keep everything very private, very secretive.
"That has carried on from his racing days. I don’t feel things have moved on in a way that many of us who knew him and many of his fans around the world want to see. They’d love to know, we’d all love to know that things are moving on in a positive way. But because we don’t have any information, we can only assume that he is not yet in a position where there is a chance of a recovery.
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"In my opinion, and I must stress this, because we haven’t heard anything from the family, it shows that unfortunately he is probably in the similar situation as he was straight after the accident. It doesn’t seem they have moved much, if at all.
Johnny Herbert and Michael Schumacher were previously team-mates (Getty Images)
The German found himself in a coma after a skiing accident (Getty Images)"I suppose the family is waiting for science to come up with something that will hopefully bring back the Michael we all knew and for the people who only saw him through the television pictures when he was being dynamic on a race track. That is above all else what we want to see."
Those who were close to Schumacher, like Jean Todt, the former Ferrari team principal, have been allowed to maintain a relationship but the Frenchman admits life is very different for one of the sport's most decorated drivers.
"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," he said recently. “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 ten years ago. He is no longer the Michael we knew in Formula 1.”