‘It is not an easy time’: Michael Schumacher update provided by F1 rival

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Former F1 driver Timo Glock admits Michael Schumacher’s skiing accident and subsequent removal from public life is “hard to accept” nearly 10 years on.

Schumacher suffered a severe head injury in a skiing accident in Meribel, France, in December 2013.

The seven-time word champion’s health condition has been shrouded in secrecy in the years since, with his wife Corinna insistent on protecting his privacy as he continues to recover.

German driver Glock, who raced against Schumacher in Formula 1 in 2004 and between 2010-2012, revealed he is still in “very good contact” with the family, adding it is “not an easy time” nearly a decade since the Ferrari icon’s accident.

“It doesn’t matter about the tenth anniversary - every year when that date comes up everyone gets reminded and thinks about it and what would be if things had gone differently a more positive way,” Glock said.

“That is life but it is hard to accept because he is such a legend for the sport and for sure, for the family, it is not an easy time.

“I have a lot of respect for the family and I am not a fan of speculating if you don’t know what is going on in the background. How they deal with it is something we can only respect and accept it how it is.

“I am still in very good contact with them and with Mick [Michael’s son]. I met him a lot of times during the season at Grand Prix weekends discussing his future and he was asking me what I would recommend. I would never be the person to ask anything personal about his father.”

Glock added that he has sympathy for Mick Schumacher and the “pressure on his shoulders” given his famous father. Mick was a driver in F1 for two years before being dropped by Haas at the end of the 2022 season and he is now a reserve driver for Mercedes.

“Every son who had a father in F1 had a lot of pressure,” Glock added, in quotes given in association with MegaDice.com.

“Alain Prost’s son, Jean Alesi for instance, they all have the pressure of that name. If you add in what Mick went through with the accident with his dad, he had three or four times more pressure on his shoulders.

“Having the Schumacher surname – we can’t imagine how hard it would have been for him.”

Schumacher’s close friend and motorsport executive Jean Todt, who worked with Schumacher during his historic five titles in a row at Ferrari from 2000-2004, has been the most regular source of updates about the German, admitting in the past he has watched F1 races with Schumacher and last week the Frenchman spoke in public about the German legend again.

“Michael is here, so I don’t miss him,” Todt told L’Equipe.

“[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.

“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.”

A new documentary series was released in Germany last week, Being Michael Schumacher, with contributions from his son Mick, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. Hamilton described Schumacher as simply a “full out great racer.”

The family’s lawyer, Felix Damm, revealed in October why no “final report” has been publicised on the 54-year-old’s health.

“It was always about protecting private things,” Damm told German outlet LTO. “We considered whether a final report about Michael’s health could be the right way to do this.

“But that wouldn’t have been the end of it and there would have had to be constantly updated ‘water level reports’ and it would not have been up to the family when the media interest in the story stopped.”

Todt has a close relationship with the Schumacher family, revealing last year he has seen the German three times a week on some occasions and adding that he is in the “best of hands… surrounded by people who love him.”

In a Netflix documentary which aired in 2021 titled Schumacher, Corinna detailed how his family have dealt with the situation and continue to “get on with their lives.”

“Michael is here. Different, but he’s here, and that gives us strength, I find,” Corinna said.

“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. And no matter what, I will do everything I can. We all will.

“We’re trying to carry on as a family, the way Michael liked it and still does. And we are getting on with our lives. ‘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.”

Schumacher holds the joint-record for the most Formula 1 world titles with Hamilton, with a tally of seven.