Formula 1 continues to pay tribute to Michael Schumacher, seven-time world champion, has stopped public life since the ski accident he suffered seven years ago on Tuesday and that remains the eternal idol for Ferrari.
“Michael is always on my mind. But I have absolute respect for his family’s decision”, says the former boss of the Italian team, Luca di Montezemolo, in Tuesday’s issue of the popular newspaper ‘Bild’.
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He thus refers to the strict discretionary rule of the Schumachers around the situation of the ex-pilot in his chalet in Gland (Switzerland).
He hardly gets any visitors, except for the occasional one from the head of the FIA and former sports director at Ferrari, Jean Todt, who has sometimes referred to those encounters, without giving details of their status.
Montezemolo led Ferrari from 1991 to 2014, a period in which the Italian team won no fewer than 19 world titles – among those received by its pilots Niki Lauda, Kimi Räikkönen or Schumacher, or as constructor -.
“The times with Michael were special,” he says, adding that he usually prays for him, even though he has not visited him since the accident in Méribel, in the French Alps. The Schumacher family jealously upholds the rule of discretion. Last weekend, the same newspaper, the most widely read in Germany, featured an interview with the ex-driver’s son, Mick, who is preparing for his Formula 1 debut.
“Sounds good, I don’t mind whether the comparisons don’t mind”, Mick, 21, explained about the inevitable question about Michael.
“My father is the greatest for me. Why should I distance himself from him?” Added the son of the idol, who will debut with the American team Haas on March 21 at the Melbourne Grand Prix. Michael Schumacher remains for many the “Kaiser”, the emperor, of Formula 1.
His record of seven world titles – in 1994 and 1995 with Bennetton and then the five he won with Ferrari, from 2000 to 2004 – was rivaled this season by Briton Lewis Hamilton.
But the German is still identified with the title of Emperor, perhaps because of idiomatic affinity. It’s been seven years since the accident on December 29, 2013 in that winter season in the French Alps. By then he had been retired for several years.
The driver who had overcome so many accidents on the circuits was on the verge of death on a ski slope, his other sporting passion. His admission to a clinic in Grenoble, with multiple head trauma, sparked a media frenzy that tested the patience of those in charge of the medical center and the ability to control the mood in an emotionally marginalized family.
His wife, Corinna, like the pilot’s former manager, Sabine Kehm, was harassed by the media at every entry or exit of the center. There were frustrated attempts to steal images of the victim and other examples of journalistic gluttony. Michael awoke from the induced coma he had ended up in six months after the accident.
From the clinic in Grenoble he was transferred to a rehabilitation center in Lausanne (Switzerland) and, from there to the chalet in Gland, well equipped for its care, between teams of doctors, assistants and physiotherapists. Seven years later, Corinna, who married Michael in 1995 and the mother of his two children -Gina Maria and Mick-, she continues to represent him at charity and other events.
The last of them, the FIA gala, in December, which saw Hamilton named Driver of the Year, while Michael’s wife received an honorary award. another, on behalf of her husband. Kehm will continue to manage media relations and official “Kaiser” social media accounts; Corinna arrives smiling and serene where she is claimed.
Neither the one nor the other, together or separately, reveal more than they see fit. Michael’s health is a private matter. Mick’s forthcoming debut has shifted the focus somewhat to Michael’s theoretical linear successor on the track. The idol’s son will have a hard time imposing his own style. His best advisor, as he explained to “Bild”, is his mother. Someone who has come a long way never to fall into rudeness while keeping himself safe from indiscretions.
EFE