Michael Schumacher: a very hard battle, nine years long

Michael Schumacher’s dramatic accident is dated Dec. 29, 2013

Dec. 29, 2013-Dec. 29, 2022: Nine long years have passed since Michael Schumacher’s dramatic accident, a ruinous fall on skis on the snowy slopes of Meribel, Switzerland.

The seven-time F1 world champion, the first to achieve such a milestone in top motorsport, underwent two brain surgeries in the days immediately following, at the hospital in Grenoble, France. Since then little, indeed almost nothing, has transpired about his actual condition, with the family, starting with his wife Corinna, committed to maintaining the utmost secrecy. Few, and extremely select, visits from former friends. And no hint from them about Michael’s situation: the family asked for and received respect and observance of privacy.

In recent months it has been his son Mick who has publicly exposed himself on the great champion capable of winning five consecutive World Championships aboard a Ferrari. Michael’s second son has had two seasons in F1 behind the wheel of Haas and will be a reserve driver for Mercedes in 2023. “Those family moments that so many spend with their father for me are no longer there, or at least they are there in a minor way, and in my way this is quite unfair,” he said in an interview for a docufilm released by Netflix in the summer of 2022. I think we would understand each other in a different way now simply because we would speak a similar language, the language of motoring, and we would have so many things to converse about. And it is this very thought that stays in my head most of the time, because if it were possible it would be beautiful. I would give up everything to be able to do that.”