Michael Schumacher: Jean Todt gives update on ex-F1 champion after watching German Grand Prix together
FIA president visited the Schumacher family home to watch last weekend’s race at Hockenheim and he says the seven-time F1 world champion is still ‘fighting’ to recover from serious head injuries suffered in a 2013 skiing crash
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Your support makes all the difference.Michael Schumacher watched last weekend’s German Grand Prix alongside former Ferrari team boss Jean Todt, the FIA president has revealed, and he is still “fighting” to recover from the serious head injuries he suffered in a skiing accident six-five-and-a-half years ago.
The seven-time Formula One world champion struck his head on a rock in a skiing accident in December 2013 while skiing with his son Mick in the Meribel resort.
Schumacher received emergency treatment at Grenoble Hospital before being transferred to Switzerland’s University Hospital in Lausanne, and returned to the family home in Geneva in September 2014 where a state-of-the-art clinic had been installed to continue his treatment.
Updates on Schumacher’s condition have been sparse, with his family keen to keep the matter private unless they feel it necessary to let the public know about his recovery. But a number of the German’s friends from the motorsport world make numerous visits to see him, with current FIA president and former Ferrari team principal Todt one of his most frequent guests.
Speaking to Radio Monte-Carlo this week, Todt revealed that he was at the family home over the weekend to join Schumacher in watching Sunday’s Grand Prix at Hockenheim.
“I'm always careful with such statements, but it's true. I saw the race together with Michael Schumacher at his home in Switzerland,” Todt said.
He added that the 50-year-old is making “good progress”.
“Michael is in the best hands and is well looked after in his house.
“He does not give up and keeps fighting.”
Little is known about what condition Schumacher is in, though Todt did say that is saddens him that they cannot share the same relationship that they had while together at Ferrari for their trophy-laden partnership that brought five drivers’ championships and six constructors’ championships.
“His family is fighting just as much and of course our friendship cannot be the same as it once was,” Todt added.
“Just because there's no longer the same communication as before.
“He continues to fight. And his family is fighting the same way.”
Schumacher’s lawyer confirmed in 2016 that he “cannot walk” after the family took legal action against a German publication for saying otherwise, and Todt was keen to honour their desire for privacy by not revealing any details on his current condition.
“It's something very private,” Todt said, adding that he is “very well taken care of; he lives with his family in his house between Geneva and Lausanne.
“In the end, only positive thoughts help him. “I and his whole family are positive in the mental sense, despite the circumstances.”
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