Formula 1 continues to pay tribute to seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, he retired from public life from the ski accident he suffered on Tuesday seven years ago and that for Ferrari he continues to be the eternal idol.
“Michael is always in my thoughts. But I have absolute respect for his family’s decision.” says the former head of the Italian team, Luca di Montezemolo, in this Tuesday’s edition of the popular newspaper “Bild”.
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He thus refers to the strict rule of discretion imposed by the Schumachers around the situation of the former pilot of his cottage in Gland (Switzerland).
He hardly receives visits other than those made occasionally by the head of the FIA and the former sporting director at Ferrari, Jean Todt, who sometimes referred to those meetings without giving details of their status.
Montezemolo drove Ferrari between 1991 and 2014, during which time the Italian team won up to 19 world titles -among those received by its pilots Niki Lauda, Kimi Räikkönen or Schumacher, or as a builder-.
“Michael’s times were special,” he says, adding that he usually prays for him, even though he has not visited him since the Méribel accident in the French Alps. The Schumacher family jealously protects the rule of discretion. Last weekend, the same newspaper, the most read in Germany, included an interview with the son of the former driver, Mick, who is preparing to make his Formula 1 debut.
“I feel good, I don’t mind the question or the comparisons”, Mick, 21, explained about the inevitable question about Michael.
“My father is the greatest for me. Why should I distance myself from him? ” He added the son of the idol, which will debut with the American team Haas at the Melbourne Grand Prix on March 21. Michael Schumacher remains for many “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 matched by Britain’s Lewis Hamilton this season.
But German is still identified with the title of emperor, perhaps because of idiomatic affinity. Seven years have passed since the accident on December 29, 2013 in that winter season in the French Alps. By then he had been out of the competition 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 injuries, led a media circus that tested the patience of those dealing with the medical center and the ability to manage the mood in an emotional family at the border.
His wife, Corinna, as well as the pilot’s former manager, Sabine Kehm, were harassed by the media at every entrance or exit from the center. There have been frustrated attempts to steal images of the victim and other examples of journalistic voracity. Michael awoke from the induced coma he had entered six months after the accident.
From the Grenoble clinic he was transferred to a rehabilitation center in Lausanne (Switzerland) and, from there, to the cottage in Gland, properly equipped for its care, among teams of doctors, nurses 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 charities and other events.
The last of these, the FIA gala in December, in which Hamilton was proclaimed driver of the year, while Michael’s wife received an honorary award, another, on behalf of her husband. Kehm continues to manage media relations and official social media accounts “kaiser”; Corinna comes smiling and serene where she is supposed to be.
Neither, together or separately, discloses more than they deem appropriate. Michael’s health is a private matter. Mick’s next debut shifted some attention to Michael’s theoretical successor on the line. It will be difficult for the idol’s son to impose his own style. His best adviser is, as Bild explained, his mother. Someone who has come a long way so as never to fall into rudeness and at the same time keep away from indiscretions.
EFE