Michael Schumacher’s health and life now revealed in Netflix documentary

For the first time, Michael Schumacher’s wife reveals the details of her husband’s condition and his son Mick opens up on his greatest regret.

Michael Schumacher’s wife and son have given a rare glimpse of their difficult life with the former Formula One driver, who remains in a poor condition nearly eight years after suffering a severe brain injury.

Corinna Schumacher, 52, and Mick Schumacher, 22, speak briefly about the German seven-time world champion’s situation in a Netflix documentary about his life before his accident. Schumacher fell and struck his head on a rock while skiing at the French resort of Meribel in December 2013.

“Of course I miss Michael every day, but it’s not just me who misses him: the children, the family, his father, everyone who is close to him,” Mrs Schumacher said in the documentary, which was filmed two years ago. “Everyone misses Michael, but Michael is here. In a different way, but he’s here, and I think that gives us strength.”

Seven-time world Formula One champion Michael Schumacher. Picture: Jose luis Roca/AFP

A tearful Mrs Schumacher, who has not previously revealed details of her husband’s condition, added: “We live together at home. We do therapy. We do everything we can to make Michael better and make sure he’s comfortable and just to make him feel like he’s with his family and to continue our bond. No matter what happens, I’m going to do everything I can. We’re all going to do that.”

Mick, the couple’s second son, who made his F1 debut this year, said it felt unfair that he could not share his racing experiences with his father. “I think Dad and I would understand each other in a different way now, simply because we speak a similar language – the language of motorsport – and we would have a lot to talk about. That’s where my head is at most of the time, thinking that would be so cool. I’d give anything just for that.”

Michael Schumacher and Corrina pictured together after Michael competed in his 200th Grand Prix during the Spanish F1 Grand Prix on May 9, 2004, at the Circuit de Catalunya. Picture: Getty Images

Mrs Schumacher, whose secrecy has angered her husband’s fans over the years, said: “We are trying to carry on as a family the way Michael liked it and still does. ‘Private is private,’ 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. Now we are protecting Michael.”

The accident, in which Schumacher was wearing a helmet and not skiing fast, was a terrible stroke of bad fortune, his wife said. “I never blamed God for why this happened now. It was just really bad luck – all the bad luck anyone could ever have in their life.

“We had always made it through his races safely, which is why I was certain he had a few guardian angels that were keeping an eye out for him. I don’t know if it’s just a kind of protective wall that you put up yourself or if it’s because you’re in a way naive, but it simply never occurred to me that anything could ever happen to Michael.”

Michael Schumacher poses with his wife Corinna, in the winter resort of Madonna di Campiglio, in the Dolomites area, Northern Italy. Picture: Ferrari press office STR

Schumacher’s father, Rolf, brother Ralf and daughter, Gina-Maria, also give insight into his life, as do figures in motorsport including Jean Todt, his former boss at Ferrari, who now heads the FIA, the Formula One racing body.

This week Todt said he believed that with the help of doctors and the latest treatment Schumacher’s condition would “slowly and surely improve”.

“Thanks to the work of his doctors and the co-operation of Corinna, who wanted him to survive, he survived, but with consequences,” Todt told Bild, the German newspaper. Piero Ferrari, the company’s vice-president and the son of Enzo Ferrari, its founder, says of Schumacher in the film: “He had the charisma of a leader. That was his gift to us.”

Mick Schumacher (L) has opened up on how he misse life with his father. Picture: Andrej Isakovic and Patrick Hertzog/AFP

Vanessa Nocker, one of the directors of the documentary, said that the makers had not set out to unearth new information on the driver’s condition.

“We have never hunted a headline at any point but rather approached it slowly and found a way together,” she said. “It would not have worked otherwise. In the end, we ourselves had a protective instinct.”

Schumacher, who won 91 Grand Prix before retiring from Formula One in 2012, has undergone treatment in several establishments.

In September 2019, at the Georges Pompidou hospital in Paris, he received a stem cell transfusion to reduce inflammation. According to unconfirmed reports at the time, he was said to be conscious.

The documentary, Schumacher, will be released by Netflix on September 15.

This article originally appeared in The Times

Originally published as Michael Schumacher’s health and life now revealed in Netflix documentary