Ralf Schumacher stated that ‘life is not fair’ when discussing the condition of his brother – F1 legend Michael Schumacher. The former Ferrari star suffered life-changing injuries in a skiing accident back in 2013, with the 10-year anniversary of the ordeal coming up this winter.
The Schumacher brothers spent 10 seasons racing alongside one another in F1. Michael won a record-equalling seven world titles with Benetton and Ferrari, while Ralf racked up six Grand Prix victories across spells with Jordan, Williams and Toyota.
Just one year after calling time on his F1 career; Michael, the elder of the two brothers, suffered serious head injuries while on a skiing holiday with his family.
The 54-year-old was initially placed into a coma, and he has not been seen by the public since leaving hospital and continuing his recovery at home in Switzerland, with the specifics of his condition kept totally under wraps.
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Addressing the Ferrari legend’s situation in an interview with Bunte, Ralf said: “Unfortunately, sometimes life isn’t fair. We have to accept it. When I see his children Gina-Maria and Mick, my heart smiles. If someone in the family is looking for my advice, I’m there. They go their own way.”
The 48-year-old added that he and Michael’s wife, Corinna, are now ‘good friends’ after putting a period of friction ‘long behind them’.
Michael’s son, Mick, spent two seasons in F1 with Haas. Despite losing his seat at the end of last year, the 24-year-old remains part of the sport as a reserve driver at Mercedes behind Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.
The youngster has admitted that he is unable to call on his dad’s experience due to the nature of his condition. Meanwhile, the Schumachers’ family lawyer, Felix Damm, spoke out last month on the decision to keep the finer details as private as possible.
“It has always been a matter of protecting private information,” he told LTO. “Of course, we had a lot of discussions about how to do that. We also considered whether a final announcement about Michael’s state of health could be the right way to go about it. But that wouldn’t have been the end of it and there would have had to be permanently updated ‘water level reports’.
“Because as a person affected, it is not in your hands to order the media to draw a line under the matter. The media could take up such a report again and again and ask: ‘And how does it look now?’, one, two, three months or years after the report.”
