F1 boss Todt hopes ‘one day’ to attend GP with Schumi

ROME: Formula One boss Jean Todt said Thursday he remains hopeful that “one day” he will be able to attend a Grand Prix race with stricken former world champion Michael Schumacher.

Schumacher, 50, has not been seen in public since suffering catastrophic head injuries in a highspeed skiing accident in December 2013. “There is no news other than the fact that Michael is fighting every day to improve the situation,” Todt told Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica.

Todt -- president of the sport’s ruling body, the International Motoring Federation (FIA) -- was Ferrari director when Schumacher won five of his seven world titles, and remains a close friend to the German driver and his family. “It’s clear that we all have to help him and hope that there will be, let’s say, steady progress,” continued t he 73- year- old Frenchman. “I’ve been telling the truth, I watch Grand Prix on television with him. I hope one day we can go together to attend a Grand Prix.”

Almost no information has filtered through about Schumacher’s condition since the accident in the French Alps, but in the opinion of renowned neurologists, the former driver, technically out of a coma, is in a vegetative state. “We must accompany him in this fight, support his wife who is a fantastic woman, who cares for him, and their children. We must help them by respecting their wishes to the maximum,” continued Todt.

“Michael is a racing legend. I’m not saying it’s wrong to want to have news about him, but it’s up to the family to decide what they want to say or not.”