Family releases Schumacher video
Michael Schumacher’s thoughts on his career and life outside motorsport have been revealed in a previously unreleased video now published by his family.
The video was shot just weeks before the 2013 skiing accident that left him bedridden.
There has been scant news of the seven-time Formula
One champion since the accident but the latest video gives an insight into the think- ing of the 49-year-old who continues to be treated at home in Switzerland for head injuries.
In the video published on his official website, Schumacher revealed that the rival driver he had the most respect for was Mika Hakkinen.
They had endured ‘‘great fights’’ on the track and a ‘‘stable, private relationship’’ off it.
Interestingly, Schumacher said his sporting idol as a youngster growing up didn’t come from motorsport.
‘‘My real idol was Toni Schumacher because he was a great soccer player,’’ he said of his namesake who was goalkeeper for the national team.
He inspired a lifelong love of football that included Schumacher organising and playing an annual charity involving fellow F1 drivers and other leading athletes. Schumacher recommended gokarting as the ideal introduction to motorsport.
‘‘It gives you a lot of facilities that you can develop yourself, a lot of skills that you can develop and the fighting, the wheel-to-wheel racing, that’s one of the big learnings you get from karting.’’ Schumacher says F1 is still ‘‘one of the toughest sports that you can do’’ despite the increased aids introduced for drivers.
When asked to compare the emotions of winning his first world championship in 1994 with Benetton and the first of his five with Ferrari in 2000, Schumacher admits that the chance to end the long wait for success with the Scuderia meant that his third world title was ‘‘definitely my most emotional one’’.
‘‘21 years, no championships for Ferrari, four years for myself failing to achieve it and finally in 2000, Suzuka, winning the race – an exceptional race – and winning the great championship,’’ Schumacher said.