Michael Schumacher: Schumacher family 'remain confident' F1 champion can recover as his website returns to celebrate first title
Twenty years ago today Schumacher won his first F1 Drivers' Championship and his official website has re-launched to pay a fitting tribute
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Your support makes all the difference.Michael Schumacher’s family has issued a statement thanking his fans “for facing this fight together with him and us” on the day that his official website was reactivated, 20 years to the day after he secured his first Formula One Drivers’ Championship.
Schumacher suffered a serious head injury in a skiing accident on 31 December last year after hitting his head on a rock while skiing off-piste in the exclusive ski resort of Meribel in France. After being transported to and treated at the Grenoble University Hospital where he was placed in a medically-induced coma, Schumacher was moved a hospital in Lausanne in Switzerland, before he was moved back to the family home near Geneva in September.
Issuing a short statement on the website http://www.michael-schumacher.de/, Schumacher’s family – wife Corrina, son Mick and daughter Gina – expressed their gratitude for the support worldwide that has come in for the seven-time F1 world champion.
It added: "We remain confident and hope the best for Michael. Your strength is helping us to keep supporting him.”
There was no medical update regarding Schumacher’s condition as he continues his recovery from a serve head trauma.
What was uploaded to the site was a brief re-cap of the season-ending race in Adelaide, where Schumacher would beat Damon Hill to the 1994 Drivers’ Championship – albeit in controversial circumstances after the German caused a collision between the two that handed him the title which many have condemned as deliberate.
However, the passage goes on to explain how Schumacher’s success revolutionised the modern day driver, something that simply cannot be questioned.
Written in German, the final paragraph takes in both the moments after Schumacher’s success 20 years ago, and the effect that his career has had on the sport worldwide, not just in Germany.
“’I'm not a legend,’ he [Schumacher]defends early on, ‘I'm just someone who is lucky enough to be good at something, that makes it fun.’ Behind this public shyness hides an enormous will. As a 25-year-old he already begins to shape a whole new type of Formula 1 racing driver: Analytical, fitter, more complex, which will challenge his everyday life.”
An original statement from Schumacher’s manager Sabine Kehm announced that the website would be re-launched to give his fans a “home”.
The statement read: "November 13, 1994, is a special day in the sporting life of Michael Schumacher – 20 years ago he was the first German to ever win the Formula One world championship title, his first of seven titles.
"To mark the 20th anniversary of his first world champion title we will reactivate Michael’s homepage. We hope to thus give the many fans from all over the world, whose sympathy is still unbroken after his accident, a home.
"The newly designed homepage features many pictures and stories of Michael’s unparalleled career, all races, data and facts. There is also a fan-area where fans can send their twitter-messages to.
The latest medical update on Schumacher’s condition came via his manager Sabine Kehm when she confirmed that the 45-year-old had been moved to the family home two months ago.
“Henceforth, Michael’s rehabilitation will take place at his home,” said Kehm. “Considering the severe injuries he suffered, progress has been made in the past weeks and months. There is still, however, a long and difficult road ahead.
“We would like to extend our gratitude to the entire team at the CHUV Lausanne for their thorough and competent work.
“We ask that the privacy of Michael’s family continue to be respected, and that speculations about his state of health are avoided.”
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