“We would like extend our gratitude to the entire team at 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.”
The news comes 254 days after his accident in Meribel, when Schumacher hit his
head on a rock while skiing off-piste. Schumacher was in intensive care in
Grenoble, before he was moved to a rehabilitation unit in Lausanne in June,
as his management confirmed he had been brought out of a medically-induced
coma. He was in a coma for 189 days.
Speculation surrounding the German’s condition has been rife ever since, with
medical professionals, as well as his former doctor in Formula One,
extensively commenting on the case. Many in the paddock were particularly
aghast to see Gary Hartstein, the former FIA doctor in the sport, repeatedly
writing about Schumacher’s health, including on the conduct of his
clinicians. Hartstein has not made any comment on his blog on the subject
since June.
Officially, there has been little encouragement for Schumacher’s legions of
fans from the few press statements made that he will make a full recovery.
Most in Formula One wait patiently for news, greeting positive developments
when they come and sending their heartfelt best wishes to the family, but
the statements from the family suggest little will be seen of Schumacher for
a very long time, perhaps ever again.
In yesterday’s announcement it was made clear that “it should not be assumed
that massive changes in his health status were the reasons for this move”.
There has been an understandable reluctance by the Schumacher family to
divulge many details in a bid to protect the privacy of his wife, Corinna,
and his two children, Gina Marie, 17, and Mick, 14.
The family seemed particularly scarred by several incidents soon after
Schumacher was admitted to intensive care in Grenoble. One reporter dressed
as a priest to try and get into his hospital room. Last month, a man
suspected of leaking a 12-page medical report on Schumacher’s case was found
hanged in Zurich police cell.
Even an announcement on the naming of a corner at the Bahrain Grand Prix after
the former Ferrari driver was carefully controlled, with all official
information coming through Kehm and not the doctors in his case.
Jean Todt, the FIA President and team principal of Schumacher in the Ferrari
years, is thought to visit his great friend twice a week, but has largely
maintained a dignified silence on the issue. Mercedes, the team Schumacher
drove with on his return to F1 in 2010, tweeted a picture in support
yesterday with the hasthtag “#KeepFightingMichael”, which has been carried
on their two cars all season.
The German Grand Prix in July at Hockenheim, a race Schumacher won on four
occasions, was also a low-key occasion, marked only by a message from
Corinna Schumacher in the official programme. Speaking for the first time
publicly since his accident, she wrote: “We are facing a phase which will
presumably take a long time. We trust that – as for so many years in F1 –
time will be Michael’s ally in this fight. Until then I would like to wish
you and your families all the best as well.”
The media scrutiny has not just focussed on Schumacher’s health. There have
also been numerous reports that the Schumacher family have spent millions of
pounds modifying his family home at Gland, just 25 miles from the hospital
in Lausanne where he was being treated, in anticipation of his return.
However, it is understood that these claims are wide of the mark.
Schumacher won a record seven championships and 91 races in his career from
1991 to 2006, and again from 2010 to 2012. The first two titles came with
Benetton in the mid-1990s, before he utterly dominated the sport in the
early 2000s, winning five straight championships with Ferrari.