Son's heartbreaking admission amid Michael Schumacher mystery
Mick Schumacher admits he’s using tips from his stricken father as he tries to forge his own career in Formula One.
Michael Schumacher suffered devastating head injuries in a skiing accident in 2013.
His family have remained extremely tight-lipped about his condition in the years that have followed.
‘IMPROVEMENTS’: Massive update after Alex Zanardi's accident
‘NOT TOO LATE’: Renault's cheeky call to Daniel Ricciardo
But son Mick, who has been carving up the track in F2 and is expected to debut in F1 sometime in 2021, has offered a tiny snippet of information about his dad.
Last week Michael’s former boss at Ferrari Jean Todt said he had been following his son’s rise through the ranks.
And on Wednesday Mick admitted he’s been heeding his father’s advice as he tries to emulate him.
“Of course I use some of my father's tips - even from my karting days,” the 21-year-old told RTL.
“At the same time, we are obviously different people and had different experiences in the junior classes.
“And you have to drive the cars differently today too.
“We have a Formula 2 car that weighs 780 kilos, the cars back then weighed 500 kilos. But nevertheless, of course there are some similarities.”
Last week Todt provided a rare update on Michael’s condition.
“Of course he is following him,” the former Ferrari boss told RTL France about Schumacher’s son Mick.
“Mick is probably going to race in Formula 1 next year which will be a great challenge.
“We would be delighted to have a new Schumacher at the highest level of motor racing.”
Todt has been visiting Schumacher monthly and providing fans with snippets of new information.
“This is a question on which I am going to be extremely reserved,” the current FIA boss told RTL.
“I see Michael very often – once or twice a month. My answer is the same all the time – he fights. We can only wish for him and his family that things get better.”
Schumacher won five consecutive World Drivers’ Championships under Todt’s leadership from 2000 to 2004.
Jean Todt says Michael Schumacher ‘still fighting’
In January, a leading neurosurgeon said Schumacher would be “very altered” and “deteriorated”, warning fans not to expect miracles.
“We must imagine a person very different from the one we remember on the track, with a very altered and deteriorated organic, muscular and skeletal structure,” Nicola Acciari told Contro Copertina.
“All as a result of the brain trauma he suffered.”
That came after Todt assured fans that Schumacher is “still fighting”.
“I’m always careful with such statements, but it’s true. I saw the race together with Michael Schumacher at his home in Switzerland,” he said last year.
“Michael is in the best hands and is well looked after in his house. He does not give up and keeps fighting.
“His family is fighting just as much and of course our friendship cannot be the same as it once was just because there’s no longer the same communication as before.”
Click here to sign up to our newsletter for all the latest and breaking stories from Australia and around the world.
