Seven-time Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher is in a
critical condition in hospital following a skiing accident in the French
Alps.
Schumacher, who retired from F1 racing at the end of the
2012 season, is understood to have hit his head after falling during a
family skiing trip at the Meribel resort on Sunday morning. The
44-year-old was quickly taken by helicopter to hospital in Moutiers
before being moved to Grenoble.
A statement issued by the
University Hospital in Grenoble, where Schumacher is being treated, said
he had suffered "a severe head injury with coma on arrival, which
required neurosurgical intervention immediately."
It had earlier been confirmed that Schumacher, an accomplished skier as well as the most successful F1 driver in history, was wearing a helmet when he suffered the accident.
An official update on his condition is expected on Monday.
Schumacher's history:
Since the Formula One World Drivers' Championship began in 1950 the
title has been won by 32 different drivers, 15 of whom won more than one
championship. Of the multiple champions the most prolific was Juan
Manuel Fangio, whose record of five titles stood for five decades until
it was eclipsed by the most successful driver in the sport's history.
Seven times a champion, Michael Schumacher also holds nearly every
scoring record in the book by a considerable margin. Though his ethics
were sometimes questioned, as was his decision to make a comeback after
retiring, his sheer dominance when in his prime is beyond doubt...
The
most extraordinary driver's origins were most ordinary. He was born on 3
January, 1969, near Cologne, Germany, six years before his brother
Ralf, who would also become a Formula One driver of note. Their father, a
bricklayer, ran the local kart track, at Kerpen, where Mrs Schumacher
operated the canteen. As a four-year old Michael enjoyed playing on a
pedal kart, though when his father fitted it with a small motorcycle
engine the future superstar promptly crashed into a lamppost. But
Michael quickly mastered his machine and won his first kart championship
at six, following which his far from affluent parents arranged
sponsorship from wealthy enthusiasts that enabled Michael to make rapid
progress. By 1987 he was German and European kart champion and had left
school to work as an apprentice car mechanic, a job that was soon
replaced by full-time employment as a race driver. In 1990 he won the
German F3 championship and was hired by Mercedes to drive sportscars.
The next year he made a stunning Formula One debut, qualifying an
astonishing seventh in a Jordan for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa,
whereupon he was immediately snapped up by Benetton, with whom in 1992
he won his first F1 race, again at Spa, among the most demanding
circuits of them all.
Over the next four seasons with Benetton
he won a further 18 races and two world championships. His first, in
1994, was somewhat tainted in that Benetton was suspected of technical
irregularities and in their championship showdown race in Adelaide
Schumacher collided (deliberately, some thought) with the car of his
closest challenger, the Williams of Damon Hill. But Germany's first
world champion was unquestionably worthy of the 1995 driving title,
following which he moved to Ferrari, then a team in disarray and without
a champion since Jody Scheckter in 1979. The Schumacher-Ferrari
combination began promisingly with three wins in 1996 and five more in
1997, though that season ended in humiliation when in the final race, at
Jerez in Spain, Schumacher tried unsuccessfully to ram the Williams of
his title rival Jacques Villeneuve off the road. As punishment for his
misdemeanour Schumacher's points and his second place in the
championship were stricken from the record books he would thereafter
begin to rewrite.
After finishing second overall in 1998,
Schumacher's 1999 season was interrupted by a broken leg (the only
injury in his career) incurred in a crash at the British Grand Prix.
From then on there was no stopping 'Schumi' - who in 2000 became
Ferrari's first champion in 21 years, then went on to win the driving
title for the next four years in succession. In 2002 he won 11 times and
finished on the podium in all 17 races. In 2003 he broke Fangio's
record by winning his sixth driving title. In 2004 he won 13 of the 18
races to win his seventh championship by a by a massive margin.
Like
all the great drivers Schumacher had exceptional ambition, confidence,
intelligence, motivation, dedication and determination. What set him
apart and helped account for his unprecedented length of time at the top
was a pure passion for racing and an endless quest for improvement.
Blessed
with a supreme natural talent honed to the highest degree, he had a
racing brain to match and spare mental capacity that enabled him to make
split-second decisions, adapt to changing circumstances and plan ahead
while driving on the limit, which with his superb state of fitness (he
trained harder than any driver) he could do consistently for lengthy
periods of time. The smoothly swift and mechanically-aware driver
operated with a keen sensitivity for the limits of his car and himself
(he seldom make mistakes) and his feedback to the engineers (led by
technical director Ross Brawn who worked with him throughout his career)
was invariably astute.
No Ferrari driver worked harder for the
team, nor were any of them more appreciated than the German who led the
Italian team to six successive Constructors' Championships. He led by
example, frequently visiting the factory at Maranello, talking to the
personnel, thanking them, encouraging them, never criticising and
inspiring everyone with his optimism, high energy level and huge work
ethic. The team was devoted to the driver who often said he loved the
Ferrari 'family.'
Life with his own family - wife Corinna and
their children Gina-Maria and Mick - was deliberately kept as normal as
possible (they seldom came to the races) by the essentially shy and
private man who became one of the most famous sportsmen in the world.
Rich beyond his wildest dreams (he reportedly earned as much as $100
million a year), he generously supported charities, especially those for
underprivileged children, and to help victims of the 2004 Asian tsunami
disaster he made a personal donation of $10 million.
After
finishing second in the 2006 championship, the aging superstar was still
at the peak of his powers, having won seven races to bring his total to
91 (40 more than his nearest rival, Alain Prost.) No champion had been
so superior for so long, but Schumi had grown tired of the effort
required to continue to excel and decided to hang up his helmet.
Yet
his retirement proved to be only temporary. In 2010, after a three-year
hiatus as a consultant to Ferrari, 41-year-old Michael Schumacher
succumbed to the lure of driving for the new Mercedes team headed by
Ross Brawn. Critics questioned the multiple champion's decision to risk
his reputation in the sport that was once his personal playground. He
gave his best but made it to the podium only once during his three-year
comeback. In his final season of 2012 his opponents included five other
world champions - all of them at least a decade younger. "I enjoyed most
of it," Michael Schumacher said of the second part of his career. "It
wasn't as successful as before but I still learned a lot for life. I
found that losing can be both more difficult and more instructive than
winning. Now is a good time to go."
(source: f1.com)
