Is Michael Schumacher speech-impaired? What happened to the F1 legend?

This past week saw something exceedingly rare.

An appearance from F1 legend Michael Schumacher.

According to media reports, Schumacher attended the wedding of his daughter Gina in Spain.

As per Daily Mail, guests were not allowed to bring their phones inside the venue.

Schumacher reportedly cannot speak and communicates with his eyes.

But what happened to the F1 racer? And what do we know about his condition?

Let’s take a closer look:

What happened to F1 racer?

In 2013, Schumacher, 44, had just retired from F1 – for the second time.

He earlier bid goodbye to the sport in 2006 after winning five straight titles with Ferrari following two earlier ones with Benetton.

He returned in 2010 and drove for three seasons for Mercedes without much success before retiring again.

Still, he was one of the most famous sportsmen in the world and arguably the greatest F1 driver in history.

Schumacher, 44 at the time, was skiing at the Méribel resort in the French Alps with his 14-year-old son and his friends when the accident occurred.

As per The Guardian, the resort is among the most luxurious in the French Alps.

Schumacher, who at the time kept a chalet there, was skiing near one of the most difficult ski-runs in the region.

He was actually skiing off-piste, away from the prepared ski-runs, between the La Biche and the Mauduit – so named after a former French skiing champion.

But Schumacher was a skilled skier. He also knew the area well.

The then Méribel director Christophe Gernignon-Lecomte told the newspaper, “It was something habitual for him.”

The slope was at an altitude of 2,100 metres.

Schumacher and his son were around 20 metres away from the piste.

Then, Schumacher suddenly fell.

As per NDTV , the skis had made contact with a rock partly hidden under the snow.

Schumacher then fell and hit his head onto a boulder.

Though Schumacher was wearing a helmet, the force of the crash left it split open.

When rescuers first responded to the scene, Schumacher was conscious.

They later said that he would have died had he not been wearing the protection gear.

As per The Guardian, he was described as “in shock and somewhat shaken.”

He was immediately taken to Moûtiers before being shifted Grenoble for tests.

Authorities said his life was not in danger.

However, the situation began to look more serious when the resort said that orthopedic and trauma surgeon Gerard Saillant had traveled from Paris to the hospital to examine Schumacher.

German news agency dpa said it was Saillant who operated on Schumacher when he broke his leg during a crash at the Silverstone race course in 1999.

Then, Schumacher underwent brain surgery. Doctors later said he arrived at the clinic in a coma and underwent immediate surgery for a serious head trauma.

The hospital’s deputy director, Marc Penaud, at the time said Schumacher was “in a critical condition.”

As per NDTV, Schumacher then underwent yet another surgery.

Bild reported that surgeons had to drill holes in Schumacher’s skull to relieve the pressure on his brain.

Schumacher was later shifted to Grenoble in France.

He was later moved to his home nation of Switzerland where he has been recuperating since the incident.

This isn’t the first accident Schumacher experienced.

He famously crashed at Silverstone.

He was hurt seriously in a motorcycling accident in February 2009 in Spain when he suffered neck and spine injuries.

He recovered sufficiently from those injuries to make a comeback in F1.

What do we know about his condition?

Today, Schumacher is a completely different man.

As per The Telegraph, he is spe and confined to a wheelchair.

As per Express.co.UK , the family has moved to villa in Spain’s Mallorca.

The family had purchased the mansion in 2017 for £27m in 2017.

Schumacher is thought to be attended by healthcare professionals 24x7.

“Michael doesn’t speak, he communicates with his eyes. Only three people can visit him and I know who they are. They moved to Spain and his wife has set up a hospital in that house,”  Elisabetta Gregoraci, wife of current Alpine F1 team supervisor Flavio Briatore, was quoted as saying by Express.co.uk.

A Netflix documentary entitled Schumacher, which released in 2021, examined the F1 driver’s life and times.

In it, his family provide an update about his health.

Schumacher’s wife Corinna said he is “different, but he’s here”.

“He still shows me how strong he is every day. We’re trying to carry on as a family,” she added.

“‘Private is private’ as he always said. It’s very important to me that he can continue to enjoy his private life as much as possible. Michael always protected us, and now we are protecting Michael.”

Schumacher’s son Mick, who has followed in his father’s footsteps and become an F1 driver, added, “I think dad and me, we would understand each other now in a different way. Simply because we speak a similar language, the language of motorsport. And that we would have so much more to talk about. That’s where my head is most of the time. Thinking that it would be cool. I would give up everything just for that.”

Mick, 25, currently competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Alpine.

He is also a reserve driver for Mercedes in Formula 1.

Schumacher’s daughter Gina is a jockey.

Sports Illustrated quoted ex-Ferrari boss and ex-FIA president Jean Todt as saying he doesn’t miss Michael because “he is here.”

“But he is not the Michael of before. He is different and he is wonderful manner assisted by his wife and children, who protect him. His life has changed and I am privileged to be able to share moments with him from time to time,” Todt said.

“His life is different now and I have the privilege of sharing moments with him. That’s all there is to say. Unfortunately, fate struck him ten years ago. He is no longer the Michael we knew in Formula One.”

The family insists that Schumacher be granted his privacy.

“It was always about protecting private things. We considered whether a final report about Michael’s health could be the right way to do this,” Schumacher’s lawyer, Felix Damm was quoted by SI.com.

With inputs from agencies