Those of you that have an interest in Formula One motor racing will know that Michael Schumacher is one of the greatest racing drivers ever to take to the track being compared with the likes of the legendary Ayrton Senna. He was renowned for his aggressive style of driving and won 7 world championship titles.
Let’s briefly look at his career: –
Born in Germany in 1969, he took to go-karting at the age of 4 as many Formula One racing drivers do. By age 6, he had won his first club championship.
After a period at the wheel of other racing cars, he made his Formula One debut for Jordan in 1991 at age 22 and then went on to join Benetton in the same season.
In 1994, he won his first Formula One World Championship title with Benetton having controversially collided with Damon Hill in the last race. He retained the title with Benetton in the following year.
In 1996, he joined the struggling Ferrari team but he helped turn their fortunes around and from 2000 to 2005 he won 5 world championship titles in a row. In 2004, it was estimated that he had an income of $80 million per annum making him the world’s second highest paid athlete.
In 2006, he retired but by 2009 he had returned to Formula One to cover for the injured Ferrari driver Felipe Massa. He had obviously enjoyed this as, by the end of 2009, he had made a permanent comeback signing for Mercedes for three years on an annual salary said to be £21 million.
In 2012, he retired for the last time with his best finishing position with Mercedes being third at the European Grand Prix in Valencia in June 2012. He then spent some time supporting the Formula One Ferrari development team.
He holds a number of records in Formula One including the fastest laps, winning most championships, most pole positions, most race victories and jointly holds the record for the most races won in one season (13).
On a personal basis, Michael is married with two children age 17 and 15 and lives in a Swiss mansion that cost £25 million to build by a private beach on Lake Geneva. He has a private jet that is currently for sale for $20 million. He is estimated to be worth about £500 million. He has donated millions to charity.
Unfortunately, on 29 December 2013, whilst skiing off-piste with his son in the French Alps, he fell over and his head collided with a rock. Had he not been wearing a ski helmet it was felt that he would probably have been killed.
The accident was thought to have caused Michael to suffer a traumatic brain injury so, after two operations, he was placed in a medically induced coma at Grenoble Hospital.
It was reported by his doctors in March 2014 that he was stable and the following month he was gradually brought out of the coma. By mid June 2014, he had been taken out of intensive care and placed in a rehabilitation ward. He then regained consciousness and was transferred to the University Hospital of Lausanne in Switzerland.
On 9th September 2014, we are pleased to say that he left hospital to recuperate at home.
The above just goes to show that you can never tell what life has in store. Michael had spent years driving at dangerously high speeds in Formula One cars yet never suffered as serious an accident as he did when out skiing with his son towards the end of last year.
We hope that Michael’s health continues to improve.
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