I hope Michael Schumacher still understands what is going on – we’ve missed his genius, says F1 pal
MICHAEL Schumacher’s F1 pal Mark Blundell has shared heartbreaking regrets over the racing legend’s tragic skiing accident.
The former McLaren driver, who called Schumacher ruthless and brilliant, said he hopes the Ferrari racer is fit enough to understand the sport.
Blundell, 57, raced in Formula One and competed against the German legend in the 90s.
Before getting into F1, the two also raced in sports cars.
And now the former McLaren star has opened up about Michael’s tragic skiing crash which left him in a medically induced coma in December 2013.
He said: “At the end of the day, what happened to him was incredibly difficult to take.
“I don’t know where we are today with Michael’s health as he’s rightly guarded.
“He’s still around, and hopefully he understands what’s going on. That would be a plus. It’s very difficult.”
Speaking to OLBG, Blundell expressed his regrets over Michael not being able to share amazing anecdotes from his thrilling career – and said it is a “huge loss” for the F1 community.
“Michael is a big loss for F1 as he had all of those titles under his belt, and we’re sadly not able to hear about those accolades and how he went about getting them.
“It’s such a shame we missed out on his insight.
“We also missed on how he could have supported his son and other up-and-coming drivers.
“That’s a huge loss.”
Blundell also shared about his days on the track along with Schumacher – and said he was brilliant, both inside and outside his car.
He added: “I raced against Michael Schumacher on many occasions and he’s a huge talent and a great mind – not just inside the car, but also outside of it.
“He was always putting people together to find the advantage. We saw that with Michael time and time again.”
The McLaren star called him “ruthless” in the sport – and hailed him as “one of the greatest drivers in the history of the modern-day Grand Prix.
“He was also ruthless and he was always prepared to do what he needed to do to get what he needed.
“I can’t take anything away from him – he was a legend of the sport and still is.
“He was one of the greatest drivers in modern-day Grand Prix history – a phenomenal driver.”
It comes after ex-racing legend David Coulthard claimed that Schumacher thought he tried to kill him in a past race.
In the new documentary Being Michael Schumacher, Coulthard speaks about the infamous race clash with the Ferrari driver during the Belgian Grand Prix in 1998.
But back in 1998, Coulthard had a bitter falling out with Schumacher after their on-track collision thwarted the legendary racer from winning the race.
According to him, the German racer refused to accept that the car crash was unintentional – and believed it was rather a conspiracy to kill him.
Following the collision, Schumacher was furious and burst into the McLaren garage to confront Coulthard, accusing him of ruining his race.
Coulthard reveals in the documentary: “Michael thought it was some sort of conspiracy to kill him and try and help my teammate Mika.
“But it was simply an accident. It was just one of those things.”
The Belgium Grand Prix had taken place under extremely wet conditions, described then as almost monsoon-like.
The slippery track was so dangerous to race on that the first lap saw a massive crash involving thirteen drivers – and the race had to be stopped for over an hour.