Michael Schumacher’s world changed forever on December 29, 2013. The seven-time Formula One world champion was skiing at the Meribel resort in the French Alps when, having helped a fallen family friend according to his manager Sabine Kehm, he fell himself and hit his head against a rock. Phil Blanche recounts how the story has developed...

Michael Schumacher, who had retired from F1 for the final time in 2012 after a three-season comeback with Mercedes, was airlifted first to a hospital in nearby Moutiers and then on to Grenoble, and the early signs were promising.

Gerningon Christophe-Lecomte, the director of the Meribel resort, was quoted by Radio Monte Carlo Sport as saying he was “shaken but conscious” after the accident.

“It may be a head injury but it is not very serious,” Lecomte was quoted as saying on mcsport.bfmtv.com.

Sadly, those words were to be some way from the truth.

Within hours Schumacher’s condition was described as “critical” and University Hospital of Grenoble spokesman Jean-Marc Grenier, said the 91-time grand prix winner was in a medically-induced coma.

“He suffered a head trauma with coma which required neurosurgical treatment,” read the hospital bulletin.

Schumacher’s wife Corinna, two children, father Rolf and brother Ralf were at his bedside as the world of motor racing began to show support for one of the sport’s greatest drivers.

Martin Brundle, who was Schumacher’s team-mate at Benetton in 1992 and 1993, tweeted: “Come on Michael, give us one of those race stints at pure qualifying pace to win through, like you used to. You can do it.”

Former F1 driver Giancarlo Fisichella added: “I know you Michael, you are the man, you are the best you are. This is the most difficult race but I am sure you will win again!”

Ferrari, with whom Schumacher won five world titles from 2000 to 2004, expressed their support in a statement on their official website as reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel, dubbed ‘Baby Schumi’ by the German media after following his compatriot’s path in becoming a multiple world champion, also pledged his support.

Doctors in Grenoble soon revealed Schumacher, 44, would have been killed had he not been wearing a helmet at the time of the accident, but added with scan results showing bleeding and swelling on the brain as well as “a great number of lesions” it was far too early to make predictions about Schumacher’s future health.

The fight for survival, doctors said, was being taken “hour by hour” and two operations were carried out to ease the pressure on Schumacher’s brain.

Anxious wait

As the world waited on every hospital bulletin, Kehm said a journalist dressed as a priest had tried to gain access to the hospital room where Schumacher was being treated.

“I wouldn’t have ever imagined something like this could happen,” said Kehm as Schumacher’s condition was described as critical but stable following a third night in hospital.

Fans and well-wishers marked Schumacher’s 45th birthday on January 3, 2014 with Ferrari organising a ‘silent march’ in support of their former driver outside the Grenoble hospital and the Schumacher family praised the “great support”.

“The incredible sympathies shown by the Ferrari fans outside the hospital has utterly overwhelmed us and moved us all to tears,” said a statement on Schumacher’s official website.

Four days later Corinna urged members of the media to leave Grenoble “to leave the doctors and the hospital so that they can work in peace” as early accident investigations showed that Schumacher was skiing several metres beyond off-piste markings in “virgin territory”.

Some media outlets had suggested that given the period of time from the accident that Schumacher may never wake from his current state, but on January 17 his condition for the first time was not described as “critical”.

“Michael’s sedation is being reduced in order to allow the start of the waking-up process, which may take a long time,” Kehm said in a January 30 statement and six weeks later the family reported “small, encouraging signs” and expressed confidence that he will “pull through and will wake up”.

Kehm revealed at the start of April that Schumacher “shows moments of consciousness and awakening” but it was not until June 16 – 170 days after the accident – that she gave the news that he was no longer in a coma and had been transferred to the University Hospital of Lausanne in Switzerland.

A week later Schumacher’s management said the medical notes made after the skiing accident had been stolen and were being offered for sale, adding they would press for criminal charges and damages against any media outlet which published them.

But there was better news in July when Corinna Schumacher told a German women’s magazine that her husband was “getting slowly better”, and on September 9 it was announced he was to return to his home on the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland to continue his rehabilitation.

“Considering the severe injuries he suffered, progress has been made in the past weeks and months,” Kehm said in a family statement.

“There is still, however, a long and difficult road ahead.”

As yesterday marked a year on from that fateful day in the Alps, Michael Schumacher is still involved in the greatest race of his life.

Schumacher fact file

Born: January 3, 1969.
Birth place: Hurth-Hermulheim, Germany.
Birth name: Michael Schumacher.
Marriage: Corinna (Besch) Schumacher (1995-till present).
Children: Mick, 1999; Gina-Maria, 1997.

Accident timeline

December 29, 2013 – Suffers severe head trauma in a skiing accident at the French Alps resort of Meribel. He undergoes two operations and is put into a medically induced coma.

January 30, 2014 – Agent Sabine Kehm says that Schumacher’s sedation is being reduced to start the “waking up process.”

June 16, 2014 – Schumacher’s manager issues a statement saying Schumacher is no longer in a coma.

September 9, 2014 – Schumacher is released from a Swiss hospital and returns home.

Notes

• Michael Schumacher is the winner of a record seven Formula One world champion-ship titles.

• He has 91 Grand Prix wins, more than any other F1 racer, and 155 podium finishes.

• In 2012, Forbes estimated Michael Schumacher’s career earnings at $823 million.