Michael Shumacher

[mike p]

I know there's lots of F1 fans here. I'm sure many have heard about this? Hope for a full recovery.

Mike

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/01/sport/motorsport/michael-schumacher-accident/

[Bruce K]

Fingers crossed but it does not sound promising

BK

[Gsinill]

Have been following this on the German "Der Spiegel" website since Sunday.
Even though it does not look good yet, it sounds like his condition did improve slightly.

Hoping for him and his family for a full recovery.

GS

[carpediemracing]

Someone posted "cautiously optimistic" on either Jalopnik or some related site. I feel the same way. It seems though that he may not be the same and he certainly will be more vulnerable to future head injuries if/when he recovers.

Personally I wasn't a fan of M Schumacher (I even rooted for his brother more than him) but I realized when the Missus yelled in shock that "Schumacher is in a coma!" that I am a fan of him in the whole scheme of F1.

Through F1Technical I saw this link. The doc explains things really well and he's a former F1 doc so he understands the whole picture. I found his observations to be relevant to cycling as well since we have "lower speed" (aka not 300 kph) helmeted impacts, just like Schumacher did.

http://formerf1doc.wordpress.com

[rice rocket]

I have high hopes as well, induced comas are common in brain injuries. He has good celebrity status too, so they'll keep a watchful eye on him.

[slidey]

Schumi was my first intro to F1 in 1994, when I was a wee boy. Consequently I have been following him very closely since then, and loved the Mika Hakkinen - Michael Schumacher battles. I really hope he gets out of this mess in as best a manner as possible, fingers crossed.

[Shoeman]

It is hard to believe he made it through all those years in F1, especially in the 94-96 years with those ill-handling cars. No major injuries then retires a motorbike wreck, retires again & now this. Not a huge fan but a very talented driver non the less. Praying he makes it !!!!!!!

[thwart]

Ah, the press… :butt:

"With doctors reluctant to give a prognosis on injured race Michael Schumacher, one journalist apparently tried to get answers for himself by dressing up as a priest in order to get into the hospital room where Schumacher is lying in a coma," The Wire writes. "The man was escorted off the premises when his cover was blown."

[rounder]

Hope he makes it out of this ok. Great Formula 1 driver. It seems insane that someone like that would have a bad wreck on a ski slope. Best wishes Michael.

[Auk]

Retirement is the cause of more deaths than any other cause.

[goonster]

Retirement is the cause of more deaths than any other cause.
He did struggle valiantly, but Schumi did eventually lose the fight against retirement.

[bluesea]

Haven't seen Michael Shumacher race much, being that I basically lost my rabid interest in F1 after the '94 San Marino GP (which he won). But I understand.

[rccardr]

We saw him dominate in Monaco in 2001. An absolutely amazing driver and a real game changer. All hopes for a full recovery.

[slidey]

The man turns 44 today as well. There have been at least 40 such better days in his life, but hopefully there will be a lot more in the future.

[slidey]

Being too young to have watched Senna actually race, I've since followed his career/philosophy through the many multimedia outlets. The man was a pure genius, and in every regard of F1 - unparallelled but hampered perhaps by his own drive!

If you haven't already watched Senna - The Right to Win (http://youtu.be/ShPc3nY5m5w), you should as you will like it.

Haven't seen Michael Shumacher race much, being that I basically lost my rabid interest in F1 after the '94 San Marino GP (which he won).

[fuzzalow]

Schumacher was a fierce competitor who sullied his own reputation by tactics that dinged his own image as a champion. The 3 that come readily to mind are the twice incidents in driving into the sidepod of Damon Hill & Jacques Villeneuve's cars and Schumacher's on-the-racing-line EZ-Park during qualifying at Monaco. There were many others.

Schumacher brought the right team into Ferrari at a time where the Italian team could not get out of its own way. Popularized the strategy of "undercut". This meant to pass your opponent during pit stops rather than on the track because F1's reliance on aerodynamic downforce meant a driver could not follow a rival closely enough to execute a passing maneuver while racing on track.

Schumacher rode a wave of fiscal largess and political support between the FIA & Ferrari that existed in F1 during the latter part of his 5 consecutive World Championship seasons: unlimited testing; Ferrari's enormous racing budget; Bridgestone's custom Schumacher-only tires in making Schumacher the sole anointed driver for winning Bridgestone's tire war with Michelin. No mistake, he was a great driver but not as great as his sheer overwhelming dominance would suggest. The superiority of the Ferrari/Bridgestone racing package made many of his wins fairly easy and thinly contested.

Schumacher's qualifying session battles with Mika Hakkinen were some of the most thrilling moments in modern F1.

His return to F1 damaged his image, his young teammate Rosberg regularly bested him and he had some embarrassing senior-citizen driver error crashes. Times had changed, he was no longer the driver entire corporations and even his own racing team could devote all their resources into just him to bring home victories. He made the podium only once during his 3 seasons with Mercedes.

May he have a speedy recovery and an uneventful return to normalcy.