Mick Schumacher opens up on F1 icon dad Michael in new book - 'Then he had his accident'
Mick Schumacher was just 14 when his father, seven time Formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher, suffered life-changing injuries in a skiing accident from which he continues to recover today
by Daniel Moxon · The MirrorMick Schumacher says he did "everything my dad did" as a child as he revealed he still uses advice given to him by his Formula 1 legend father Michael to this day.
Michael Schumacher shares the all-time F1 record with Lewis Hamilton as a seven-time champion of the sport. However, in December 2013, just a year after his second and final retirement, he suffered life-changing injuries while skiing in the French Alps.
Details of his condition have been kept under wraps ever since with his wife Corinna fiercely protective of her husband's privacy. Their son Mick was just 14 at the time of his accident and was forced to continue to pursue his dream of reaching F1 without the guiding hand of his father behind him.
He made it to F1 and raced with Haas for two seasons until he lost his seat at the end of the 2022 season. Since then, he has been a reserve driver with the Mercedes team that his father came out of retirement to race for between 2010 and 2012, helping establish the squad on the grid.
Having spent 18 months embedded within the team for his new book 'Inside Mercedes F1', which published this week, author Matt Whyman was given unrestricted access to all of the famous faces who are involved in the project. That included young Mick, and one conversation with the German in which he speaks about his father's influence is included in the book.
"I was a crazy kid - everything my dad did, I did," he told Whyman. "I started karting aged three. I was six when I first went scuba diving. Aged 10 I was skydiving. My dad was always very open to me trying out whatever I wanted to do and racing is all I wanted to do, because I enjoyed it the most.
"He was really supportive and a lot of fun, but could also be challenging. One time in a karting race I braked very late going into a corner and gained a lot of time. When I told him about it, he said, 'Yes, but you should have braked like that in every corner!'
"Whenever he felt like I was not taking it seriously, he would say, 'Mick, would you rather go and play football with your friends? If so, we do not need to do all of this'. I insisted that I wanted to race and he said, 'Okay, then let's do it properly'. So we started doing more European karting and I was getting better."
With one of the sport's greatest ever drivers completely involved in his development, Mick had a key advantage over his rivals as he moved up through the youth ranks. However, that all changed when the accident happened - though his father is still there, he has not been able to call upon his experience of wisdom since.
"Then my dad had his accident," Mick continued. "I started racing in the Formula classes the year after and from then on I had to do it all on my own.
"But I definitely learned a lot of technical points from him that I still use today, as well as from his coaching. And I have always been very resilient. Whenever I got hurt I would jump like on, and I am still like that, in fact."
On top of his duties with Mercedes, Schumacher has been racing hypercars in the World Endurance Championship with the nascent Alpine entry. This season he shared the #36 car with French duo Nicolas Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxiviere, and the highlight was a maiden podium for the project at the Six Hours of Fuji.
However, he has had less joy in his bid to return to the F1 grid, as he remains without a place back in the sport with the 2025 grid almost fully set. He was considered by Audi for one of the seats at their Sauber team, but they this week announced instead that Formula 2 title contender Gabriel Bortoleto of Brazil has been signed to partner Nico Hulkenberg next year.
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