With the 10-year anniversary of Michael Schumacher’s tragic skiing accident approaching, his former manager shared some unfortunate news.
Willi Weber, who managed Schumacher during his iconic Formula 1 career, opened up in a recent interview with Cologne Express, saying that he grieved “like a dog” after the accident and that he has no hope of seeing him again.
“When I think of Michael now, unfortunately, I don’t have any more hope that I will see him again. No positive news after ten years,” Weber said.
When asked whether he regrets not visiting Schumacher immediately after the incident, Weber added: “Of course, I regret that very much and blame myself. I should have visited Michael in the hospital. I mourned like a dog after his accident.
“It hit me incredibly hard, you can imagine that. But at some point, the point came when I had to free myself from Michael and let go.
“Even three or four years later, people who recognized me kept asking me: ‘You’re Schumacher’s ex-manager. How is Michael?’ Then I stopped trying to explain and thought, ‘Why doesn’t anyone ask how I’m doing?’
‘’For me, it was clear: ‘Well, now it’s over. This crap needs to get out of my head.’”
Schumacher suffered a serious head injury while skiing at the French resort of Meribel in 2013. He was placed in a medically induced coma and now is cared for by his wife, Corinna, and a medical team at their Lake Geneva home.
Weber, who also managed Schumacher’s brother Ralf during his F1 career, was close with the family and was upset about being “kept out” of Schumacher’s inner circle after the accident.
In an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport in 2022, Weber said that he tried to get in contact with the family, but was either shut out or given the runaround.
“It was a huge pain for me. I tried hundreds of times to contact Corinna and she didn’t answer. I called Jean Todt to ask him if I should go to the hospital and he told me to wait: ‘It’s too early.’
“I called the next day, and no one answered,” he added. “I didn’t expect behaviour like that and I’m still angry about it.
“They kept me out, telling me, ‘It’s too early,’ well, now it’s too late. It’s been nine years. Maybe they should just say it the way it is.
“I could understand the situation initially as I always did everything I could for Michael to protect his private life. But since then, we seem to have only heard lies from them.
“Years after the accident, I said to myself to just look out for the family as I couldn’t change things. He was like a son to me. Even today it hurts me to talk about it.”
There have been little to no updates about Schumacher’s condition since the accident, with the family keeping to themselves.
Earlier this year in an interview with German magazine Bunte, Ralf revealed that he has not been allowed to have much contact with Michael’s family. He said that Corinna has protected the privacy of her husband to an extreme measure, with only immediate family and closest friends knowing any details.
“When I see his children Gina-Maria and Mick, my heart smiles,” Ralf said. “If someone in the family is looking for my advice, I’m there. They go their own way.”