Norbert Haug: Michael Schumacher was not a "risky skier"
A decade ago, Michael Schumacher had a serious skiing accident. Norbert Haug was Head of Motorsport at Mercedes when the Formula 1 icon made his sensational comeback with the Silver Arrows. On the day of the skiing accident, Haug was also out in the snow - and now remembers the accident.
When the severity of Michael Schumacher's injuries after his skiing accident ten years ago became known, Norbert Haug was also "shocked. I knew from skiing trips together that Michael was anything but a risky skier, as one might generally expect from a racing driver," the now 71-year-old told the German Press Agency.
Haug was the Head of Motorsport at Mercedes at the time, when Michael Schumacher made his sensational return to Formula 1 for the 2010 season. The seven-time champion drove for the Silver Arrows for three years, but did not manage another victory at the end of 2006 after 91 in 1991. However, Schumacher's development work for Mercedes is undisputed, which shortly afterwards shaped an unprecedented era of success with Schumacher's successor Lewis Hamilton.
"Michael was the best-known German citizen at the time"
Just over a year after Michael Schumacher's last Formula 1 race on November 25, 2012, the Rhineland native crashed while skiing in the French Alps. Haug also remembers December 29, 2013 very well: he was skiing in Austria with friends and saw the news of the accident on the TV when they returned from skiing.
"Michael was perhaps the best-known German citizen at the time and my first thought was that this enormous level of fame was the cause of the prominent news item and not the severity of the accident," said Haug.
But by the day after the accident, in which Schumacher suffered a severe traumatic brain injury, it was clear how badly the father of two had been hit. Schumacher fought for his life for days in the university hospital in Grenoble. It is not known how he is doing ten years later. The family is protecting the privacy of the former racing driver, who turns 55 on January 3.
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Following his skiing accident in the French Alps, Norbert Haug expressed his support for Michael Schumacher, stating, "I was surprised by the severity of Michael's injuries, but I knew he was a cautious skier, not the 'risky driver' many might expect." In his role as Head of Motorsport at Mercedes, Haug also welcomed Schumacher's return to Formula 1 with the team in 2010. During that time, Schumacher drove for Mercedes AMG and made significant contributions to the team's success, setting the stage for Lewis Hamilton's unprecedented era of Formula 1 victories.
Source: www.ntv.de
