Former Ferrari team principal and FIA president Jean Todt has spoken about the bond he shares with the Schumacher family, which he visits regularly.
The 78-year-old was Michael Schumacher’s boss at the Italian team during its run of six successive constructors’ championships from 1999 to 2004, with the German picking up five consecutive F1 drivers’ titles in that span.
The pair remained close after Schumacher’s first retirement from F1 at the end of 2006, forming a close friendship that has endured outside the walls of the paddock.
“I see him and his family regularly and always with affection,” Todt told Italian publication La Repubblica in a recent interview.
“Our bond goes beyond the working relationship of yesteryear. It is part of my life, a life that today takes place far beyond Formula 1.”
Since the seven-time drivers’ champion sustained a severe brain injury in a skiing accident in December 2013, following which he was placed in a medically-induced coma for several months, the family has kept his condition private.
It is a decision Todt takes seriously. “The family has decided not to answer questions about his condition,” the Frenchman added. “That is a choice I respect.”
A misjudged character
Schumacher raced in F1 from 1991 to 2006 and again from 2010 to 2012. Throughout his career, the 91-time grand prix winner was criticised for controversial actions on track and his self-assured demeanour off it.
However, to Todt, the ex-Jordan, Benetton, Ferrari and Mercedes driver’s character was often misjudged during his time in F1.
“Michael is a friend, a brother and he made history,” said Todt, referencing Schumacher becoming the first driver to claim six – and then seven – F1 drivers’ crowns, a mark that was matched by Lewis Hamilton in 2020.
“He may have come across as arrogant, but instead he was very shy.”
