Schumacher's lawyer explains why 'final health update' was rejected

Since his skiing accident in December 2013, health updates on Michael Schumacher's condition have been closely guarded by his family.

What is known is that the seven-time Formula 1 World Champion was placed in an induced coma in a hospital in Grenoble after falling and hitting the back of his head on a rock whilst skiing off-piste and that he had suffered head trauma as a result.

The German was gradually brought out of the coma at the end of January 2014 and returned home in May of that year to begin the next stages of his rehabilitation process. Since then, updates on his condition have been rare.

Friend and former Ferrari Team Principal Jean Todt has explained that he had watched races with Schumacher on TV, while wife Corinne explained in the Netflix documentary Schumacher that "Michael is here, but different."

Always protective of his family and private life during his career, Schumacher's family are now protecting his privacy.

That can sometimes be difficult with fans keen to know the condition of the 91-time Grand Prix winner, with one magazine even going as far as creating an AI-generated 'interview'. The editor was promptly sacked.

Felix Damm is Schumacher's long-time press lawyer, and he has now spoken of the questions the family has faced about the information it releases.

"It has always been about protecting private matters," Damm explained to German publication, LTO, the veracity of which has been confirmed to RacingNews365.

"Of course, we discussed a lot about how this is possible. We considered whether a final report about Michael's health could be the right way to do this.

"But that wouldn't have been the end of it and there would have had to be constantly updated reports, because media could pick on such a report again and again and ask: "And what does it look like now", one, two, or three months or years after the message.

"If we then wanted to take action against this reporting, we would have to deal with the argument of voluntary self-disclosure.

"I was amazed at how much the media reports even though there is no reliable information; how much you can knit supposed stories together from zero information. It went so far, one simply invented an AI-generated interview and put it on the front page.

"I believe that the vast majority of fans can deal with [Schumacher's condition well] and also respect the fact that the accident has set in motion a process in which privacy is necessary and will now continue to be observed."