A documentary titled Schumacher released in conjunction with the 30th anniversary of his F1 debut does little to assuage our collective curiosity on his current health status, but it does paint a magnificent picture of two very different sides to the German racer — that of family man and F1 icon. The four-person team behind the film — co-directors Hanns-Bruno Kammertöns, Vanessa Nöcker and Michael Wech, and producer Benjamin Seikel — combined old footage provided by Schumacher’s family, hundreds of hours’ worth of material from F1’s archives and interviews with the largest names in sport to tell their story of his colourful career and, more importantly, his life beyond the pit and paddock.
If you have never seen a Formula One race live, you will not be able to fully comprehend the ear-splitting screech of the cars’ engines as they race along the circuit at speeds in excess of 200kph. At 134 decibels, it is a lot to take even for die- hard fans — including those who can tell which engines are from which year based on the rev alone. It is one of the inexplicable aspects of the sport that few people will profess to enjoy, but that still inspires a great deal of excitement.
The same thing could be said about Michael Schumacher. Love him or loathe him for who he was on the track, the German racer is a shining star of the sport and universally hailed as one of its most talented. Having achieved most of his wins with Ferrari after a stint at Benetton, he ended his career with Mercedes, disappearing from the public eye in 2013 after a skiing accident. The only update fans ever got was from his manager Sabine Kehm, who said he was no longer in a coma and would rehabilitate at home. This was in 2014, and there has been no news since.
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