Michael Schumacher’s former Ferrari team principal Jean Todt says he still visits the F1 legend “regularly” more than a decade after his life-changing accident. 

Schumacher has not been seen in public since suffering severe brain injuries in a skiing accident in December 2013, with the former racing driver’s family fiercely protective of his privacy in the years since.

Jean Todt still visits Michael Schumacher ‘regularly’

Few details are known of Schumacher’s condition, although a prosecutor in an ongoing court case in Germany revealed in December that the 56-year-old is “partly helpless, in need of care [and] visibly marked by his injuries.”

Prosecutor Daniel Muller delivered the update in court during a trial over an alleged blackmail threat to Schumacher’s family, with a number of former employees of the family accused of attempting to extort €15million by threatening to publish 900 images and 583 videos of Schumacher.

The material purports to show Schumacher in a hospital bed, in a wheelchair, partially dressed and attached to medical equipment, as well as private images of Schumacher before his accident.

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Schumacher enjoyed the most successful years of his F1 career working alongside Todt at Ferrari, with the driver storming to an unprecedented five consecutive Drivers’ World Championships between 2000 and 2004.

His overall tally of seven titles was only matched by Lewis Hamilton, the new Ferrari driver for the F1 2025 season, in 2020.

Todt, a former FIA president, revealed in 2022 that he still watched F1 races in the company of Schumacher, who retired from the sport at the end of 2012 after a three-year comeback with the Mercedes team.

And the Frenchman has revealed that he still often visits Schumacher, with their strong personal bond transcending their shared achievements in F1.

He told Italian publication La Repubblica: “The family has decided not to answer the question [regarding Schumacher’s condition], a choice that I respect.

“I see him regularly and with affection, him and his family. Our bond goes beyond the past work.

“It is part of my life, which today is very far from Formula 1.”

Todt’s comments come after Schumacher was controversially denied an honourary citizenship in his adopted hometown of Kerpen at the end of 2024, sparking a furious reaction from his brother Ralf Schumacher.

Despite being born in nearby Hurth, the Schumacher brothers came to be closely associated with Kerpen – the scene of their earlier exploits in karting – over the course of their F1 careers.

Schumacher responded to the news that his brother was denied the local honour with fury, commenting that he was “simply lost for words.”

In a post on Instagram, he said: “That’s typical of Germany and our politics.

“Nothing surprises me any more about the SPD [Social Democratic Party of Germany]. Performance is apparently no longer important.

“When you think about what my brother has done for Kerpen through his success, I’m simply lost for words.”

Schumacher’s frustration was echoed by Reiner Ferling, the chairman of the Michael Schumacher fanclub, who told German newspaper Kolner Stadtanzeiger: “The way Michael is treated as a person is beneath contempt.

“I’m really angry. The city can’t bring itself to appoint someone as an honorary citizen who has won seven world championship titles for us.”

Dieter Spurck, who has served as the mayor of Kerpen since 2015, defended the process after the final verdict was delivered in December having initially been postponed in March last year.

Mayor Spurck told Bild: “Kerpen does not have a code of honour.

“It is up to the city council to decide on the introduction of a code of honour with corresponding honorary citizenship and its criteria.

“At its council meeting on 19 March 2024, the council of the Kolping City of Kerpen unanimously decided to postpone the matter of awarding honorary citizenship to Michael Schumacher.

“The parliamentary groups and the non-attached city councillors should first reach an intergroup agreement on whether honorary citizenship should be introduced.

“To date, the city administration has not received a new application on this topic from politicians.”

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