Michael Schumacher’s former Benetton team-mate Johnny Herbert admitted that the seven-time F1 world champion is ‘not close’ to being the same person who everyone remembers.
The German legend suffered serious injuries after he fell and hit his head on a rock whilst skiing in the French Alps in December 2013.
Schumacher was placed into a medically induced coma for weeks and spent months in hospital, continuing his rehabilitation at home after he was taken completely out of the public eye.
Former F1 journalist and friend of Schumacher, Roger Benoit, recently claimed his condition is a “case without hope,” when he was asked whether he knew anything regarding the racing icon's current condition.
READ MORE: Michael Schumacher's ex-team-mates and what they've said since F1 legend's tragic crash
Speaking to Grosvenor Sport on the back of Benoit’s comments, Herbert said: “There’s never any news. What we do know is we never hear any positive news.
“That’s the horrible thought that he is still not able to be close to the Michael that we all remember. And that is very sad.”
Herbert, who spent over a decade working on Sky Sports’ coverage of F1 before he was axed at the beginning of the 2023 season, claims that the sport is missing a great pundit in Schumacher.
He added: “I think Schumacher would have made a good pundit. He would have been outspoken. He was always very aware of what you can and can’t do.
“His character was always in your face, telling you directly if you had done something to him on the track. Remember Spa with David Coulthard. He would have been very good.”
Herbert, ever the ally of Schumacher, rubbished claims from Benoit that the German should’ve had his 1994 World Championship taken off of him after he collided with title rival Damon Hill during the final race of the season in Australia.
Benoit had previously told Blick: “The 1994 title should actually be taken away from him because he only won it because of his foul on Damon Hill.”
To which Herbert replied: “I think he was just trying to make a point with the ongoing case Felipe Massa has.
“We could go back over history and say that happened because of this, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna thing in Japan for instance. I remember as a driver always worrying that drivers would start one day to sue each other because of a crash or some such incident.
“Thankfully that never happened. Felipe is the first time when someone has gone to get the world title back.
“The sport loses out. You can’t have a retrospective look back for instance if someone had a cold cup of coffee one morning and that gave him an upset stomach and he could race at his best.”
