MICHAEL Schumacher’s ex-manager and former close pal has been left shut out from the Formula One legend’s life ever since his horror ski crash.
Willi Weber is often credited with discovering a young Schumacher and kick-starting his iconic career but he now admits he fears he’ll never be able to see Michael again.
Schumacher, 54, considered by many as the greatest driver in F1 history, hasn’t been seen in public since a devastating skiing accident in 2013.
Ever since, any information about the state of his health has been a closely-guarded secret.
His long-term wife Corinna has even created a so called inner circle made up of a selective group of Schumacher’s family and closest friends.
Weber was one of those excluded from Corinna’s handpicked pals with him being barred from knowing how his old friend is doing.
Corinna has been forced to create the private group to avoid rumours spreading or any private information leaking out.
Weber, 82, revealed he has received “no positive news” for the last 10 years.
Michael was one of my best friends, more like a son that I never had. Nobody knows exactly what’s going on with him today
Willi Weber
Telling Cologne Express: “When I think of Michael now, unfortunately I don’t have anymore hope that I will see him again.”
He also recalled how gutted he felt about not being able to see Schumacher in the months following the accident.
“Of course, I regret that very much and blame myself. I should have visited Michael in the hospital. I mourned like a dog after his accident,” he said.
Last month, Weber spoke to German newspaper Bild about his relationship with Schumacher.
He said: “Michael was one of my best friends, more like a son that I never had. Nobody knows exactly what’s going on with him today.”
Weber has been pushed further away from ever seeing Schumacher after he was critical in the press about the family.
He accused them of not being honest to the public about the Schumacher’s condition.
Weber said: “I find it very unfortunate that Michael’s fans do not know about his health. Why are they not being told the truth?”
His remarks continued in July 2022, where Weber once again made headlines by demanding the Schumacher family come out with the truth about his health.
He said he was still “angry” that he had not been kept informed once since the F1 legend’s ski accident.
He told Italian sports publication La Gazetta dello Sport: “I tried hundreds of times to contact Corinna and she didn’t answer.
“They kept me out, telling me it’s too early, well now it’s too late. It’s been nine years. Maybe they should just say it the way it is.”
Weber considered himself a close friend of the family after managing both Michael and his brother Ralf when they first entered the Motorsport scene.
Despite these close ties Weber wasn’t one of the extended family and friends invited to the wedding of Michael’s daughter Gina, 27, earlier this year.
Michael is believed to have appeared for the first time among people outside of inner circle at the ceremony in Spain.
Gina and Iain Bethke tied the knot in Majorca, at the family’s luxury villa, near the upmarket resort of Port d’Andratx.
Schumacher’s attendance has never been confirmed by the family but reports claim he was at the event.
All guests were told to leave their mobile phones at the door with no media allowed near to the villa.
Speaking on the wedding Weber told Bild: “I wasn’t invited, but I wouldn’t have attended the wedding even if I had been invited.
“My health isn’t good at the moment. I wouldn’t have wanted to fly to Mallorca.”
THE INNER CIRCLE
Since 2013, Corinna has been creating a private world around Michael as he continues his recovery.
This includes forming a tight knit group of people allowed to see the icon and those who can’t due to fear of his private life being leaked.
Schumacher is said to have regular meetings with his former teammate Luca Badoer at Ferrari.
As well as his manager Sabine Kehm – who is arguably the closest non-family member to Michael both before and after the accident.
The third member of the circle is Jean Todt who has been close to Michael for over 30 years.
The pair reportedly still watch F1 races together but Todt has admitted in the past that the F1 legend “is no longer the Michael we knew” before the accident.
Michael’s close family such as his son Mick and daughter Gina are also inside the circle along with their partners Iain Bethke and Mick’s fiance Laila Hasanovic.
Ex-Ferrari ace and Michael’s teammate Felipe Massa – regarded as “Michael’s younger brother” – has also been allowed to see his old pal occasionally.
Corinna has also been forced to make the tough decision and cut certain people out of Michael’s life in recent years.
Some of these people include Weber, ex-teammate Rubens Barrichello and ex-F1 team boss Eddie Jordan.
What happened to Michael Schumacher?
MICHAEL Schumacher’s life was hanging by a thread 10-years-ago as medics tried desperately to keep him alive after a tragic skiing crash that left him with horrific brain injuries.
The F1 legend was given the best possible treatment as he was put into a medically induced coma, had his body temperature lowered and underwent hours of tricky operations on his brain.
Back in 2013, the retired seven-time world champion, and his then 14-year-old son set off on the Combe de Saulire ski run in the exclusive French resort of Meribel.
Footage from his helmet camera revealed he was not travelling at excessive speed when his skis struck a rock hidden beneath the snow.
He catapulted forward 11.5ft and crashed into a boulder head first that split his helmet into two and left him needing to be airlifted to hospital for two life-saving operations.
At one point his family were told to brace themselves for the worst case scenario as the situation was much worse than originally believed.
At the time, medics said Schumacher was likely to stay in an induced coma for at least 48 hours as his body and mind recovered.
But the coma ended up lasting 250 days – more than eight months.
After he woke up in June 2014, he was discharged from hospital and sent to his home in Lake Geneva to get further treatment.
Since then his wife Corinna and his inner circle of friends have expertly avoided almost anything leaking out about his health status.
Only small amounts of information have been released including reports that Schumacher was in a wheelchair but can react to things around him.
In 2019, it was said that Schumacher was set to undergo breakthrough stem cell therapy in a bid to regenerate and rebuild his nervous system.
Renowned France cardiologist Dr Philippe Menasche, who had operated on him previously, was set to carry out the treatment that would see cells from his heart go to his brain.
Following the treatment at the Georges Pompidou Hospital in Paris, he was said to be “conscious”, although few other details were given about his state.
