A Formula 1 legend: Michael Schumacher © AFP / FRED DUFOUR
Mick Schumacher’s new dog also bears the name for the new sporting beginning. “Indie” is the name of the fluffy four-legged friend, and Mick Schumacher will compete in the IndyCar Series next year.
December 23, 2025
From: dpa
“I’m looking forward to 2026,” the 26-year-old wrote alongside the photos with his new pet. Mick Schumacher wants to make a fresh start in the USA and give his racing career a fresh boost. Sister Gina and mother Corinna, on the other hand, become part of one ZDF-Documentation that deals with the two’s great sporting passion: reining, a discipline in western riding. Mother and daughter are among the best in Europe or even in the world.
Last summer, just a few weeks after the birth of her first daughter, Gina Schumacher won the team and individual world championship titles at the ranch in the Swiss community of Givrins, which belongs to the Schumachers and bears Corinna Schumacher’s initials CS.
The day that changed everything
A family dedicated to sport and in the public eye. A family whose life changed suddenly twelve years ago when father and husband Michael Schumacher had an accident while skiing in the French Alps.
Mick Schumacher wants to relaunch his career. © AFP / SAEED KHAN
A year earlier he had ended his Formula 1 career. His career data was unique at the time, Michael Schumacher was the sole record world champion with his seven titles. Even more, he was a hero for his fans and an idol for today’s pilots. Since the severe traumatic brain injury and the days-long struggle for survival, there has only been one Michael Schumacher for his family and his closest friends. Michael Schumacher has not appeared in public since the fall on skis on December 29, 2013.
Family protects Schumacher’s privacy
“It was always about protecting private matters,” family lawyer Felix Damm once explained in an interview with Legal Tribune Online. Michael Schumacher did this for his family before his accident, and the family has been doing it for Michael Schumacher since the accident. “The decision to protect privacy from the public was made in Michael’s interest. It is the family’s right to deal with it in the way that is best for them,” Schumacher’s manager Sabine Kehm explained several times.
Corinna Schumacher, wife of Michael Schumacher. © AFP / JOE KLAMAR
Blackmail attempt: family should pay 15 million euros
But the first days after the accident in the Méribel ski resort showed how far people would go to get information about Michael Schumacher. A journalist even disguised himself as a priest to get to the famous patient.
In 2014, an employee of the Swiss rescue service Rega was found dead in his cell in the Zurich police prison. There was no evidence of third-party influence. He was suspected of having offered Schumacher’s medical files to the media. The family was also exposed to an attempt at blackmail: They had to pay 15 million euros, otherwise private pictures and videos of Michael Schumacher would be published on the darknet. The 54-year-old main defendant from the Konstanz bouncer scene was sentenced this year by the Wuppertal district court to three years in prison for attempted serious extortion. A former security employee of the Schumacher family received a two-year suspended prison sentence for aiding and abetting, and the son of the main defendant received a six-month suspended prison sentence. His judgment is already legally binding.
What the blackmail attempt changed
“The breach of trust has led the family to be more distant from the people who work for them and to be more cautious,” said Sabine Kehm as a witness in the appeal process regarding the blackmail attempt at the Wuppertal regional court. “I personally find it extremely perfidious that people want to exploit the suffering in such a way, so it is clear that the family is being tougher on their people,” said Kehm.
Lewis Hamilton knows and appreciates Michael Schumacher. © AFP / FRED DUFOUR
The legal dispute is not over yet. The lawyer for the Schumacher family has filed an appeal, as has the representative of the main defendant. It now becomes a matter for the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court. All of this accompanies the family into the new year. Michael Schumacher will be 57 years old on January 3rd. The accident happened shortly before his 45th birthday. Since then, Formula 1 has also changed.
Michael Schumacher’s records, once seen as records for the ages, have been broken or set, most notably by Lewis Hamilton. After Schumacher’s resignation, the Brit took over his cockpit at Mercedes. Hamilton won six of his seven titles with the Silver Arrows and drew level with his predecessor after World Cup triumphs. With 105, he has significantly more race wins than Michael Schumacher (91), and with 104 pole positions he is clearly ahead of his record world champion colleague (68). For a year now, Hamilton has been trying to achieve further World Cup glory like Schumacher did at Ferrari.
“Their stature, their humility and their honesty say far more about Michael’s values than I ever could.”
Lewis Hamilton about Gina and Mick Schumacher
“When it comes to Michael’s legacy, for me he is primarily as a person and less as a competitor,” wrote Hamilton in the foreword to the illustrated book “World Champion Car Michael Schumacher”: “It’s not about titles or trophies, but about the family that Corinna and he founded together.” Hamilton, who also knows Gina and Mick Schumacher, emphasized with regard to the two of them: “Their size, their modesty and their sincerity say much more about Michael’s values than I ever could.”
And so Mick Schumacher will compete in his new start in the IndyCar Series with a homage to his father and family and will wear starting number 47 as he did during his two Formula 1 years. 4 is his favorite number. “The 7 stands for my father. The 4 and the 7 together form a unit of both of us. And the fact that our family’s birthdays add up to 47 feels like a confirmation of this choice to me,” explained Mick Schumacher.