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29 March 2024

Ferrari fans hold hospital vigil on Schumacher's 45th birthday

F1 driver Michael Schumacher sits in a fuel cell car Mercedes F-125 during the press day of the Frankfurt Auto Show IAA in Frankfurt, Germany. The fair opens its doors to the public Sept. 15 to Sept. 25, 2011. (AP)

Published
By Agencies

Ferrari fans held a vigil for Michael Schumacher on his 45th birthday on Friday, gathering outside the French hospital where the seven times world champion continued to fight for his life after a skiing accident.

A few dozen fans assembled outside the Grenoble hospital where Schumacher has been undergoing treatment since Sunday's accident in the resort town of Meribel, in which his head hit a rock when he fell while skiing off piste.

"For us Ferrari fans, we are just like brothers, we are just one," said one fan, Carlo Buschini, who raised his cap and blew kisses in the direction of Schumacher's hospital room.

"We are here to celebrate and to celebrate his battle for life," said Buschini, speaking in Italian.

Supporters of the Scuderia Ferrari Club wore their team's red colours and carried a banner reading "Schumi, All our thoughts for you and your family."

In a blog post on its website, Ferrari said Schumacher was "tackling the most important fight of his life" and sent him "double wishes" for his birthday.

Schumacher is the most successful Formula One driver of all time with a record 91 race victories in a career spanning more than two decades. The German won five successive titles with Ferrari before retiring from the team at the end of 2006.

A less successful three-year comeback with Mercedes ended last year.

Messages of support appeared on Twitter from Schumacher's former team mates.

"Happy Birthday my brother Michael! Be strong!! Be strong!! Don't give up!! We are praying for you," wrote Ferrari driver Felipe Massa.

Another former team mate, Rubens Barrichello, wrote "Keep it up, man ... I know ur (sic) fighting."

On Wednesday, Schumacher's agent said Schumacher was in an artificial coma in stable condition, but no update has been given since then.

SCHUMACHER  LYING IN COMA

Michael Schumacher's family hailed the Formula One legend as a fighter "who will not give up", as he spent his 45th birthday on Friday lying in a coma in a French hospital following a skiing accident.

The retired seven-time world champion slammed his head against a rock on Sunday while skiing in the French Alps and has had two operations to remove bleeding and pressure on his brain.

Prosecutors have opened a probe into the accident, as is common practice in France in such cases, and are exploring the theory that the German was skiing at great speed when he fell.

Schumacher's plight has prompted an outpouring of sympathy from fans and in a message coinciding with his birthday, his family said they were touched by the reaction.

"Following Michael's skiing accident, we would like to thank the people from all around the world who have expressed their sympathy and sent their best wishes for his recovery," the family said in a statement posted on Schumacher's website.

"We all know he is a fighter and will not give up" they added.

There have been conflicting statements about the speed Schumacher was going at the time of his accident at the Meribel ski resort, where he has a property.

The impact split the helmet he was wearing in two, according to a source close to the investigation.

The Ferrari F1 team, with whom Schumacher spent many years, announced it would on Friday hold a "silent gathering" in front of the Grenoble hospital where he is being treated to mark the birthday of their ex-driver, who is being kept in an induced coma.

Schumacher's fan club in his childhood town of Kerpen said any celebration of the birthday would be in bad taste.

Jean Todt, former head of the Ferrari team, visited Schumacher's bedside on Thursday. Schumacher's wife Corinna, their two teenage children, and his father and brother were also there.

The hospital and Schumacher's manager had briefed the press daily since the accident. But they did not do so on Thursday, instead promising to communicate only if there was something new to report.

His media representative, Sabine Kehm, said Wednesday that Schumacher was stable though still critical.

Hospital under intense media pressure

The hospital has been faced with intense media pressure due to the worldwide interest in its famous patient. A vacant lot nearby has been turned into an impromptu parking area for numerous television satellite vans.

Kehm earlier in the week said some people had tried to sneak into Schumacher's room, one dressed as a priest.

The three medical professors treating him -- two neurosurgeons and the head of the anaesthetic and intensive care department -- have also been thrown into the spotlight.

They have appeared at press conferences to explain the latest developments. While they have refused to speculate on how Schumacher's condition may evolve, they say his age and fitness could help with recovery.

Yet questions have emerged over exactly how the accident happened on a small, seemingly innocuous off-piste section of Meribel located between two ski slopes -- one classed as easy and the other as intermediate.

The prosecutors are looking at whether the limits of the pistes next to the area where accident happened were correctly marked, and whether the safety releases on Schumacher's skis operated properly.

German newspaper Bild reported the skis were rented and one of their safety releases did not open at the moment of the accident.

Prosecutors were not expected to make any statement on the investigation until early next week.

Kehm said this week that the former racer was not skiing fast when he fell.

"He seems to have hit a rock as he took a turn. It was a chain of unfortunate circumstances," she said.

She added that Schumacher was with his 14-year-old son Mick at the time of the accident, as well as a small group of friends.

"He was not going quickly, because it seems he helped a friend who had fallen down," she said.

Schumacher, who made his debut in 1991, dominated Formula One, winning more world titles and races than any other driver.

He first retired aged 37 but was unable to resist the lure of the track. In 2010, he came out of retirement but was unable to recover his previous performance and quit for good in 2012.

As an F1 racer, Schumacher was known for his daring overtaking manoeuvres, his at-times almost reckless abandon in the pursuit of victory and his mastery of tricky conditions presented by rain.