Only a year prior to his return to F1, Michael Schumacher had a horrific bike crash in Spain that gave him multiple injuries back in 2009. Fortunately, the German former race driver survived the crash and managed to walk away without any life-hampering injuries despite reportedly falling on his head.
His survival is now credited to his immense neck strength, which every F1 driver usually has because of their years of training in dealing with g-forces. “The only thing that saved him in the crash was the fact that he still had such great neck strength,” said Edd Straw on the Race F1 Podcast.
But it was close to three years since Schumacher last raced in F1, so how did he have immense neck strength? “Just from the fact he was still training because he was still occasionally testing F1 cars,” answers Straw.
Straw further reveals that he had a chance to ask Schumacher about his neck strength playing a role in his survival. However, the seven-time world champion always avoided discussing it, but his responses didn’t suggest that Straw was off the mark.
While Schumacher walked away from any major injuries, he remained under observation at Virgen Arrixaca Hospital in Murcia. The German’s survival indeed shocked many as he was riding a 100cc superbike.
But there were consequences to his performative abilities in the following years. The panel on the podcast also explored how that crash played a part in his underwhelming stint at Mercedes.
Why Schumacher didn’t flourish at Mercedes
Schumacher returned to F1 with Mercedes to kickstart their historic journey in the sport. But individually, his stats at the Brackley-based team weren’t impressive.
In the span of three years, he managed to only get one podium place in Valencia. In comparison, his much less experienced teammate and compatriot Nico Rosberg stood on the podium five times, which also included a race win.
Veteran journalist Mark Hughes blames Schumacher’s bike crash for the German’s struggles at Mercedes, “There were three crucial nerve ways that were absolutely destroyed”, Hughes said before adding that at Schumacher’s age back then, the body doesn’t rebuild at a rapid rate.
“It’s quite possible that he just didn’t have the same feeling within him as he had prior to the injury,” said Hughes. Regardless, Schumacher still played a pivotal role at Mercedes. His ability to work with engineers helped the Silver Arrows map their dominant reign under the following regulations, which is what Toto Wolff has repeatedly claimed.
