With David Schumacher’s spinal fracture, how can we not remember his uncle, Michael Schumacher?
The major positive, is of course the fact that Schumacher’s injury is neither life threatening nor career ending. Yet, it’s one scenario that was likely too close to home for him and his family.
If we’re lucky, when history repeats itself it can be a good thing, but most times it’s downright scary and tragic. That was the case for the Formula 1 legend and his nephew who suffered an injury similar to the one that ended his career and changed his life.
David Schumacher fractures spine in crash during DTM race
According to recent reports, David Schumacher, the nephew of seven-time Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher and son of former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher, suffered a spine fracture on Saturday during a DTM race in Germany. Competing in the final round of the 2022 DTM season at Hockenheim, the 20-year-old faced an extremely scary moment when he collided with Thomas Preining. Following a safety car restart during Lap 6 and Turn 8, the pair were in the middle of a battle for 7th place, when both cars hit the barrier at high velocity.
Cue the chaos, as the crash inadvertently created a chain reaction of problems for other drivers. First in line, was Ricardo Feller who hit the back of Dennis Olsen’s Porsche, which in turn collided with the inside of the barrier and then proceeded to ignite. There was also Nick Cassidy’s Ferrari, which unfortunately couldn’t evade the mayhem. Needless to say, Schumacher was not on the track for the title race on Sunday. A sad end to a decent season from a promising young talent.
What is David Schumacher’s status?
Following the terrible moment, Schumacher was taken to a hospital in Ludwigshafen. Reports indicate, that the driver was initially told he had suffered a scraped knee and bruising to the vertebrae in his lumbar spine. Schumacher’s father would disclose later, however, that his son continued to complain of back pain when he got home and so, they decided to have another examination. It is understood that Schumacher’s injury will not warrant surgery, but as per the results of his second test, he will indeed require time off to recover fully.
“We then decided to visit a hospital in Salzburg to have an MRI. It turned out that a lumbar vertebra is broken,” Ralf Schumacher said. “According to the attending physicians, this means a break of about six weeks for David.” With that, Schumacher has now bowed out of the 2022 DTM season sitting at 28th in the standings.