Why Schumacher’s health will remain a secret

The media lawyer for Michael Schumacher’s family says there are no plans to divulge official information about the health of the seven time world champion.

When asked if he knows anything about his former Ferrari teammate’s current medical condition, Felipe Massa told Infobae recently: "Yes, but I’m not the one to say something.

"It is the family who must do that."

Indeed, almost nothing is known about the extent of Schumacher’s serious brain injuries sustained in a skiing accident in France a full decade ago.

And now, lawyer Felix Damm, who began working with Schumacher on media matters in 2008 - long before the accident - says the family has no plans to divulge further details about the F1 legend’s condition.

"It was always about protecting privacy," he told Legal Tribune Online.

"Of course, we discussed a lot about how this is possible. So we also considered whether a final report about Michael’s health could be the right way to do it.

"But that wouldn’t have been the end of it and there would have had to be constantly updated reports. The media would be asking again and again ’How does it look like now?’, one, two, three months or years after the report.

"Then if we wanted to take action against this reporting, we would have to deal with the argument of voluntary self-disclosure," Damm added.

At the same time, he does acknowledge that millions of Schumacher’s fans around the world are upset that they have been in the dark about their hero for a decade.

"Naturally," Damm said. "But I also believe that the vast majority of the fans can deal with it well. They respect the fact that the accident set in motion a process in which private shelter is necessary and will now continue to be observed."