Michael Schumacher's Brother Hits Back at 'Nonsense' Accusation About F1 Legend

Michael Schumacher's brother, Ralf, has hit back at a 'nonsense' accusation which involves the Formula 1 legend.

Schumacher, a record-equalling seven-time Drivers' Champion, has not been seen in public since suffering a traumatic brain injury in a 2013 skiing accident.

Few updates are given about the German, with his family deciding to keep details surrounding his condition private.

It is believed that a small inner circle of close friends and family members are granted contact with him, including his former Ferrari team principal Jean Todt.

Todt and Schumacher formed one of the most dominant partnerships in the history of F1 at the Scuderia, with Schumacher winning five Drivers' Championship titles between 2000 and 2004.

Schumacher won his fifth and final Drivers' Championship with Ferrari in 2004 (Image: Getty)

He won his opening two titles with Benetton in 1994 and 1995, before moving to Ferrari at the beginning of 1997 and spending 10 seasons there.

He retired at the end of 2006, before being tempted to return to the sport with Mercedes for the 2010, 2011 and 2012 seasons.

Though Schumacher did not win a race during a comeback, he was plagued by consistent bad luck during the first half of the 2012 season that cost him a significant number of points.

Since his second retirement, Lewis Hamilton has matched his record of seven Drivers' Championships.

And Max Verstappen narrowly missed out on matching Schumacher's record of five consecutive titles when he finished two points behind Lando Norris in the 2025 standings.

Verstappen and Hamilton have broken or come close to a number of Schumacher records (Image: Getty)

In an interview with German outlet F1-Insider, Ralf Schumacher - himself a former F1 driver with Jordan, Williams and Toyota among other teams - gave a fiery response when asked about whether it 'matter[ed]' to him that Verstappen did not equal his brother's record.

"No," he replied. "I couldn't care less. You can't compare these things.

"Michael was and remains the best driver of his time. Of course, the world moves on, new drivers come along - I didn't care about that with Lewis Hamilton, and I don't care about Max either.

"I've often been accused of envy, especially by the English, with the argument that Hamilton theoretically has eight titles and is better than Michael.

"That's complete nonsense. Every driver who is as successful as Hamilton and Verstappen absolutely deserves it."