Michael Schumacher's friend has said it is a "shame" fans never got to see the other side to the Formula One legend.
During spells at the likes of Jordan, Benetton, Ferrari and Mercedes, Schumacher won seven F1 world titles, as well as claiming 91 Grand Prix wins, 68 pole positions and 77 fastest laps.
In 2013, shortly after his retirement from the sport, Schumacher was involved in a life-altering skiing accident in the French Alps with his son Mick.
He was placed in a medically-induced coma until June 2014 after suffering head trauma and 12 years on, has not been seen in public since.
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Understood to have difficulty communicating, Schumacher receives care from his wife Corinna at their home, where only a small amount of people are allowed to visit in a bid to maintain a high level of privacy.
The German's racing legacy will continue to live on but Richard Hopkins, the former Head of Operations at Red Bull who became close friends with Schumacher and had regular coffee chats around the paddock, wishes fans got to see a different side to him.
Schumacher is viewed as the relentless, mentally bulletproof driver who gave everything on the track but Hopkins says there was a softer side to him when his helmet wasn't on.
And he wonders how that would have been captured if he was around for the excellent 'Drive to Survive' Netflix special which gave insight into the personalities in F1 and brought in a raft of new fans.
“I was thinking how Michael would fare in the era of Netflix and Drive to Survive," Hopkins said, speaking to SPORTbible, via bet on La Liga.
"I think it would have been great. We probably didn’t see the full other side of Michael.
“On television, he was always personable, always happy to be interviewed. If he’d won, he was confident. If he hadn’t, you saw a different side. Outside of that, like with many people, there was another side.
“When he took the helmet off, shoulders dropped, he was a good guy. When he put the helmet on, there was red mist, as with many drivers, and sometimes that was intense.
“He had the ability to be a different Michael without the helmet. He had a great wife, great family, and great friends. If he were a complete idiot, he wouldn’t have all that.There was a human side to him. That’s why it’s a shame we never saw him in Drive to Survive. People who knew him knew that side, but millions saw him in a one-dimensional way. With something like that, you’d have seen the other dimensions – a very human, very good human.”
Michael Schumacher's friend names driver he would relish facing
Drive to Survive gave fans closer access to Max Verstappen, who won four titles in a row in a dominant run before finishing two points behind 2025 champion Lando Norris.
He won six out of the last nine Grands Prix and was named Driver of the Year in the F1 principals vote.
And with his similar style, Hopkins believes a showdown between Verstappen and Schumacher would have been one that he relished.
"They’re very similar," he stated on Schumacher and Verstappen comparisons.
"They’re the most similar on the grid at the moment.
“Any professional driver wants to put themselves up against the best, because that’s how you measure yourself. That’s why inter-team battles matter, because you’re in equal machinery and that’s how you judge performance.
“Putting Michael and Max in the same machinery and watching them battle would be amazing. Max is the best driver on the grid at the moment. He didn’t win the championship this year, but he gave it a bloody good go.
“There are drivers who’ve won championships where we struggle to remember those moments, but with Max and Michael, those moments are there. Seeing them head-to-head in the same team would definitely create some sparks.
“I think they would have had beef around the paddocks. You wouldn’t want to be the team boss. That would be one to manage.”
Hopkins cannot remember his last conversation with Schumacher, suspecting it was likely at a test session as Schumacher's popularity and increased focus saw things become "diverted away" and limited their interactions to nods and glances in the paddock.
He is visited by a small group of people, which includes the likes of ex F1 chief Jean Todt and former Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn, as well as drivers Gerhard Berger, Felipe Massa and Luca Badoer.
The close circle is set and a greater distance was created after a blackmail plot which included former security guard Markus Fritsche committing a monumental violation of trust and threatening to release intimate medical records unless a sum of £12 million was paid.
"There are only two, three, four people that we know of. There are probably others," Hopkins explained.
"Michael had friendships with people who weren’t owners of Formula One teams or racing drivers, so I’m sure there are people who probably see him that we just don’t know about, because we don’t know their names."
He continued: "I’m sure he’s not behind armed guards at his bedroom door. But there are fairly strict rules, and we don’t talk about those rules.
"I’m not going to try and visit Michael, because I know that’s not going to happen, and I’m one of thousands in that position of knowing it’s not possible.
“If you’re Jean Todt, your friendship is at the point where that’s okay. I don’t think there’s a written rule or a list of names. It’s just one of those known things.”
Topics: Formula 1, Michael Schumacher, Spotlight
Josh Lawless