Michael Schumacher family friend shares new emotional hope over F1 return

Michael Schumacher's family friend has expressed hope that the F1 icon will be seen again as he provided an emotional update.

Schumacher has not been seen in public since he was involved in a horrific ski accident while with his son Mick in the French Alps in 2013, a year after he retired from F1.

The German hit his head on a rock and was airlifted to hospital for treatment on a traumatic brain injury.

He had two surgeries and was then placed in a medically-induced coma until June 2014.

Updates on the seven-time F1 champion's situation have been scarce since, with the family maintaining a high level of privacy.

READ MORE: Michael Schumacher spends huge fee for round-the-clock care

But in an new interview, Christian Danner, a friend of the Schumacher family, has spoken about his situation and admitted he wants to see him again no matter what.

"However Michael looks, or under whatever conditions he's alive – I don't know – I want to see him again," Danner said, as per OLBG,

“The fact that he's not appearing anywhere indicates that he's probably not very well. But Formula One's prepared for that. Formula One's prepared for everything.

“He's one of the heroes in the history of Formula One, so if he would be happy and fit enough to come back, no matter the circumstances, in whatever condition, I think Formula One can cope with it easily.

“There are all these rumours he's in Majorca, and they've put him in an estate there, and so forth.

“When I'm speaking to Corinna, she's not mentioning it. When I'm speaking to other people who could know, they don't tell me.

“There are heroes in any kind of sport that have had a problem and have kind of fallen. But once they're alive, I think it does everyone a lot of good (to see them again).

“For me personally, it would be absolutely smashing to see him. I think that feeling is around for virtually everybody in Formula One.”

Michael Schumacher's small inner circle after privacy threats

It has been widely reported that Schumacher wearing his ski helmet is what his saved his life but he is understood to have difficulty communicating and requires constant care.

According to the Daily Mail, only nine people are in Schumacher's inner circle - including his wife Corinna and two children Mick and Gina-Maria.

His former manager Sabine Kehm, former F1 chief Jean Todt and Ross Brawn, who worked with Schumacher as technical director of both Benetton and Ferrari, are also said to have had access to the home in Switzerland.

Elsewhere, it has been reported that Felipe Massa, Gerhard Berger and Luca Badoer have been allowed to visit the 57-year-old.

Last year, Richard Hopkins, formerly Head of Operations at Red Bull and a former close friend with Schumacher around the paddock, predicted that Schumacher would not be seen in public again.

"I understand he has a Finnish doctor, a personal doctor," he told SPORTbible in an exclusive interview.

"I don't think we'll see Michael again. I'm slightly uncomfortable talking about his condition because of how secretive, for the right reasons, the family wants to keep it.

"So I can make a remark, have an opinion, but I'm not in that inner circle. I'm not Jean Todt, I'm not Ross Brawn, I'm not Gerhard Berger, who visit Michael. I'm a long way from that."

The family's focus on privacy has only heightened after a blackmail plot which saw threats to release 'intimate medical images', videos and records from a group who were demanding a sum of £12million was paid.

It later emerged that the family's former security guard Markus Fritsche was said to have committed betrayal and was behind the scheme.

He received a suspended two-year sentence, which outraged the family as they felt the sentence was too lenient.

"We have appealed against what we consider to be the far too lenient sentence for Mr F," a statement from a representative of Schumacher's wife, Corinna, said.

"In my opinion, he was the mastermind behind this. What still shocks me most is the massive breach of trust. He should receive a punishment that deters any potential copycats."