Former F1 veteran Riccardo Patrese has lifted the lid on how he attempted to do his part in “helping wake up” Michael Schumacher. However, he was turned down in his efforts to aid the recovery of his old team-mate.

Schumacher’s health has been a highly speculated topic of discussion since he suffered a traumatic brain injury following a skiing accident in 2013. And the German great’s family have gone to great lengths to keep his condition private since then. Patrese, 71, partnered an up-and-coming Schumacher at Benetton in 1993 when he was still on the rise in F1. But the duo formed a bond that would last long after the former retired from the sport the following year. And the Italian has now disclosed his own attempts to make even a slight impact in hopefully assisting his friend’s rehabilitation. Patrese revealed how he and Schumacher maintained their friendship through their shared love of football, often competing together in charity matches before the latter’s life was changed for good.

“Then he had the accident,” he told Listofsweepstakescasinos.com. “That is a very sad moment. You know that sometimes if they hear [a familiar voice], some boys wake up, that they recognise a voice.

“I asked [Schumacher’s wife] Corinna if they wanted me to go there and try to help if I could. Well, if I could, I would have, but they said, ‘No, thank you. It’s not the moment. It’s not the moment.’ But that moment has never come.”

It’s clear from Patrese’s comments that he was, and perhaps still is, desperate to lend even the slightest hand in helping his former colleague. However, he wouldn’t be the first of Schumacher’s old inner circle to be excluded from his dramatically changed life.

Speaking to the Irish Mirror in 2022, late F1 icon Eddie Jordan revealed how Corinna also turned him away in his attempts to hold a visit with Schumacher. ‘Schumi’ made his F1 debut for Jordan back in 1991 but was swiftly snapped up by Benetton by the time he next stepped foot on a track.

Even Michael’s brother, Ralf, has said he has lost contact with his sibling’s side of the family since the accident more than a decade ago. The younger sibling told German magazine Bunte in 2023 that he’s always there if someone in Michael’s family reaches out to him, but he has largely had to accept the drop in communication over the years.

When asked what Schumacher might be doing today had he not suffered the accident in 2013, Patrese was uncertain except for the fact it would be “something with action.” He described his former peer as an adrenaline-chaser with whom he shared a “very good connection,” though that bond has since been lost.