After another video – a poignant one (directed, incidentally, by Richard Stanley, son of Louis Stanley of BRM fame), describing the way in which road safety is becoming an ever more terrible problem in the developing world – the press conference side of the day is a wrap. Even so, as Michael leaves the stage, he’s besieged by local reporters, their microphones and flashguns thrust into his face 19 to the dozen. Just like Sunday lunchtime in any grand prix paddock, in other words. Predictably, therefore, he’s quite unfazed. The questions, though, aren’t easy to bat away – nor a cinch to answer.
“Michael, would you say you’re an appropriate ambassador for road safety, when you’re all about driving flat-out?”; “Mr Schumacher, sir, you’re a professional speeder, so why are you banging on about road safety and all that?”; “I bet you drive like the wind on public roads, Michael, don’t you?”; “You do so, so you do”; etcetera.
“Road safety is a vital concern for everyone,” he says quietly. “As a professional racing driver, I demand and expect the highest possible safety standards in my racing car and on the track. We should all expect the same attention to safety in our cars and on our roads.” Which, I think you’d have to admit, is a damn’ good answer.
Afterwards, after the regulation seatbelt simulator photo-op, I ask him to expand on what he feels about the apparent conflict between his chosen profession and an initiative that necessarily includes the message that speed kills. “Honestly, I think it’s a good thing to be part of,” he says. “I was told by one of the Irish politicians present [Brennan] that the media turn - out was much higher as a result of my attendance. And I think that if you’re lucky enough to be famous, then it’s great if you can use your fame, and the power your fame gives you, to draw attention to things that really matter. Anyway, F1 is pretty safe. Crashes are inevitable, yet deaths and injury are now very rare . ”
Well, he would say that, wouldn’t he? – but that doesn’t mean he’s wrong. In many ways F1 is one of the most sophisticated safety cultures in the world – not just because of the high level of tech and skill, but because of the engineered-in acceptance of the inevitability of occasional component failure and/or human error. From a passive safety point of view, in other words, F1 is a paragon. Drivers now routinely jog back to the pits from shunts that would have killed them outright 10 years ago.
Michael, Max, David, Alan, Richard, Sabine, Coops and I jump into a chauffeur-driven minibus. Our next stop is the Dáil (the Irish parliament) and a meeting with the taoiseach, Bertie Ahern. The traffic is heavy, and an impatient silence pervades the bus.
We’re getting late. Michael is sitting ahead of me. He looks pensive, his brow furrowed.
“Look, I’m a father of two,” he says suddenly, turning round in his seat. “So, yes, I tend to relate things to my own life and my own family. That video was very affecting – all those stories about kids being killed on the roads in developing countries. I was shocked, yes. I hadn’t heard all those statistics before. I wasn’t aware that there were quite so many road deaths in the world. And as people like Ari shared their own personal experiences, yes, of course I was deeply affected.
“Whether I’m a racing driver or not, I’m also a father. And, just like with the charity work I do, I think that gives me a greater motivation to do things that, you know, make a difference. And I know I’m fortunate, and that my kids are fortunate. And so you compare yourself with others who are less fortunate, and it makes you want to change things, to make a difference.”
Is this the same man who did what he did to Damon Hill at Adelaide in 1994, or to Jacques Villeneuve at Jerez three years later? Yes… and no. No because that was then… and this is now. And this Schumi, the been-there-done-that man of the world who is approaching his fifth decade, is a calmer animal. Not slower, but maybe just a little more considered.
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