Michael Schumacher’s nephew David broke his back in a scary crash at the Hockenheim DTM event over the weekend.
As the 20-year-old scrapped with Thomas Preining during Lap 6, a collision on Turn 8 sent both cars careering off track and towards the barrier, The Sun reports.
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Schumacher was initally given the all-clear after the accident – but fresh scans show he has broken his spine.
Schumacher and Preining’s crash gave Porsche ace Dennis Olsen big problems.
The Norwegian lost control of his car as he tried to avoid a pileup — whacking into a barrier.
Moments later the impact caused his car to briefly spark into flames.
The red flag was immediately waved, delaying the race.
Proceedings eventually got back underway with a lap behind the safety car.
David Schumacher is son of F1 legend Michael’s brother Ralf, and cousin of Haas star Mick.
Ralf told Motorsport magazine: “When David came home, he was still complaining about back pain.
“It turned out that a lumbar vertebra was broken. This means a break of around six weeks for David.”
Seven-time world champion Michael has been out of the public eye since suffering a severe brain injury in December 2013 during a skiing accident in the French Alps.
He was placed in a medically induced coma until June 2014 and is now back home in Switzerland with his family.
Since the horrifying incident nearly nine years ago, Michael, 53, has lived an extremely private life – with very few updates on his health.
Mick’s F1 future, meanwhile, is up in the air – with Haas yet to renew his contract beyond the end of this year.
Should Haas decide to go in a different direction, Mick could be offered an F1 lifeline by Williams – who are not renewing Nicholas Latifi’s contract.
Asked about speculation, Williams team principal Jost Capito said: “Mick deserves to stay in F1. We’ll see if that happens, but he’s definitely an option for us.”
This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission
