December 29, 2013 lingers within the thoughts of former Ferrari engineer Rob Smedley and the remainder of the F1 world.
At the time, he’d lately departed the Italian staff and was on his solution to Williams, to turn out to be their head of car efficiency. On what seemed to be a secular day, he seemed down at his cellphone and noticed Felipe Massa, whom he was designated race engineer to between 2006 and 2013 at Ferrari, was calling him.
Smedley, 49, spent 9 years at Ferrari, first as an engineer within the check staff, earlier than being given the duty of working so intently with Massa. What might have initially been a pleasant cellphone name, grew to become one he would always remember.
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Nowadays, Smedley is at the moment within the strategy of launching and constructing the Global Karting League, an ever-growing scheme offering a lot wanted intelligence and monetary help to different proficient drivers aspiring to turn out to be the subsequent Schumacher or Lewis Hamilton. As it has all the time been, his life is busy – very busy.
However, practically 10 years after Schumacher hit his head on a rock whereas snowboarding within the French Alps, Smedley nonetheless remembers the day he first came upon concerning the horrific fall.
“I was at home and where I heard it from was a phone call with Felipe Massa,” Smedley stated in an unique interview with Daily Star Sport. “He stated, ‘oh, Michael has had a skiing accident’. I stated, ‘oh okay, has he hurt himself?’ He replied, “oh, I don’t suppose so. I simply heard he’s had a snowboarding accident’.
Do you bear in mind the place you had been once you heard about Michael Schumacher’s accident? Let us know within the remark part under
(Image: AFP through Getty Images)
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“I just thought he kind of broke his leg or something like that. When the news started to filter through, that it was much more serious than that, all we could do, and can do now, is continue to hope and pray for him.”
With the Schumacher household deciding to maintain the seven-time F1 champion’s well being and restoration personal, the sporting world remains to be in the dead of night as to what situation he’s at the moment in. But as a substitute of considering how Schumacher is at the moment doing, Smedley as a substitute chooses to look again on the nice occasions he had with him.
“As an ex-colleague, you can only look back with fondness,” Smedley added. “After such a protracted profession in Formula One, you may look again on sure folks that you’ve labored with. Michael was positively one in every of my favorite colleagues that I ever labored with. I discovered a lot from him.
(Image: Getty Images)
“He was really good fun. On the inside, he had a great deal of humility. He taught me a great deal about work ethic, I worked very closely with him, especially in the testing. He was always trying to find an edge, he was always open to new ideas. He always understood his position within a big organisation like Ferrari and never got beyond that as well – he never got beyond himself.”
Schumacher hit his head on a rock when he was snowboarding in Meribel, situated within the French Alps. Initially, then director of the Meribel resort Christophe Gernignon-Lecomte stated Schumacher was “a little shaken but conscious” after the accident.
However, his situation took a flip for the more serious when he was positioned right into a medically induced coma, earlier than he was introduced dwelling in September 2014. The closest the sporting world has come to an in depth replace on his well being was within the 2021 Netflix documentary ‘Schumacher’ when his spouse Corinna stated her husband is “different, but he’s here.”