“He had an official hangover”
Kai Ebel remembers record champion Michael Schumacher
Kai Ebel interviews Michael Schumacher at the US Grand Prix in 2000.
© imago images/Hoch Zwei
Former Formula 1 reporter Kai Ebel has shared memories of Michael Schumacher – including a hungover ride in a Ferrari.
On December 29, 2013 – almost exactly ten years ago – the Formula 1 champion had an accident Michael Schumacher (54) skiing in Méribel. On this occasion, former Formula 1 reporter Kai Ebel (59) remembered his time together with “Schumi” on and off the racetrack in an interview with “Stern”. Ebel, who reported on the premier class of racing for the Cologne private broadcaster RTL from 1992 to 2021, tells of a trip in the Kerpener’s Ferrari, during which Schumacher was clearly struggling with the effects of the previous night.
Kai Ebel: “Michael was visibly under the weather”
At a Ferrari event that Ebel moderated, the journalist got into a Ferrari with Schumacher, with the Formula 1 record world champion having “an official hangover.” “It’s just that Michael had partied wildly the evening before and was visibly under the weather,” the sports presenter remembers the events at the time.
Nevertheless, Schumacher switched off “all driving aids” and suddenly made “a 360-degree turn” with his car – and Ebel in it. He thought the driving maneuver was a show performance by the professional racing driver. But: “Michael looked over and then just said: ‘I must have lost control there.'”
“But you don’t forget that when the best racing driver in the world takes you with him and then makes a complete driving mistake,” sums up Ebel.
Michael Schumacher was a “friendly, classic Rhinelander”
Ebel met the future record champion for the first time in May 1992 in Barcelona, when the RTL broadcaster began reporting on Formula 1. Ebel always perceived “Schumi” as “very straightforward and open”. “A friendly, classic Rhinelander. You’ve heard the typical singsong from the area here for a long time. I think it’s totally okay. Why should you deny your roots?” says the sports expert looking back.