"You knew it was coming!”: Michael Schumacher's former teammate on the F1 legend's 'party trick' in his social life

Michael Schumacher's former F1 teammate Johnny Herbert has divulged a hilarious and bizarre prank that Schumacher used to pull. He also talked about how that would not work in the current time due to a massive shift in social media.

Herbert told Lucky Block a story of how Schumacher and other drivers used to visit the same bar or club after the last race of the season in Adelaide. He explained how the legendary German driver used to prank other drivers by ripping their shirts off from the front.

“The social side was better in my day. The big one we had was in Adelaide after the last race. Everyone went to the same bar or club. Michael would get quite drunk early on. His party trick was to go up to someone and rip their shirt apart with buttons popping everywhere. You knew it was coming!” Herbert said.

Johnny Herbert went on to add that such pranks are no longer possible since they can be recorded by anyone and can go viral on social media. He further stated that while F1 drivers still have fun, they do so behind closed doors and in a more controlled manner.

“It was an easier thing to do back then. Adelaide was the main blow out. What has changed is the advent of social media. It has changed everything. You can’t go anywhere without being papped. They still have fun now but it has to be more controlled behind closed doors,” he added.

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Michael Schumacher's lawyer on his client's privacy

Ever since Michael Schumacher was involved in a near-fatal crash in the Alps in 2013, hardly a few people have seen or heard about the seven-time F1 world champion.

Schumacher's family lawyer Felix Damm stated that Schumacher's family decided to make a final statement about his state and never speak to the media again.

However, since it has been claimed that the media will try to ask follow-up questions about him, the Schumacher family has decided not to publicly reveal the legendary driver's state just yet.

“It has always been a matter of protecting private information. Of course, we had a lot of discussions about how to do that. We also considered whether a final announcement about Michael’s state of health could be the right way to go about it. But that wouldn’t have been the end of it and there would have had to be permanently updated ‘water level reports’. Because as a person affected, it is not in your hands to order the media to draw a line under the matter,” Schumacher's lawyer told LTO.

As of now, only a handful of people outside his family know how Michael Schumacher is and have met him. One of them is former FIA president and Ferrari team boss Jean Todt.