Michael Schumacher's family 'rejected chance to appear in new documentary' with F1 fans still in the dark

Schumacher is considered one of the greatest F1 racers of all time, having won seven titles during his glittering career.

Lewis Hamilton is the only driver to equal those exploits so far, with the Briton winning seven crowns of his own.

The documentary on Schumacher's life comes out today and charts his rise from go-karting star to F1 legend.

However, Web.de's review says the German's wife, Corinna, doesn't appear in the documentary.

Neither does Schumacher's son, Mick, or his daughter Gina-Maria.

They state that this was because the family 'decided for themselves' that they didn't want to be there.

A statement from Mick does appear in the series, with the son talking about driving Schumacher's Mercedes vehicle at Goodwood Festival.

However, the review says the absence of the family 'leaves the impression that something is missing that would have made the two and a half hour work complete'.

RTL presenter Florian Konig is one person who speaks about Schumacher in the series.

And he revealed he doesn't talk about Schumacher's health because he respects the 54-year-old's privacy.

"I don't ask the family at all because I absolutely respect that they only give very sparse information," he said.

"I think that's right."

Meanwhile, former Top Gear driver Perry McCarthy has opened up on the Schumacher he got to know.

He says that while they weren't close enough to be friends, he has nothing but the utmost respect for the F1 legend.

"We've met a good few times," he told Sports Illustrated on behalf of OLGB.

"We weren't in each other's company often enough for me to say I was a friend, but I liked Michael.

"Every time I saw him, I liked to think he liked me.

"I may be wrong on that, but we often had a chat about a few things.

"As a person who's quite outstanding on so many different areas, clearly, he went out to win.

"I think it was the '91 Grand Prix. And of course, he's got the joint record, Lewis managed to equal recently his record of seven world championships. Actually, don't get me started on that, because Lewis probably should have been the eighth world champion, but that's a different situation.

"When Michael set all these records, I don't think anybody ever thought that seven would be equalled, let alone possibly eclipsed.

"But that was Michael, and what he brought to his approach to Formula One was really an evolution of what we'd seen from even the best people before that.

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"And Michael's work ethic was incredible. With all his success, with all his wealth, with all his achievements, even towards the end of his career, he would probably still be one of the last people leaving a race garage at the end of the night, speaking to the engineers constantly saying, 'how can we be better?'

"And his level of fitness, of course, but I think Michael will principally be remembered for... He was able to be completely and absolutely flat out, probably pretty much every single lap.

"It was just relentless. He will be remembered for a few less savoury things.

"You know, he kind of would develop a twitch sometimes when somebody came alongside him."