Michael Schumacher memorabilia fetches over £2m at auction after devastating update on F1 icon
Michael Schumacher memorabilia has fetched over £2m at an auction
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Michael Schumacher fans spent more than £2million on memorabilia relating to the F1 icon at an auction on Tuesday.
The German hasn't been seen in public ever since a devastating skiing accident in December 2013.
RM Sotheby's auction 'Full Throttle - The Schumacher Collection' put 159 items under the hammer earlier this week.
And it ended up raising a huge total of £2,081,341, more than £600,000 over the initial estimate.
Michael Schumacher's helmet (not pictured) was auctioned off at a special event
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Fans were able to buy old helmets and racing suits, as well as bottles of champagne.
The most-expensive item sold was a signed helmet Schumacher wore during his 2003 title-winning season when he raced for Ferrari.
This object was sold for £96,000, with the German previously sporting it when he finished eighth at the 2003 German Grand Prix.
A red suit Schumacher wore at the Canadian Grand Prix that same year fetched a huge £62,000.
And £20,160 and £6,000 was spent on an autographed rear wing end plate and an empty bottle of Moet champagne.
While the bottle was empty, it had been signed by F1 icons Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost.
A spokesperson from RM Sotheby's said, per the Daily Mail: "From the moment Michael Schumacher first laced up his race boots and pulled on a helmet, the gifted racer was nothing short of a phenomenon.
"A force of nature who would go on to dominate the highest echelons of competitive motorsport."
News of the success of the auction comes after a close friend of Schumacher's provided an update on his condition.
Roger Benoit, an F1 journalist who would sometimes smoke cigars with the German legend, said Schumacher was a 'case without hope'.
"No," he told Blick when asked if he was able to provide an update on Schumacher and his condition.
"There is only one answer to this question and that is what his son Mick gave in one of his rare interviews in 2022: ‘I would give anything to talk to dad’.
"This sentence says everything about how his father has been doing for over 3500 days. A case without hope.”
The accident involving Schumacher took place in 2013.
The F1 hero went to France with his then 14-year-old son Mick, with the pair descending the Combe de Saulire together.
Tragedy struck when Schumacher crossed an unsecured off-piste area between Piste Chamois and Piste Mauduit.
He ended up hittig his head on a rock, though would have died if he hadn't been wearing a helmet.
Schumacher sustained serious, life-changing injuries.
He was initially put into a medically induced coma and returned home in 2014 after showing signs of improvement.
Schumacher's family have been secretive with his condition in the years since. Wife Corinna, speaking in 201, said he was 'the same but different'.
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F1 icon Michael Schumacher hasn't been seen in public since 2013
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In a Netflix documentary, she stated: "I miss Michael every day. But it's not just me who misses him.
"It's the children, the family, his father, everyone around him.
"Everybody misses Michael, but Michael is here - different, but here. He still shows me how strong he is every day."