Michael Schumacher's brother Ralf speaks out on heartbreaking relationship with F1 legend's family

Ralf Schumacher has spoken about his relationship with the family of his brother Michael, the legendary Formula One driver who suffered life-threatening injuries in a skiing accident in December 2013.

The younger brother of seven times Formula One champion Michael, Ralf also competed in the motorsport, and the Schumacher brothers are the only siblings to both win F1 races.

Michael has lived a private life ever since his accident, with wife Corrina protecting her husband's privacy as he receives care at their home near Lake Geneva.

Only a few family and friends see Schumacher these days, with former Ferrari boss Jean Todt saying they watch F1 races together when he goes round to visit.

Ralf recently spoke to German magazine Bunte, where he opened up about his brother's situation, and the relationship he has with other members of the family.

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"Unfortunately, sometimes life isn’t fair. We have to accept it," Ralf said recently, before speaking in glowing terms about Michael's children.

"When I see his children Gina-Maria and Mick, my heart smiles, If someone in the family is looking for my advice, I’m there. They go their own way."

Mick Schumacher has followed in his father and uncle's footsteps by going into Formula One, where he is now a reserve driver for the Mercedes team.

Last year, he posted a tribute to his father nine years on from Michael's accident, and people were moved by Mick's words about his dad in the Netflix documentary, Schumacher.

Mick said: "Since the accident, of course, these experiences, these moments that I believe many people have with their parents are no longer present, or to a lesser extent.

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"And in my view, that is a little unfair. I think dad and me, we would understand each other in a different way now.

"Simply because we speak a similar language, the language of motorsport. And that we would have much more to talk about.

"And that's where my head is most of the time. Thinking that would be so cool, that would be. I would give up everything just for that."

Schumacher's lawyer recently explained why there was no publicly shared report into the F1 legend's condition following his accident.

Felix Damm said that a report was never shared publicly in order to protect private matters of the Schumacher family.

The lawyer explained that the family considered whether releasing a final report would be 'the right way to do this', but decided against it as that 'wouldn't have been the end of it', and there would have been requests for updates as time went by.