Damon Hill tells Michael Schumacher’s son Mick to ‘block everything out and FORGET his father’s name’ if he is to be a success in Formula One, 10 years on from witnessing tragic skiing accident

Damon Hill has urged Michael Schumacher's son Mick to 'forget' his father's name, ten years after the tragic skiing accident that changed his family's lives forever.

December 29 marks ten years since Schumacher senior suffered a serious head injury while skiing on holiday with his son in the French resort of Meribel, and the Formula 1 legend has not been seen in public since the incident.

The seven-time world champion was put into an artificial coma after the accident and underwent several operations. Since then, his family has rigorously withheld information about his condition.

Schumacher Jr., who races as a reserve for Mercedes in Formula 1, was just 14 years old when his father suffered a serious brain injury and spoke publicly about the incident for the first time in 2017, describing him as “my idol and role model.”

Fellow F1 icon Hill, who had a fierce rivalry with Schumacher Snr on the grid in the mid-1990s, has given his advice to the 24-year-old driver. Hill lost his father – former two-time world champion Graham Hill – when he was a teenager.

The former seven-time world champion has not been seen in public since suffering serious head injuries while skiing with his family in the French resort of Meribel on December 29, 2013.

Mercedes reserve driver Mick was only 14 years old when his father suffered the tragic accident

'My father Graham was also world champion. I lost him when I was 15 years old,” Hill said BIL. “When I heard about Michael's accident and the consequences, I was shocked and shocked. I immediately felt for Mick because your father is your guide.

Two-time world champion Graham Hill died in 1975 when Damon was just 15

'Mick now has to block everything. He has to get to the point where he says, “Forget Michael! Forget everything around you! Forget everything that happened! Forget the name Schumacher!”

'During the learning phase I had no one who really supported me. Only fathers can do this in racing. I don't want it to sound discriminatory. They know, because they have been successful in their cars, what to teach their sons.

'And Mick certainly missed that in those crucial years of development as much as I did. You need that!'

Ralf Schumacher, Michael's younger brother, hinted earlier this month that the 54-year-old will never fully recover from the accident, admitting that “nothing is the same as it was” despite a decade of high-tech medical treatment.

Schumacher and his wife Corinna pictured during a skiing holiday in northern Italy in 2005

Ralf Schumacher (right) has hinted that his older brother Michael (left) may never fully recover

He said: 'I miss the Michael of the past. Life is unfair from time to time.

'Michael has been very lucky all his life. But then there was that tragic accident.'

The 48-year-old entrepreneur and expert added: 'Fortunately, advanced medical science offers many opportunities. However, nothing is as it was anymore.'