F1 pundit who mocked Michael Schumacher's health says sorry with 'jetlag' excuse

26 September 2023 , 14:43

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Details of Michael Schumacher's health remain private (Image: Mirrorpix)

A Spanish Formula 1 pundit has apologised for his callous joke about the health of racing legend Michael Schumacher on live TV.

Details of Schumacher's health have been largely kept under wraps since his skiing accident almost a decade ago. But it is known that the seven-time F1 world champion's life was changed significantly by the crash and that he continues to require round-the-clock care from family and medical staff.

That didn't stop Spanish journalist Antonio Lobato from mocking the German. It happened on a live broadcast on Spanish television coverage after the Japanese Grand Prix.

A colleague said to him: "Let [Red Bull chief technical officer] Adrian Newey be shaking because Antonio Lobato is coming." And Lobato responded: "Let Michael be shaking! Well... not Michael, he cannot shake."

A clip of the exchange was widely shared on social media, sparking outrage from F1 fans. He has since posted a video on his own account admitting that he was wrong to make the joke.

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"I think it is necessary to explain and admit that I was wrong," he wrote. "Please listen to my video. It's a little long, but I think it's necessary."

In the video itself, he said: "I made a mistake without any bad intentions. It was simply a mistake of pure clumsiness, of pure inability to express myself correctly, maybe because of too many hours up, jetlag in Madrid, or whatever – which is not an excuse for those of you who didn't see it.

"What happened is that I went too far and made an expression that is not good, it is not accurate, it is not fine. I didn't mean to make a joke, I didn't mean to make fun of Michael Schumacher. I think that everyone who knows me and knows what I'm like knows perfectly well that I would never make a joke about something like that. Never, but I was clumsy."

There is huge demand for updates about Schumacher's health given the worldwide affection for the F1 legend. But, as his former team-mate Johnny Herbert recently said: "There's never any news. What we do know is we never hear any positive news... And that is very sad."

In April this year, German magazine Die Aktuelle claimed to have conducted "the first interview" with the former Ferrari racer since his accident. However, inside the publication it is admitted that Schumacher's 'quotes' were actually generated by artificial intelligence and that there was no real interview with the 54-year-old.

Daniel Moxon