Michael Schumacher’s former team principal at Ferrari, Stefano Domenicali, has spoken about the star nearly five years since his skiing accident. The Italian was speaking on weekly online Formula One podcast Beyond The Grid. It’s been nearly five years since Schumacher had his skiing accident in the French Alps in December 2013 when he hit his head on a rock.

He was placed in a medically induced coma after his accident and underwent two life-saving operations at Grenoble Hospital in France.

In 2014, he was taken out of the coma but his condition since the accident has been shrouded in secrecy.

Official updates from his family are few and far between.

The last report, according to French Magazine Paris Match, was that Schumacher still cries.

Domenicali has now provided an insight into working with the race driver legend during Ferrari’s most successful period in the late 90s and early 00s.

He joined Ferrari as team manager in 1996 before becoming Sporting Director in 2002.

He became director of the team in November 2007.

Schumacher won five of his seven world titles during Domenicali’s time at Ferrari.

Domenicali was impressed with Schumacher’s dedication to the team and its engineers.

He said: “He never spoke a bad word about the team, even if a mistake was made.

“Internally he was sometimes quite strict, and sometimes also scolded that such a thing cannot happen. But never to the outside.”

Though despite this, Domenicali was blown away by his talent.

He said: “He was so focused that it immediately became clear to me how big the difference was to the others, both in terms of work ethic and also in terms of talent.”

The Italian added: “When racers pull down their visers, they live in their own universe, and when the tension gets too big, they’re just human.

“It is humane to believe in such situations that you can push the limits.

“But such drivers are far too intelligent not to understand what they have done. Maybe they just do not admit it to others.”

While initially not coming out of his shell when he moved to Ferrari in 1996, Domenicali and Schumacher grew close.

Domenicali said: “He was a bit cold at first, he had a different mentality, but the relationship grew with each passing day.

“Michael had such charisma, it went far beyond that of a driver.

“Step by step, he also understood that his role was more than that of a driver.”