Ferrari legend Michael Schumacher has signed a special helmet to be worn by fellow Formula One champion Jackie Stewart during a tribute lap at the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday, aimed at raising funds for dementia research.
Schumacher, now 56, has not been seen in public since suffering a severe brain injury in a skiing accident in the French Alps in December 2013.
Organizers revealed that all 20 living Formula One world champions have signed the helmet, which Stewart, 85, will wear while driving his 1973 title-winning Tyrrell to mark the 60th anniversary of his F1 debut.
“It is wonderful that Michael could sign the helmet for this worthy cause, a disease for which there is no cure,” Stewart told The Daily Mail at the Sakhir circuit.
“His wife, Corinna, helped him, and it completed the set of every single champion still with us.”
The newspaper reported that Schumacher had been helped to write the initials “MS” on the white helmet, which features the Stewart tartan that the Scot wore while racing in the 1960s and ’70s.
A spokeswoman for the Schumacher family confirmed to Reuters that the details were correct.
Stewart set up the charity Race Against Dementia in 2016 after his wife, Helen, began to suffer from the disease.
The charity raises and allocates funds to accelerate global research, in keeping with Formula One’s rapid response to problems, to prevent and treat dementia.