All our Thoughts are with Michael Schumacher, one year on

It was twelve months ago today that we all received the shocking news that Michael Schumacher had been injured in a skiing accident. Like all major news events we can remember clearly where we were when we found out and what we felt.

The news was confusing and conflicting at the time, on that chilly December 29th early afternoon, with statements from the manager of the Meribel resort sounding positive, but a ring around of colleagues in Italy and Germany soon revealed a more alarming picture and a year on Schumacher is a still a long way from being the man he was.

And the news around him is just as limited; only this week former F1 driver Philippe Streiff claimed to have had information from Schumacher's wife and his doctor that the seven times champion is starting to recognise his family members and may one day walk again with crutches. But this has been shot down by Schumacher's manager Sabine Kehm and by the doctor in question, Gerard Saillant.

The supply of information from Kehm and the family has been very limited, deliberately so. This leaves room for much speculation, but early on Kehm got control of the agenda by saying that no-one should believe anything they see, hear or read if it wasn't issued by her and the family. So everything else was - and remains - speculation.

in the intervening 12 months, another driver, Jules Bianchi, has received severe head injuries and he remains in our thoughts.

As with Schumacher, the F1 community rallied around to show support for their injured colleague with #forzajules messages to the fore in the closing races of the 2014 season.

Bianchi's father, Philippe, did an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport in which he spoke about his feelings and what it was like to have a loved one in this condition,

"I was very sad when he (Schumacher) got hurt," said Bianchi. "I kept wondering, like every one else, ‘Why don’t they tell us more about how he is?’ But now I’m in the same position I understand. Everyone keeps asking me how Jules is but I can’t reply, there is no answer.

"It’s very serious, but he’s stable. One day he seems a bit better, other days bit worse. The doctors don’t say. The damage from the accident is very bad but we don’t know how it will evolve."

Like Schumacher, Bianchi is another driver with strong connections to both Ferrari, Jean Todt and Gerard Saillant, who attended to the French driver in Japan..

So much has happened in the intervening period since Schumacher hit his head on a rock on a mundane ski run; a man who stole his medical records has committed suicide, Schumacher stayed in a coma for over six months, then 'woke up' gradually and was transported back to his home in Gland, Switzerland, where he has round the clock care.

Only a handful of people around him know his current condition and the outlook for his future.

We wish him - and Jules - the very best.