Michael Schumacher's nephew breaks spine in horror crash

The Schumacher family is no stranger to the dangers of racing, but that did not ease the anxiety from members of the famous clan when David Schumacher broke his back in a horror crash on Saturday. The incident took place during a DTM race at the Hockenheimring in Germany.

David is the son of former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher and the nephew of racing legend Michael Schumacher. He is the latest member of the clan to get involved in motorsport, alongside his cousin Mick Schumacher, who currently drives for the Haas F1 team.

On Saturday, David collided with Thomas Preining on the sixth lap of the race in Hockenheim, sending both cars off the track. They were followed by both Dennis Olsen and Rolf Ineichen into the barriers, with one of the cars ending up in a ball of flames.

It was a horrific scene that immediately resulted in a red flag. There were tense moments as everyone waited to hear news about the drivers. All four luckily survived, and were taken to the medical centre for treatment and further examinations.

Schumacher was initially sent home to rest but complained of feeling pain on his back. His parents, Ralf and Cora Schumacher, decided to take him to a hospital in Salzburg for an MRI, which confirmed that he had broken a lumbar vertebra.

The 20-year-old is expected to be out for at least six weeks, according to Sun Sport. He is expected to recover without requiring surgery, which comes as a big relief to the family.

An injury to the spine could easily prove to be catastrophic and career-ending, and David is fortunate that the damage to his vertebrae was minor. Unfortunately, the young driver has been hit with a lot of criticism from racing fans and even from Preining, who thinks that the Winward driver caused the crash.