Former Team Principal Stefano Domenicali made the revelations on the weekly online F1 podcast ‘Beyond The Grid’, in which he provided an insight into working with the motor racing legend during what was Ferrari’s most successful period.
Mr Stefano joined Ferrari as team manager in 1996 before becoming Sporting Director in 2002 and finally director of the F1 team in November 2007.
He was central to Michael Schumacher’s success in F1, who won five of his seven world titles during Mr Stefano’s time at Ferrari.
Speaking about Schumacher’s behaviour and personality, he said: “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.”
Remembering when Schumacher joined Ferrari from Benetton in 1996, Mr Domenicali describes him as already being “a great” and an “incredible driver”.
The former team boss 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.”
Mr Domenicali remembers Schumacher as not always being the most outgoing, describing him as initially being “cold”.
Michael Schumacher: The F1 legend has been described as “far too intelligent” and a “perfectionist” (Image: GETTY)
But the F1 legend began to come out of his shell more, showing charisma that “went far beyond that of a driver”.
He added the closer Schumacher became to the Ferrari team as a whole, the more relaxed the superstar became.
Mr 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.”
Michael Schumacher: Domenicali provided an insight into working with the motor racing world champion (Image: GETTY)
But Mr Domenicali admits Schumacher’s personality changed once he stepped out into public and away from the four walls of the Ferrari team garage, taking a more guarded approach.
He said: “For example, he never wanted to speak Italian in public, he was too perfectionist to accept his small grammatical mistakes.
“But he was much more relaxed among the team. Outside of the team he always put up a shield.”
Other than his supreme motor racing driving ability, Mr Domenicali classes Schumacher’s attention to detail as one of greatest strengths.
He remembers how the sporting great had a unique ability to recognise potential for improvement in every detail and would develop it together with the Ferrari team engineers.
Michael Schumacher: Domenicali praised his attention to detail and improvement (Image: GETTY)
Schumacher was the first driver to adjust the break balance of a car from curve-to-curve in order to add that vital split second to his lap times.
Mr Domenicali said: “Michael could close his eyes and run a round in super slow motion in his head to analyse every single image of the round, and Michael was able to find little things to improve in every single image.”
But Ferrari’s former manager was most impressed with Schumacher’s dedication to the team and its engineers, refusing to publicly blame them for mistakes when many might have pointed the finger of blame at them.
“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.”
Michael Schumacher: The F1 legend won five of his seven world titles at Ferrari (Image: GETTY)
Mr Domenicali’s comments come nearly five years after Schumacher’s skiing accident.
Schumacher was skiing in the French Alps in December 2013 when he fell and hit his head on a rock, suffering a severe brain injury.
He was placed in a medically induced coma before undergoing two life-saving operations at Grenoble Hospital in France.
In April 2014, he was taken out of the coma and moved to Lausanne in Switzerland, before being brought home in September of that year.
But his condition since the accident has been shrouded in secrecy, with official updates from his family few and far between.
Additional reporting by Monika Pallenberg.