Pierre Gasly has come under fire for sharing ‘disrespectful’ pictures of himself wearing a red Marlboro jacket during a skiing trip on Michael Schumacher‘s birthday.
The Formula One driver, 29, shared a carousel of images to Instagram on Saturday from his off-season getaway in The Alps with his girlfriend, which he branded ‘snow heaven’.
It came on Schumacher’s 57th birthday and just over 12 years since he suffered a devastating accident after venturing off-piste in the French Alps which plunged him into a medically induced coma.
The racing legend would often be seen sporting his Ferrari gear – which prominently featured its old tobacco sponsor – on the slopes, leaving F1 fans sure that this was Gasly’s way of paying tribute to him.
But not all fans were impressed with the Alpine driver’s decision, with many claiming that it was ill-advised and came off as inappropriate.
‘I don’t know how he thought that this is a good idea,’ one wrote on X. ‘Skiing ruined Schumacher’s life forever, so how would you come to the conclusion that you have to pay tribute to the man by skiing on his birthday and posting it on social media?’
Pierre Gasly shared images of himself wearing a red Marlboro jacket on a ski slope in The Alps
Michael Schumacher often wore a Ferrari jacket on his skiing trips before suffering his accident
Another said: ‘Very tasteless and very disrespectful and inappropriate.’
A third added: ‘Not the best choice, seeing where the accident happened.’
Schumacher suffered a traumatic brain injury while skiing after hitting his head off a rock and has received round-the-clock care ever since. Details of his day-to-day recovery have been scant with his family at his home in Lake Geneva maintaining a strict code of privacy.
However, his two children – including former F1 driver Mick – regularly share posts of – or about – their father on social media. Most recently, Schumacher’s equestrian daughter Gina-Maria posted a family photograph from her childhood for his birthday.
Posing with her father, brother, and mother Corinna in the snap, she captioned the photo: ‘The best forever. Happy birthday, Dad! (red heart emoji)’.
Gina-Maria also shared the post to her Instagram Story, accompanying it with another single red heart emoji.
The accident shocked – and continues to devastate – the sporting world, given the stardom and popularity that Schumacher reached.
‘I feel something so wrong when a F1 driver goes skiing,’ another fan replied under Gasly’s post on Instagram.
Another said: ‘This type of “tribute” to Schumacher doesn’t seem like the brightest idea.’
Gasly also shared images of himself on a chairlift and posing with his Portuguese girlfriend Kika Gomes on the slopes in an image eerily similar to that of Schumacher and his wife Corinna.
Gasly posed on the slope with his Portuguese influencer and model girlfriend Kika Gomes
Schumacher was often accompanied on his skiing trips with his wife Corinna and their family
The 29-year-old also shared images of himself on a chairlift in what he branded ‘snow heaven’
The post comes just days after a close friend of Schumacher’s from his racing days shed more light on the rules for visitors within the family’s inner circle to maintain the utmost privacy.
Corinna and the family have been forced to maintain the strict guidelines amid multiple attempts to leak details by medical staff or employees, with the family falling victim to a blackmail attempt which threatened to leak details concerning his health to the public in 2025.
Three men including Schumacher’s former bodyguard Markus Fritsche, were on trial after hard drives containing confidential pictures, videos and medical records were stolen from a computer.
Nightclub bouncer Yilmaz Tozturkan, and his IT expert son Daniel Lins, denied blackmail and insisted they were offering the Schumacher family a ‘business deal’.
In February, Tozturkan was sentenced to three years in prison, but is free on bail, while Lins was given a six-month suspended sentence, and after denying any involvement, Fritsche was given a two-year suspended sentence.
Former Red Bull Head of Operations Richard Hopkins shared in December: ‘I think (the arrangement is) fairly clear. There are only two, three, four people that we know of (who can visit Schumacher). There are probably others.
‘Michael had friendships with people who weren’t owners of Formula One teams, or racing drivers, so I’m sure there are people who probably see him that we just don’t know about, because we don’t know their names.’
Hopkins denied claims that Schumacher is under strict daily security, adding that he was sure the seven-time world champion was ‘not behind armed guards at his bedroom door’.
‘But there are fairly strict rules, and we don’t talk about those rules,’ he added.
