A family spokeswoman on Wednesday confirmed a Munich Labour Court judgement and settlement by Funke media group, publishers of the magazine Die Aktuelle, without making any further comment.

The magazine's editor was sacked last year, with Funke apologising to Schumacher's family.

Ferrari great Schumacher has not been seen in public since he suffered a serious brain injury in a skiing accident on a family holiday in the French Alps in December 2013. His family maintains strict privacy about the former driver's condition, with access limited to those closest to him.

Die Aktuelle ran a front cover in April 2023 with a picture of a smiling Schumacher and the headline promising 'Michael Schumacher, the first interview'.

The strapline added: "it sounded deceptively real" but inside the 'quotes' were revealed to have been generated by artificial intelligence.