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If learning of Michael Schumacher’s ski accident was shocking for Richard Hammond, it was even worse for his wife Mindy.

The Top Gear presenter suffered catastrophic head injuries of his own in a crash during filming for the BBC show.

Mindy spent two weeks fearing the worst at her husband’s bedside as he fought for survival.

And Richard, 44, said hearing about the Formula 1 legend also lying in hospital in a coma – with his wife Corinna, 44 by his side – had taken her back to that terrible time in 2006.

“Mindy’s face fell when she heard about Michael because it stirs memories for her more than it does for me,” said Richard.

“She is immediately taken back to what happened to me more than I am because I was in a coma. It’s very hard for those around the injured person.

“My heart goes out to his family and everyone around him because they can’t do anything but hope he gets better.”

Schumacher, 44, is fighting for his life in hospital after suffering head injuries in Meribel in the French Alps on Sunday.

The retired ace needed an operation to relieve swelling on his brain and was put in an induced coma like Mirror columnist Richard. Now it is a waiting game to see how he reacts.

Richard, who met the star when he was jokingly revealed as The Stig on Top Gear in 2009, has been following his progress closely.

He said: “It’s hard to hear it has happened to Michael because we met on the show and because of what he does. I’m praying he comes out of the coma soon and can begin on the road to recovery.

“He is an incredible, enjoyable man. But it’s the cleverness that gets you. You don’t do what Michael does, at the level he’s done it, without being pretty sharp.”

It is these qualities that will help ­Schumacher get well again, Richard said. “He’s ferociously intelligent. I’m sure, God willing, he’ll very quickly be able to understand what’s happened.”

Richard was driving a jet-powered dragster which veered off the track at Elvington airfield, near York, and flipped over at 288mph. He was put in an induced coma, and kept in hospital for five weeks.

He has no memory of the accident and it took years of ­rehabilitation to come to terms with it.

He said: “It is once you wake up that the journey starts. It’s about accepting and understanding what happened. But you’re trying to use the very thing that’s injured to understand the nature of the injury.”

Richard suffered post-traumatic amnesia and even forgot wife Mindy, before chatting her up in hospital.

“If you’re subtly changed for a while you’re not aware of it because it is you,” he said.

“Michael’s family will need all the support in the world because there is very little they can do but stand by and watch as his brain gets round to fixing itself.”

Richard struggled to differentiate between “injured Richard” and “real Richard” for years.

“At first I’d be thinking ‘this is because of my head injury,’” he said.

“Now I think, whether it’s because of my head injury or not it’s because of me – my injury is part of who I am. And that’s founded on 44 years of experiences.”

It is thanks to this realisation – which is in part down to top neurosurgeon, the late Professor Sid Watkins – that Richard learned to “file” his accident away.

He said: “I interviewed Professor Watkins and he said: ‘Look, Richard. If they tell you it’s two years until you’re completely better, forget it. It can be four, it can be six – it’s a life’s journey.’

“And I took that to heart because I was still wrestling with it. I realised if you’re lucky enough, and physically well, you can put it behind you.

“I can’t say enough how it has been filed away with the other big things that happened in my life. It’s a great place to be in. I hope beyond hope that something similar will happen with Michael, that he recovers and can eventually file it away.

"He’s a fabulous man. I just hope he pulls through.”

Follow the latest updates on Michael Schumacher's condition in our live blog here.