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Schumacher Mallorca move rumours 'a misunderstanding'

Michael Schumacher is not going to be leaving his mansion at Lake Geneva, despite overnight media reports that he and wife Corinne were planning on moving to the island of Mallorca in the Mediterranean.

The seven-time world champion continues to recover from serious head injuries sustained in a skiing accident in the French Alps in December 2013.

His home has been fitted with state of the art facilities to aid his rehabilitation, and he's constantly tended to by a 15-strong team of medical processionals at an estimated cost of £115,000 per week.

Schumacher's current condition is closely guarded by the family. It's why the news that the couple might be about to relocate caused such a stir.

The mayoress of the Mallorcan town of Andratx, Katia Rouarch, had been reported as telling Swiss magazine L'lllustré that: "I can officially confirm Michael Schumacher is going to move in to our municipality and that everything is being prepared to welcome him."

However a terse email from family spokeswoman Sabine Kehm to news agency AFP denied that this was the case. "The Schumacher family does not plan to move to Mallorca," Kehm stated unequivocally.

And Spanish authorities in Andratx have now confirmed that the original report was the result of a massive misunderstanding.

"In reference to the latest news related to Formula 1 driver Michael Schumacher, his family, and the municipality of Andratx, the Town Hall of Andratx wants to clear that the words attributed to Mayoress Katia Rouarch are not correct," said a statement.

"[They] are probably the result of misinterpretation or misunderstanding, perhaps due to language translation.

"The Mayoress of Andratx, in a recent interview for the Swiss magazine L'lllustré, confirmed the information already known that the Schumacher family bought a house in Port d'Andratx," the statement continued.

"She did however not give any information about a potential relocation of Michael Schumacher and/or his family in our municipality of Andratx.

"In fact, our Mayoress doesn't have any information about it," it added. "Our Mayoress Rouarch didn't say that we were preparing to receive Schumacher and that the local security services have been informed about this arrival.

"The only thing that Rouarch declared to the journalists was that, 'in case the family decides to move here, we will be prepared for their arrival. In this case they would be treated as any other citizen of Andratx'.

"These words don't mean that Michael Schumacher and his family are going to move here, and much less that the mayoress or the City Council has knowledge of it."

The statement added that the Schumachers would be very welcome on the island if they ever did decide to visit or move there for any period of time.

"With this communication we want to reiterate these words were meant just in case the family come here," it said. "Obviously, in that case, Michael Schumacher and his family would be welcomed in our municipality."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

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