Schuey donates £1 million

The Ferrari star gave the money to children's charity UNESCO at a special gala dinner on Saturday night. The cheque was handed over by the seven-times world champion's manager Willi Weber.

Schumacher is a major campaigner for UNESCO and is an official 'Champion for Sport' for the charity, having worked for them since 1995. Previous donations he has made to the charity have helped build schools and clinics for war victims. Earlier this year he helped fund a 'Palace for the Poor' in Lima to help street children.

Speaking about his charity work earlier this year, Schumacher said: "I've always loved kids, even before I had my own. They're very special. They're so vulnerable and they've got their whole lives ahead of them.

"If you put them on the right track, everyone will benefit. But if they take the wrong road, if they don't have any opportunities, they'll have a difficult life and cause trouble for everyone around them. The problems some adults have come mostly from their childhood, because they haven't been brought up properly and don't have much self-confidence later."

Schumacher claims that he first had the idea of helping out children's charities when he was racing in the junior categories.

"It was long before I took up Formula 1 racing," he said. "When I was driving in Formula 3, I was in a couple of races, in Macau (Hong Kong) and Fuji (Japan). The winner of both would scoop £20,000. I got lucky. Nobody could believe it.

"It was then I realised I could help people. I'd never had money before. From the time I started earning more money than I ever dreamt of, I felt the need to help children. You either feel that or you don't at such times."