Australian race driver Joey Mawson, once hailed as one of the country’s brightest young motorsport stars, is now facing jail if found guilty of allegations that he raped a nurse at Michael Schumacher’s Swiss mansion during a late-night party.
The 30-year-old from Sydney is on trial in Nyon, Switzerland for allegedly twice raping Schumacher’s nurse at the family’s $20million Gland mansion on November 23, 2019.
Mawson vehemently denies the allegations, and has previously stated that the sex was consensual.
During the trial on Tuesday, the court heard that Mawson spent the evening with several of Schumacher’s employees, during which the nurse consumed a substantial amount of alcohol.
According to the indictment, she became so intoxicated that she was unable to stand, fell to the floor and was carried to her room, fully clothed, by staff.
Prosecutors allege that the rape later took place in that room.
Aussie racing driver Joey Mawson (pictured) is currently on trial in Switzerland for allegedly raping Michael Schumacher’s nurse at the F1 icon’s Swiss mansion
Mawson (left) is pictured with Schumacher’s son Mick. The pair struck up a friendship while they raced against each other in Europe
Mawson is pictured outside a Swiss court with one of his lawyers
It is alleged that when the nurse woke up she was naked and could not remember what had happened.
Mawson once spoke about his dreams of following in Schumacher’s footsteps into Formula 1 and described the German great as his ‘hero’.
Mawson grew up idolising Schumacher and Ayrton Senna, often talking about how he wanted to model his career on their success, and he forged a close friendship with Schumacher’s son Mick as the two climbed through the junior ranks together.
Back in 2016, after edging out Mick to win the fiercely contested ADAC Formula 4 Championship, Mawson wrote on Instagram: ‘Thank you [Mick] for the rivalry we shared this year, I hope we can meet again in Formula 3 so then like you said, the battle will continue.’
Mick replied in kind with the message: ‘Hopefully it will,’ showing the deep respect the two had developed despite fierce on-track clashes that year.
The 2016 title was the high point of Mawson’s European career, as he won 10 races against a field stacked with future Formula 1 stars including Lando Norris and Guanyu Zhou, instantly marking himself as a prospect to watch.
But as the years went on, his dream of joining the Formula 1 grid began to fade, and setbacks began to mount just as his rivals accelerated towards the top level.
In 2017 he joined the European Formula 3 Championship, but despite flashes of pace he only scored a single podium finish and ended the season down in 13th place overall, while Norris dominated the title fight.
Mawson (pictured) was handed a three-year ban from racing in Australia in September 2024 after testing positive for a banned substance
Mawson once messaged Mick Schumacher (pictured together) to say, ‘Thank you for the rivalry we shared this year, I hope we can meet again in Formula 3’
The Australian’s trial has heard allegations that he raped the nurse after she drank so much alcohol she was unable to stand
The following year he switched to GP3, racing with Arden International, a team linked to Red Bull boss Christian Horner, describing the season beforehand as ‘critical’ to being noticed by F1 decision makers.
Yet his results fell short of expectations, with just two podiums, no wins, and another 13th place championship finish, effectively ending his path through the traditional F1 feeder system.
By 2019 he had shifted across to sports cars, racing in Porsche Supercup and Carrera Cup Germany, though he never found sustained success in those series either.
It was around this time that he attended the party at the Schumacher residence where the nurse alleges she was attacked.
Mawson eventually returned to Australia, where he was determined to salvage his career by entering the new S5000 open-wheel category, which featured powerful single-seaters on domestic tracks.
In 2021 he won the Australian Drivers’ Championship Gold Star, a prestigious title that has also been won by legends of Australian racing, and he successfully defended the crown in 2022, becoming a two-time champion.
Those achievements put him back on the radar of Supercars teams in Australia, with discussions held about giving him an opportunity to transition into touring cars, a move that has helped other open-wheel drivers extend their careers.
But just as a fresh start looked possible, his momentum collapsed again in 2023 when he tested positive for meldonium during a routine doping control at Phillip Island.
He was provisionally suspended by Motorsport Australia pending investigation, before being handed a three-year competition ban in September 2024 after both his A and B samples were confirmed positive.
The ban was backdated to May 2023, stripping him of results and barring him from all sanctioned events until May 13, 2026, cutting short his rise at home just as he was regaining attention.
Mawson explained the circumstances by saying he had taken the substance unknowingly, having consumed a supplement recommended by his then girlfriend without realising it contained a prohibited ingredient.
He issued a public statement saying: ‘I never intended to take the supplement to enhance my racing.
‘The risk [and] consequences for a driver to take this to have minimal benefit to the overall performance makes absolutely no sense.
‘It was an honest mistake and now I will have to pay the consequences of that mistake, losing three years of my career along with the damage to my reputation.’
He also vowed to come back stronger in 2026, saying he ‘misses it every day’ and would use the time to prepare for a return to the sport.
