There has been a “slight improvement” in Michael Schumacher’s condition, a source close to the Formula One legend said, eight days after a skiing accident left him with life-threatening injuries.
Schumacher remains in a critical condition in hospital where he has been in a medically induced coma since the accident on December 29 in the French ski resort of Meribel, where he owns a chalet.
But there are small signs of improvement and his loved-ones hope that he will pull through, the source told the German sports news agency SID, an AFP subsidiary, yesterday on condition of anonymity.
Earlier, doctors treating Schumacher said he remained in a stable but critical condition. “The clinical state of Michael Schumacher is considered as stable and is being constantly monitored as he receives medical treatment,” a statement from Grenoble’s University Hospital said.
“However, the medical team in charge of his care underlines that they continue to consider Michael’s condition as critical.”
The team treating Schumacher said they would be giving no details of the treatment the 45-year-old is receiving in order to protect his right to privacy.
“The privacy of the patient demands that we are not going into details of his treatment, and this is why we do not envisage any press conferences or statements in the near future.”
French prosecutors meanwhile said they would this week brief journalists on their investigation into Schumacher’s accident.
A press conference will be held on Wednesday at 11:00 am (1000 GMT) in the Alpine town of Albertville, local prosecutor Patrick Quincy told Investigators are focusing on the retired racer’s speed when he fell and slammed his head on a rock on a small off-piste section, prompting his evacuation by helicopter to Grenoble.
Prosecutors are also looking at whether the limits of the ski runs next to the accident site were correctly marked and whether the rock in question was lying close enough to the piste to require some kind of protection or signage.
They are also examining whether the safety releases on Schumacher’s skis operated properly in a probe aimed at determining responsibility for the accident.
The investigators are hoping that a helmet-mounted camera Schumacher was wearing will provide some clues, as will footage by a 35-year-old German steward who says he was filming his girlfriend on the slopes when by chance he captured the moment when the retired driver fell.
In the background, a skier is seen descending an unmarked run between two groomed pistes before falling, the German news magazine Der Spiegel reported.
According to the witness, who spoke to the magazine, the seven-time world champion was descending the slope at a “leisurely” pace — “a maximum speed of 20 kilometres an hour”. He plans to hand over the footage to French investigators.
This would corroborate claims by Schumacher’s spokeswoman Sabine Kehm, who has said he could not have been going fast “because it appears he helped a friend who had just fallen”.
But in a press conference last week, doctors who treated Schumacher said he had been skiing at great speed when he fell.
Schumacher won more Formula One titles than any other driver and enjoyed 91 Grand Prix victories between 1994 and 2004.
Schumacher still ‘critical’ as probe focuses camera
Michael Schumacher remains in a “critical but stable” condition, his spokeswoman said, as French investigators hoped a helmet-mounted camera he was wearing at the moment of his ski accident could provide answers.
It was not known whether the GoPro camera filmed the moment when the retired seven-time world champion slammed his head against a rock, or whether images have been damaged by the impact, which was so hard it split the helmet he was wearing.
But investigators may yet find another clue in a film made by a German witness, who claimed to have captured Schumacher’s accident by chance, German news magazine Der Spiegel reported late Saturday.
The magazine quoted the witness describing Schumacher descending the slope at a “leisurely” pace and “at a maximum speed of 20 kilometres an hour”.
In the background, a skier could be seen descending on an unmarked run between two groomed pistes before falling, the magazine reported.
Key among elements that investigators are hoping to establish is the speed at which Schumacher was skiing, as it could determine responsibility in the 29th December accident in the French Alps near the Meribel ski resort.
French prosecutors and the ski resort say Schumacher was skiing at great speed.
His spokeswoman Sabine Kehm has challenged that, saying he could not have been going fast “because it appears he helped a friend who had just fallen”.
Edouard Bourgin, a specialist on accident claims said: “There could have been a catapult effect that explains the violence of the shock, even in the absence of excessive speed.”
Prosecutors are also looking at whether the limits of the ski runs next to the accident site were correctly marked and whether the rock in question was lying close enough to the piste to require some kind of protection or signage.
In addition, they are examining whether the safety releases on Schumacher’s skis operated properly.
“I don’t think it’s normal that between two marked slopes there would be this passage with rocks showing that is not fenced off,” said Philippe Streiff, a former French racing driver, in the French sports daily L’Equipe.
Schumacher turned 45 on Friday, and fans marked the birthday with a silent vigil outside the facility, part of which was organised by Ferrari, Schumacher’s former team.
Kehm said Schumacher remains in a “critical but stable” condition and that no more press conferences were scheduled before Monday.