Formula One legend Michael Schumacher is still receiving intensive treatment. Photo / Getty Images
Formula One legend Michael Schumacher is still receiving intensive treatment. Photo / Getty Images
Michael Schumacher's former boss has revealed he has received news on the Formula One racing legend's health rehabilitation - but warned it is "not good".
Luca di Montezemolo, the former Ferrari chairman, today spoke only briefly to reporters and refused to elaborate on the short statement.
A tweet that went out apparently from Sky News' Twitter account this morning claimed that Schumacher had died. The reports of his death appear to be unsubstantiated, and that the tweet may have been a hoax.
Schumacher is still receiving treatment at his home in Switzerland following head injuries he suffered in a skiing accident in France in December 2013.
Michael Schumacher's spokesperson has declined to respond to Montezemolo's comments that the news on the former Ferrari driver is "not good"
"I have news and unfortunately it is not good," Montezemolo told reporters without giving any further details. "Life is strange. He was a fantastic driver and only had one accident with Ferrari in 1999."
Schumacher was holidaying with his wife Corinna and children Mick and Gina Maria on December 29, 2013, when he smashed his head on rocks during a low-speed ski-run at the resort of Mirabel where he owned a villa.
After being airlifted off the mountain, underwent emergency operations to save his life, placed in an artificial coma and spent months in hospital.
Since September 2014, he has received extended therapy and care in a purpose built medical suite at his Lake Geneva mansion where a team of 15 people look after him around the clock.
As late as December last year it was believed that relatively little had changed in his condition in the time that he had been back home. During the time since the accident, he has shed over two stone in weight.
His wife Corinna now manages his affairs and has sold off his beloved private jet and a holiday home they shared in Norway.
His management continues to speak of "encouraging small steps" in his recovery. But the injuries he sustained were so massive that it was unclear when or if he will regain any more motor functions.
The BBC's Richard Conway tweeted Schumacher's spokesperson had declined to comment on Montezemolo's claims.
In November 2014, his friend and former racing driver Philippe Streiff said the seven-time champion could not speak and had memory problems.
Schumacher with his wife Corinna in the winter resort of Madonna di Campiglio, in Italy. Photo / Getty Images
Streiff, who is himself wheelchair-bound since a crash in Brazil during pre-season tests in 1989 left him a quadriplegic, was speaking on French radio.
The Frenchman said: "He is getting better but everything is relative. It's very difficult. He can't speak. Like me, he is in a wheelchair paralysed. He has memory problems and speech problems."
Streiff, 59, was seen visiting Schumacher when the German was in intensive care in Grenoble Hospital, France.
In October, a French doctor treating Schumacher said that the 45-year-old was making progress, but will need years to fully recover.
Ms Kehm has said it was "very hard" for his loved ones to comprehend how the racing car driver could have been so catastrophically injured in such a "banal situation".
Schumacher's wife Corinna was a constant presence at his bedside. She and Schumacher met in 1991 on the F1 circuit after she was previously married to racing driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen.
With an accumulated wealth estimated to be well over half-a-billion pounds, Schumacher's family is well placed to provide the limitless care that will be needed in the coming years. This will include physiotherapists, to massage his atrophying joints, doctors, nutritionists, nurses and neurological experts.
