Seven-time F1 world champion suffers head injury while skiing in the French Alps
Retired Formula One legend Michael Schumacher is in hospital after suffering a “serious” head injury in France while skiing yesterday, the Meribel ski resort and police who gave him first aid said.
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The 44-year-old German was being treated in a hospital in Grenoble, the Meribel resort said, adding that the seven-time F1 world champion’s injury was not life-threatening.
He was “suffering a serious cranial trauma but he is not in a critical condition”, the resort said.
Christophe Gernigon-Lecomte, director of the Meribel resort told Radio Monte Carlo Sport: “He was shocked, a little shaken but conscious. It may be a head injury but it is not very serious.”
He added: “He was wearing a helmet and banged (his head) against a rock.”
“The accident occurred around 1100 (1000GMT) between the slopes of Georges Mauduit and la Biche,” the Meribel resort’s press office disclosed.
Two medical officers attended Schumacher at the scene before he was airlifted by helicopter to hospital within 10 minutes.
“He was conscious but upset,” Gernigon-Lecomte told AFP.
During Schumacher’s first period of retirement, in 2009, he was taken to hospital after a motorbike crash during testing at a circuit in Cartagena, Spain. He did not suffer serious injuries on that occasion.
Meribel, an upmarket resort, hosted ice hockey and women’s alpine skiing at the 1992 Winter Olympics.
SCHUMACHER FACTFILE
>> World champ: 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004
>>u00a0Number of Grands Prix raced: 307
>>u00a0Victories: 91
>>u00a0Podiums: 155
>>u00a0Pole positions: 69
>>u00a0Best laps: 77
>>u00a0Points scored in F1: 1,566 (49 in 2012)
>>u00a0Landmarks: 7 world titles, 91 victories, 69 pole positions, 13 wins in one season (2004), 17 podiums in 17 races (2002)