Michael Schumacher's condition 'stable' overnight after skiing accident injury, says manager

Earlier Sabine Kehm told reporters the former racing driver fell because of 'extreme bad luck', not speed

Michael Schumacher before his retirement from Formula One (GETTY IMAGES)

The condition of Michael Schumacher is “stable” which is “good news”, the manager of the seven-time Formula One champion said today.

Speaking to journalists in front of the Grenoble university hospital, Sabine Kehm said Schumacher had spent a stable night and morning after the second operation on his serious head injuries in the early hours of yesterday.

“His condition remains stable this morning. At the moment this is good news but I don't want to go into further prospects as it is too early. He is still in an artificial coma,” said Ms Kehm. There would not be full press conference attended by doctors, she said, until there was a significant change in the retired German driver’s condition.

Doctors performed a successful operation to reduce bruising in the brain of Schumacher, 44, late on Monday night and early yesterday, improving the condition of the former Formula One champion but leaving his hopes of recovery uncertain. He is being maintained in an artificially-induced coma to allow time for the bruising and swelling in his brain to ease.

Schumacher fell, striking his head on a rock, while skiing in deep snow between two official pistes at Meribel in the French Alps on Sunday morning. His helmet split in two but saved him from even worse injuries.

Ms Kehm has denied suggestions that Schumacher, who was skiing with his 14 years old son Mick and a group of friends, had been travelling at high speed or taking risks. “They were skiing on pistes, but in the moment that it (the accident) happened, it was not on the piste,” she said on Tuesday. She said that he appeared to have struck a hidden rock in the snow and had been thrown against another rock.

The French state prosecutor in Albertville has opened an investigation to try to discover the cause of the accident.