Michael Schumacher is in a wheelchair, unable to speak and suffering from memory loss, according to a former French racing driver.
Philippe Streiff, who himself uses a wheelchair after an accident in 1989, said he had remained in contact with his friend Schumacher. “ He is getting better [but] everything is relative,” he said. “It’s very difficult because he cannot speak. He’s in a wheelchair, paralysed, with memory and speech problems as well.
“The fact that he’s in his family will perhaps enable him to recover more quickly, but it’s difficult. It appears that he communicates with his eyes, with his wife and press officer.”
The seven times Formula One champion left hospital in September and returned to his £25 million mansion in Gland, Switzerland.
Schumacher was placed in an artificial coma in Grenoble University Hospital, France, last December after a skiing accident in the French Alps. He underwent two operations on his head and was only brought out of the coma in June. He was then transferred to University Hospital, in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he spent three months.
Jules Bianchi, the French driver seriously injured after an accident during the Japanese grand prix last month, has emerged from his coma and been flown to a hospital in Nice, France.