Michael Schumacher 'still fighting' two years after catastrophic brain injury

Michael Schumacher is 'still fighting' two years after he suffered serious brain injuries following a skiing accident in the French Alps, FIA president Jean Todt has said. The seven time world champion spent nearly six months in an induced coma before he was transferred to a hospital in Lausanne, Switzerland, to be closer to his family.

He now receives round the clock care by a team of 15 experts in a purpose-built medical suite. It is understood he remains immobile and unable to speak.

Mr Todt, the team boss at Ferrari where Schumacher won five world titles, said: "I see Michael very often and Michael is still fighting. Michael is a close friend, his family is very close to me and I am very close to them as well. We must keep him fighting with the family."

Schumacher formed a close bond with the racing boss during his championship reign at Maranello and Mr Todt has been a constant source of support for Schumacher and his family throughout their ordeal.

Mail Online reports that, commenting on Lewis Hamilton's title triumph in Austin, Texas, last Sunday, Todt said it reminded him of Schumacher's record-breaking achievements. "It was interesting last week after Lewis was world champion for the third time, you saw the figures. I was very proud of what Michael did and sometimes you tend to forget what he did."

Schumacher was skiing down an off-piste area between Piste Chamois and Piste Mauduit on December 29, 2013, when he fell and hit his head on a rock. Physicians said he would have died had he not been wearing a helmet. Suffering catatstrophic head injuries as a result of the fall, he was put into an induced coma.

In November 2014, former racing driver Philippe Streiff, who is wheelchair bound after a pre-season crash in 1989, revealed that Schumacher was paralysed. Speaking on French Radio, the Frenchman who is a good friend of Schumacher's, 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."

In April this year, his agent said he was showing 'moments of consciousness'. A French doctor who treated Michael Schumacher following his skiing accident believes the F1 champion could recover from his injuries within three years.

Updates on his condition have been few and far between since he was released from hospital to wife Corinna and a team of carers, in early September.