But he said without his helmet he would already be dead.
“Given the violence of the shock, his helmet protected him in part,” he said.
“Someone who hadn’t been wearing a helmet would not have got here.”
Doctors said the brain scan Schumacher underwent on his arrival at the
hospital showed “a great number of lesions”.
The former racing driver is receiving treatment to reduce the pressure on the
brain.
Doctors said: “The brain scan showed some intracranial haematoma, but
also some cerebral contusions and edema. We operated urgently to try and
eliminate the haematoma. After the operation we saw that we had been able to
eliminate the haematoma, but also sadly the appearance of various bilateral
lesions and so therefore he was taken to intensive care to try to help him.”
They added: “His condition is critical as far as cerebral care. All the
recommended treatments have been introduced.”
They said he had only been operated on once and a second operation was at the
moment not looking necessary.
Schumacher’s wife, Corinna, and their two children, were at his bedside,
doctors said.
Professor Gérard Saillant, one of France’s leading brain surgeons, who flew to
Grenoble hours after the accident, said Schumacher’s fitness would aid his
battle to survive.
“Someone of 70 is less likely to survive this sort of accident than someone
who is 45, and someone like Michael who is in top condition is more likely
to survive than someone else.”
Professor Saillant operated on Schumacher after the driver injured his leg in
a crash in 1995, but he said he was at the hospital as a friend, not to
supervise his treatment.
He said Schumacher’s family were “worried like a wife, worried like children.
We are all concerned”.
Tributes have been pouring in from fellow drivers and sports personalities.
Among those seen arriving at the hospital this morning were Jean Todt, who
was the chief executive of Ferrari when Schumacher raced for the Italian
team, and Ross Brawn, who was his mentor at Ferrari. Mr Brawn is now in
charge of the Mercedes team Schumacher joined when he resumed his career in
2010. He retired at the end of last year.
The French authorities are investigating the circumstances of the accident.
Schumacher was skiing at the Meribel resort with his 14-year-old son when the
accident happened on Sunday morning. The teenager was unharmed.
Officials said the seven-time Formula One World Champion was off-piste, about
20 metres from a junction between a red and blue run, when emergency workers
attended to him minutes after his fall.
Professor Payen said he was “extremely agitated” immediately after the
accident, and his condition had “rapidly worsened.”
The motor racing legend is an expert skier who owns a chalet at Meribel and
knows the slopes well.
The authorities have warned skiers not to venture off-piste because of a high
risk of avalanches, which have caused six deaths in the French Alps since
Christmas.