FRANKFURT, Germany (AFP) — Formula One legend Michael Schumacher is in a “critical condition” in a coma after striking his head in a ski accident in the French Alps yesterday, the hospital treating him said.

The 44-year-old German “was suffering a serious brain trauma with coma upon his arrival, which required an immediate neurosurgical operation”, the hospital in the south east French city of Grenoble said in a statement.

Schumacher suffered a blow to the head after hitting a rock at the upmarket Alps resort of Meribel, and although initial reports suggested his injuries were not life-threatening, he was later described by the hospital treating him in Grenoble as being in a critical condition.

The Meribel resort director, Christophe Gernigon-Lecomte, said Schumacher was skiing off-piste late yesterday morning with companions when he fell and struck his head.

After years of racing in the high risk world of Formula One and winning a record seven world titles, his accident suggests that perhaps retirement has not dulled his relish of dangerous pursuits.

As an F1 racer, Schumacher was known for his daring overtaking manoeuvres, his at-times almost reckless abandon in the pursuit of victory and his mastery of the tricky conditions presented by rain.

When he won his first world title in 1994 with Benetton, he did so in controversial fashion, crashing into his title rival Damon Hill at the final race after he had already scuppered his own hopes by going off the track when pushing hard despite leading comfortably.

It was indicative of Schumacher’s win-at-all-costs attitude and his willingness to take huge risks in order to do so.

He almost provoked a similar crash in the final race of the 1997 season when battling Jacques Villeneuve for the title, an incident for which he was retrospectively disqualified from the whole season.

His career was also punctuated by accusations of dangerous driving following incidents such as a near collision with former teammate Rubens Barrichello in 2010, which the Brazilian later described as “the most dangerous thing” he had been through.

But even such mishaps didn’t slow Schumacher down or quench his thirst for success as he went on to win five successive titles with Ferrari from 2000-2004.

He retired at the end of the 2006 season before making a damp squib of a comeback in 2010 with Mercedes.

But during his retirement he survived a horror accident that knocked him out when racing a motorbike in Spain.

That time he was released from hospital after just five hours.

Even so he is the sport’s most decorated champion with a record 91 GP wins, while he is one of only two men to reach 300 races.