At a press briefing at the Grenoble hospital this morning surgeons confirmed that Michael Schumacher remains in a critical condition and is “fighting for his life”.
They confirmed that he has had only one operation thus far, to relieve pressure in his head, and that a second one is not planned as yet. He is in an artificially induced coma.
They noted that he had suffered an impact on the right hand side of his head, and that without a helmet, “he would not be here.”
The surgical team said: “He is still in a coma and he will be kept in a coma. Everything that needed to be done has been done and is being done. At the moment we can’t really say what is going to happen, and when he will recover. We cannot answer this yet.
“He’s undergoing some treatments which are limiting the damage to his brain. We are trying to release pressure in his head. His situation is critical, it definitely is crticial. We are working hour-by-hour, we cannot say anything more, we cannot speculate.
“He is in a critical situation, and we can say he is fighting for his life.”
They added: “Despite the helmet we observes some very serious head injuries, so it was quite a big trauma to the head. What we observed initially was an impact on the right hand side of the head. He was agitated when he came in, he had some spontaneous movements, and he wasn’t in a normal state when he came in.”
The role of the helmet was stressed: “We think that with the violence with which his head hit the ground, the helmet did help. Without the helmet, he wouldn’t be here now.
“The helmet obviously wasn’t enough to protect him completely, but it really did help.”
Meanwhile Paris surgeon Prof Gerard Saillant, a close friend of Schumacher, said: “Honestly I came here not really as a doctor but as a friend, so I can’t really answer any technical questions.
“I am very worried just like any of his family, his children, his wife, we’re all very worried about his condition. The doctors won’t tell you more because they can’t tell you more. They are working hour-by-hour and it’s only at this level that you can take decisions.”
Adam Cooper F1 
Saying my prayers this morning for Michael, his family (I’m sure this is very difficult for his son who was with him at the time) and for those who care for him that they will make all the right decisions. He has his excellent health in his favor, and that no time was wasted getting him to the right medical facilities. The son of a friend of mine had a similar incident, and though it took some time to recover, the results were very good.