Luca di Montezemolo: Michael Schumacher latest news 'isn't good'

The seven-time Formula One champion suffered horrific head injuries in December 2013 while skiing in the French Alps and spent nearly six months in an induced coma.

Schumacher, who suffered severe injuries to the brain, has since moved to his family home in Lausanne, Switzerland to continue his rehabilitation but Di Montezemolo has suggested the 47-year-old's condition is not improving.

Di Montezemolo, who oversaw Schumacher's unprecedented success, is quoted as telling Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport: "I'm always checking up on him, and unfortunately the news isn't good.

"He was a great driver and we shared a great personal and professional relationship, we also had the pleasure of having our children at similar times.

"Unfortunately a fall while skiing, an accident, has broken him."

"Life is really strange," Di Montezemolo added. "He was the most successful driver with Ferrari, he had a single serious accident in his career in 1999 and that was our fault, not his."

The German driver is widely regarded as one of the greatest of the sport, recording 91 race wins between 1991-2006, and claimed five successive titles at the beginning of the millennium to become the most decorated driver in Formula One history before calling time on his career.

He returned to the grid with Mercedes in 2009 but endured a largely disappointing three-season spell with a best finish of third at the 2012 European Grand Prix in Valencia, before suffering the accident while on a family holiday shortly after Christmas a year later.

Updates on Schumacher's condition have been infrequent since, with the most recent following the Mexican Grand Prix in November from FIA president and former Ferrari team principal Jean Todt.

''I see Michael very often and Michael is still fighting," he said.

"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.''