Michael Schumacher, the seven-time Formula One world champion, required emergency brain surgery after sustaining a serious head injury while skiing in the French Alps yesterday, his manager said.

When Schumacher arrived at a hospital in Grenoble, “he suffered from a head injury and was in a coma” requiring the surgery, his manager Sabine Kehm said in a statement yesterday.

Local police earlier yesterday said the 44-year-old German had suffered a “serious” concussion after falling, that he was conscious and his life wasn’t in danger. The former race driver was wearing a helmet and the crash involved no one else, a spokesman for the Peleton de Gendarmerie de Haute Montagne said by telephone.

“It was a fall on the slope between the Biche and Chamois slopes in Meribel,” the spokesman said. “The shock was quite violent.”

Kehm issued an update on his condition late yesterday, saying he remained critical. She had earlier said that the ex-world champion wasn’t alone when the accident happened.

Schumacher, who won titles with the Benetton team in 1994 and 1995 and took five consecutive championships with Ferrari from 2000 to 2004, left Formula One after last year following a three-season comeback.