Retired Formula One legend Michael Schumacher is in a critical condition in a French hospital with a brain haemorrhage after a skiing accident

French television station BFMTV and local paper Le Dauphine Libere reported late on Sunday the condition of the record seven-time F1 champion had deteriorated.

The paper said that the 44-year-old Schumacher banged his head on a rock during a fall while skiing with his son at the French resort of Meribel.

Schumacher’s manager, Sabine Kehm, confirmed the accident, but did not want to go into details.

“Please understand that we cannot release constant information about his health situation,” Kehm said.

Kehm confirmed that Schumacher was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident.

RMC radio had earlier quoted Christophe Gernignon-Lecomte, director of tourism in the resort, as saying that there was no call for alarm.

The German, who was conscious when he was reached by rescuers, was transported by helicopter to a hospital in Moutiers, where he was diagnosed with a cranial trauma. Le Dauphine Libere said he was then transferred to a clinic in the city of Grenoble.

Meribel is part of an extensive ski region with about 180 lifts connecting three alpine valleys.

The clinic was reportedly cordoned off and Schumacher treated by Gerard Saillant, who also operated him when he broke his calf and shinbone during his most serious racing crash at the 1999 British Grand Prix.

Schumacher retired from Formula One a second time at the end of the 2012 season. He won two world titles with Benetton and five in a row with Ferrari.

Schumacher has had accidents before, including a motorcycle crash in February 2009 in Cartagena, Spain, where he damaged a vertebra, a rib and the bottom of his skull.

At the time, his doctor, Johannes Peil, said it had caused the racer the most serious long-term harm of his career.

That accident denied him taking the place of Felipe Massa at Ferrari after the Brazilian suffered severe head injuries in a crash at the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2009.