Former F1 favourite Gerhard Berger has escaped serious injury in a skiing accident that nevertheless left him with a broken arm.

The 54-year old former ATS, Arrows, Benetton, Ferrari and McLaren driver is reported to have left the marked piste in poor conditions, before falling heavily. Fortunately, unlike seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, Berger did not hit his head in the incident, but suffered an injury that saw him airlifted to hospital in St Johann am Tirol.

According to reports in the Austrian media, Berger - a former co-owner of Scuderia Toro Rosso and now the president of the FIA's single-seater commission - suffered his injuries on Thursday and remained under medical supervision until the weekend, when he was released from hospital.

Schumacher crashed in Meribel in late December and remains in a controlled coma in hospital in Geneva.