German Formula 1 driver Michael Schumacher posing with his wife Corinna, in the winter resort of Madonna di Campiglio

Sources have claimed that Doctors treating Michael Schumacher and other medical experts have told his family that "only a miracle" can save him.

The seven-time Formula One world champion suffered serious brain injuries after hitting a rock during a skiing accident in the French Alpine ski resort of Meribel in late December.

He is being treated in hospital in Grenoble where he has been in an artificially induced coma for a total of 69 days.

Sources close to his family say the 45-year-old driver's wife Corinna and his brother, Ralf Schumacher, have been consulting brain specialists throughout Europe and have been told that his chances of recovery are minimal.

The family is said to be concerned that the French doctors treating Schumacher have little hope that he will recover and now assume that he will remain in a vegetative state for the rest of his life.

The reports come after his agent said he was "still in the wake up phase" and his medical situation is unchanged more than two months after his skiing accident.

Schumacher's family has released few details about his condition. French doctors operated to remove blood clots from his brain, but some were too deeply embedded.

Neurologists not involved in his treatment say the chances of a full recovery for the 45-year-old are increasingly slim, given the coma's duration and the extent of his injuries.

At the management team's request, the Grenoble hospital treating Schumacher has kept news about his condition to a minimum.

However sources close to his family say that the driver's prognosis is bleak. "The family has been told that only a miracle can bring him back now," a senior German journalist reporting on the Schumacher case said. " He is in a bad way but until the family issues a formal statement, we cannot publish anything," he added.

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