by Oge Okonkwo

The family of  F1 champion Michael Schumacher, says he has left the hospital in Grenoble and is no longer in coma.

45-year-old Schumacher was placed in a medically induced coma after suffering a severe head injury in a skiing accident in the French Alps on 29 December.

In a statement made by his family, the F1 champion will continue his rehabilitation at an undisclosed location.

His family thanked people who had sent in messages of support and also thanked the medical staff of the hospital in Grenoble, in south-east France, praising their “excellent job”.

BBC reports:

Doctors had kept the seven-time champion in a coma to help reduce swelling in his brain.

“Michael has left the CHU Grenoble to continue his long phase of rehabilitation. He is not in a coma anymore,” Schumacher’s manager, Sabine Kehm, said in a statement on behalf of his family on Monday.

“For the future we ask for understanding that his further rehabilitation will take place away from the public eye,” she said, without specifying where Schumacher had been taken to.

Relatives have previously warned that “it was clear from the start that this will be a long and hard fight for Michael”.

Investigators probing the accident said Schumacher had been going at the speed of “a very good skier” at the time of his crash in the resort of Meribel.

He had been skiing off-piste when he fell and hit a rock, investigators said.

Schumacher retired from racing in 2012 after a 19-year career.

He won two titles with Benetton, in 1994 and 1995, before switching to Ferrari in 1996 and going on to win five straight titles from 2000.