The seven-time Formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher is paralysed and can communicate only by blinking, former Formula 1 driver and close friend Philippe Streiff told a French radio.

According to Streiff, Schumacher is in a wheelchair and has memory and speech problems, due to the severe brain injuries, sustained during last year's ski accident.

Following the incident, Schumacher spent nine months in hospital, being placed in a medically induced coma for half a year, before he was moved to his home this September.

Streiff, who is paralysed and in a wheelchair after a crash in 1989, told the French radio that Schumacher was improving, but everything was relative.

According to the Frenchman, Schumacher could not speak, was paralysed in a wheelchair, and had memory and speech problems.

A spokeswoman of Schumacher said that Streiff's comments represented his own views on the matter, adding that up-to-date official medical information on the condition of the German was lacking.

Earlier in October, Jean-Francois Payen, one of the doctors that had been treating Schumacher , said that he could need years to recover, pointing to a timeframe of 1-3 years.