Former F1 champion Michael Schumacher has been discharged from a Swiss hospital and is returning home, where he will continue his recovery after the devastating skiing accident last year.

"Considering the severe injuries he suffered, progress has been made in the past weeks and months," Schumacher’s spokeswoman Sabine Kehm said, as quoted by the CNN.

"There is still, however, a long and difficult road ahead," she added.

The seven-time F1 champion was put in a medically induced coma after he suffered a severe head trauma on December 29, while mountain skiing in the resort of Meribel in the French Alps.

Schumacher was treated first at a hospital in Grenoble, France, and then in June moved to a hospital in Lausanne, Switzerland, near his family home.

His spokeswoman has appealed for the privacy of his family to be respected as Schumacher continues his recovery.