Corinna Schumacher, the wife of Michael Schumacher, has said he is getting better after coming out of a coma, reports The Telegraph. 

Those are her first comments since the former Formula One driver's skiing accident last December.

Speaking at a horse-riding tournament in Germany, Corinna Schumacher said the improvement seen in her husband's condition was encouraging.

"It's getting better, slowly certainly, but in any case it's improving," she told Neue Post, a German women's weekly magazine.

Schumacher, spent 170 days in hospital in the French city of Grenoble after cracking his skull on a rock while skiing in the French Alpine resort of Meribel. 

Almost all of that time he was in a coma, and lost an estimated 20kg in weight.

Last month, the seven-time world champion was transferred from Grenoble university hospital to a rehabilitation clinic in the Swiss city of Lausanne that specialises in care for brain injuries.

Sabine Kehm, his manager, said at the time that he was "no longer in a coma". She said the driver would begin a long process of rehabilitation in Lausanne.

It was reported that Schumacher was responding to his wife's voice. "The voice of Corinna has a much stronger effect on him than the voices of other people," Bild newspaper wrote.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!