45-year-old Michael Schumacher, the seven time Formula 1 Champion is continuing to recover from an accident he had while skiing on the French Alps resort of Meribel on December 29, 2013.

He has come out of his months-long coma, but has been bedridden since. However, while he is on the road to recovery, conflicting reports are appearing in the media regarding his real condition.

At the time of the accident, he was wearing a helmet and was, later, operated on for a brain hemorrhage that had sent him into a coma. He was literally fighting for his life, but his grit and determination to survive gradually paid off and he was released from hospital on June 16, 2014 when he came out of coma. He went home to a special rehab room in September 2014.

The racing fraternity has, since then, been worried about his condition and Philippe Streiff, a former F1 driver who was paralyzed in a 1989 crash has, reportedly expressed to Le Parisien newspaper that even though Schumacher was unable to speak, he is "starting to recognize those close to him."

This has been reported by FoxSports as of December 29, 2014. Regarding Schumacher's future, Strieff has remarked that "long term, he could hope one day to walk with crutches." Strieff's source of information was Schumacher's wife Corinna and the FIA-linked doctor Gerard Saillant.

However, FIA-linked doctor Gerard Saillant does not agree with the observations of Strieff. While speaking to the French-language news agency AFP, Saillant has said that for a year he and Strieff have had no verbal, written, or physical contact.

Schumacher's manager Sabine Kehm has also rejected the claims made by Strieff and has revealed that Philippe Streiff has had no contact with Professor Saillant or with Corinna. Moreover, there never was much of a friendship between Philippe Streiff and Michael Schumacher.