F1 Driver Michael Schumacher in Critical Condition After Skiing Accident

Hit head on a rick while skiing in France

(CNN) -- Michael Schumacher, the most successful driver in Formula 1 history, is in critical condition after suffering severe head trauma in a skiing accident in the French Alps on Sunday, hospital officials said.

The 44-year-old German, who retired from the elite motorsport for the second time in 2012, fell and hit his head on a rock, said the director of the Meribel resort where Schumacher was skiing.

Schumacher was in a coma when he arrived at the University Hospital Center of Grenoble and required immediate brain surgery, hospital officials said in a written statement.