It is more than two years since Schumacher, the seven-time champion, sustained horrific brain injuries in a freak accident while skiing in the French Alps.

But Di Montezemolo, who as the president of Ferrari oversaw Schumacher’s unprecedented success, has provided a bleak outlook regarding his former driver.

“I’m always checking up on him, and unfortunately the news isn’t good,” Di Montezemolo is quoted as saying in Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport.

“He was a great driver and we shared a great personal and professional relationship, we also had the pleasure of having our children at similar times.

“Unfortunately a fall while skiing, an accident, has broken him.”

Schumacher, who won a record 91 races during his glittering grand prix career, spent nearly six months in an induced coma before he was transferred to a hospital closer to his family home in Lausanne, Switzerland.

He was released from hospital in September 2014 and now continues his rehabilitation at home, but updates on his condition have been few and far between.