Experts have been analyzing the film footage from the camera attached to Michael Schumacher’s ski helmet when he fell and seriously injured his head last month (click HERE for more details of the accident).

Even though he was wearing a helmet, and even though it split in two, it is thought that it saved his life.

Up until now, little has been known about the accident.  There was great speculation that the seven-times Formula One world champion had been skiing too fast – rumours that his manager, Sabine Kehm, had vehemently denied from the start.  Prosecutors say they have not yet been able to establish the speed the Formula 1 legend was travelling at when he fell.

However, at the latest press conference in the French city of Albertville, the investigating team said that they had so far attended the scene of the accident in the resort of Meribel, spoken to witnesses and the medical teams.

The conference reported: “We have some analysis of the skis and the helmet. We have also examined the film which was made with the camera which was fixed to Mr Schumacher’s helmet. There are still a number of aspects that have to be carried out in order to be able to determine with as much precision as possible where the fall took place, the distance between the edge of the piste and the speed Mr Schumacher was going.  Mr Schumacher was going down the piste up until an intersection between two other pistes, one red one and one blue one. He follows the red piste to the left side and he then finds himself off piste.  He’s obviously a very good skier and is between three and six metres off piste.”

Chief gendarme Stephane Bozon clarified the situation: “Schumacher found himself in an area which was not marked with the dangers of the mountain. Mr Schumacher is in fact a very good skier, so he was going on the left-hand side in an area above what limits the main piste. He was on terrain that was really more sloped and because of that slope there was certain speed. He tried to reduce the speed, but there were a few curves, so a parallel trace remained to the direction he was going in.”

The chief prosecutor Patrick Quincy went on to explain:  “We will take advantage of this film in order to be able to once again recreate the situation. We will then know specifically the path Mr Schumacher followed…. This film will continue to be examined – in that way we will be able to establish with as much precision as much as possible what took place.”

It would seem that the following video, posted on You Tube was just a hoax and not the camera on Michael’s helmet at all:

 

Investigators are also examining Schumacher’s skis.  The Mirror newspaper speculates that there may have been problems with the bindings, reporting: “s boots malfunctioned seconds before his horrific skiing accident… if they failed, it could have meant Schumacher’s skis were released unnecessarily causing him to lose control.”

The bindings, of course, are the small fittings which secure your ski boots to your skis, and which are set to release the boots automatically from the skis in the event of a crash.

It is just the latest in a number of theories why the motor-racing legend and highly competent skier crashed into rocks on last year in the French resort of Meribel on 29 December, a sunny cloudless day of decent skiing conditions.

For a while it was touch and go whether Schumacher would pull through following the severe trauma to his head, as we reported in an earlier story HERE).  He has already undergone two emergency brain operations but has since shown some signs of improvement.

He remains in an artificially-induced coma.  His long-term outcome is as yet unknown.

According to an official statement from Sabine Kehm released on Monday “The clinical state of Michael Schumacher is considered as stable and is being continually monitored by the medical treatment administered to him…. However, the medical team in charge emphasize that they continue to judge his condition critical.”