Michael Schumacher remains in a critical condition in hospital following a skiing accident.
The seven-time Formula One champion is in an induced coma in intensive care at the University Hospital of Grenoble after hitting his head on a rock in a crash in the resort of Meribel in the French Alps on Sunday.
Doctors treating the 44-year-old German said at a press conference they could not speculate on his prognosis.
But they said without his helmet he would already be dead.
They said: "We believe that taking into consideration the very violent shock, his helmet did protect him to a certain extent.
"Someone who would have had this accident without a helmet, he would certainly have not got to here."
Doctors said the brain scan Schumacher underwent on his arrival at the hospital showed "a great number of lesions".
The former racing driver is receiving treatment to reduce the pressure on the brain.
Doctors said: "The brain scan showed some intracranial haematoma, but also some cerebral contusions and edema. We operated urgently to try and eliminate the haematoma. After the operation we saw that we had been able to eliminate the haematoma, but also sadly the appearance of various bilateral lesions and so therefore he was taken to intensive care to try to help him."
They added: "His condition is critical as far as cerebral care. All the recommended treatments have been introduced."
They said he had only been operated on once and a second operation was at the moment not looking necessary.
Schumacher's family - he has two children with his wife Corinna - are at his bedside.
The doctors insisted it was far too early to make predictions about Schumacher future health.
"For the moment we are not able to express ourselves with regard to Michael Schumacher's future," they said.
The doctors, who also described Schumacher's condition as "extremely serious", added: "We are not currently able to talk about after-effects. We are talking about treatment and we are working hour by hour.
"Day and night we are at his bedside, but it is far too early to be able to say anything as far as prognosis is concerned."
Given the seriousness of his injury, despite the fact he was wearing a helmet, the doctors said the crash was likely to have taken place "at high speed".
Schumacher's body temperature is being kept at between 34 and 35 degrees. He is under general anaesthetic to reduce any external stimuli and keep oxygen getting to his brain.
Asked if his sporting background would help him to recover, the doctors said: "That's possible."
The doctors said they see similar accidents on a "regular basis every year".
"Sadly it really is something that is extremely frequent," they added.
Schumacher was with his 14-year-old son and had been skiing off piste when the accident occurred around 11am on Sunday.
A medical evacuation helicopter arrived in less than 15 minutes to take him to hospital.
The doctors said Schumacher was initially "agitated" and his neurological state then deteriorated when he arrived at hospital in Moutiers. He was then quickly airlifted to the Grenoble hospital.
They said that going to Moutiers first was not detrimental to his health.
Schumacher retired from F1 for a second time in 2012 after a three-season comeback with Mercedes.
Schumacher, who also raced for Jordan, Benetton and Ferrari, won the last of his world titles in 2004.
He won two with Benetton in 1994 and 1995 before moving to Ferrari and winning five in a row from 2000. The German has 91 career wins.
His return to the sport with Mercedes after a spell in retirement was less successful. He managed just one podium finish in his three years with the team and a best end-of-season placing of eighth in 2011.
During his first period of retirement, in 2009, he was taken to hospital after a motorbike crash during testing at a circuit in Cartagena, Spain.
He did not suffer serious injuries on that occasion.
Meribel, an upmarket resort, hosted the ice hockey and women's alpine skiing at the 1992 Winter Olympics.
Ms Kehm later issued a statement on behalf of Schumacher's family thanking medics and well wishers from across the world.
"We would like to thank the medical team who we know do everything possible to help Michael," it said.
"We like to also thank the people from all around the world who have expressed their sympathy and sent their best wishes for Michael's recovery.
"We would like to ask the media to respect the privacy of us and our friends and thank them for their support."
Schumacher's injuries have caused shock waves across the world - particularly in his native Germany. Fellow German-born sports star Boris Becker called on Twitter for prayers for a "full and speedy recovery" for the F1 champion.
German chancellor Angela Merkel said she was "extremely shocked along with millions of Germans" to learn of the accident.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article