Formula One champion Michael Schumacher, who has been in a coma since a skiing accident in December, is showing “small encouraging signs,” his agent has said.

In a statement on behalf of the family on Wednesday his agent said the family remains confident he will “pull through and wake up” but that there would be a “long and hard fight” ahead.

The seven times world champion is being treated at a hospital in the French city of Grenoble, after slamming his head on a rock while skiing in Meribel in the French Alps.

Schumacher was left with severe head injuries and in a coma.

Doctors have been lowering his sedation since the end of January to gradually wake him up.