Berger thought of Schumacher after own ski fall

Gerhard Berger has admitted he thought of fellow F1 legend Michael Schumacher when he lay injured in the snow late last week.

Austrian Berger, a former Ferrari and McLaren driver and ex BMW and Toro Rosso F1 chief, is now recovering at home after surgery for a badly broken arm suffered when he fell at the Skiwelt Wilder Kaiser Brixental resort in Austria.

Unlike the comatose Schumacher, who tripped on a rock and struck another with his head in the French alps, 54-year-old Berger fell on a forest road onto a concrete drainage pipe.

"Further to the left and I would have hit my head on it," he told the Austrian news agency APA.

"Good and bad luck lie so closely together."

Berger confirmed that he had surgery on the injury to insert a plate with twelve screws in his arm.

"Even a nerve was injured, so I cannot really move my wrist, but I will again. The bottom line is that it was painful, but I’m glad it was that and no more.

"I already have some plates in my body, so it’s just one more."

Asked if he thought of Schumacher’s serious injuries when he was laying in the snow, Berger admitted: "Of course I did.

"It was similar to him — I was not going fast or doing a risky move."

Berger, who recently attended the Bahrain tests, will watch this weekend’s Melbourne season opener from home.