Zanardi will be kept in an artificial coma until the beginning of next week

Alessandro Zanardi was hospitalized after a major accident last week. He was operated on immediately and has been in an artificial coma ever since. Earlier it was suggested that he will remain in a coma for the time being and the hospital where Zanardi is lying has given an official update on the current condition of the former F1 driver.

After the accident last Friday, Zanardi was taken to the hospital with a severe head wound. By now he has been in intensive care for four days and the doctors will not have his current anesthetic - or coma - taken off to check his neurological state. At least, they won't do this until next week, so he will remain in an artificial coma for at least another six days.

A representative of the hospital states via the F1 website that Zanardi's "neurological picture remains unchanged in its severity. The patient remains sedated, intubated and mechanically ventilated. Any reductions in sedo-analgesia, for the assessment of neurological status, will be considered starting next week." So it will take some time before there is more clarity about the neurological condition of the former F1-driver.

The head of neurosurgery, Dr. Giuseppe Olivieri, told Associated Press last weekend that Zanardi was in serious shape: "We won’t see what his neurological state is until he wakes up — if he wakes up. Serious condition means it’s a situation when someone could die. Improvement takes time in these cases."