Home » Sports » Motor Racing
Massa hopes for swift return
Source: Agencies |
August 4, 2009, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
INJURED Ferrari driver Felipe Massa left a Budapest hospital after nine days of treatment yesterday and said he hoped to make a swift return to Formula One.
The 28-year-old fractured his skull in an accident during qualifying at last month's Hungarian Grand Prix.
Massa boarded a private jet home to Brazil on his own feet yesterday and doctors expect him to make a full recovery. He was accompanied on the flight by his wife Raffaela, who is six months pregnant with their first child, and family doctor Dino Altman.
"I'm feeling much better now and I want to recover as soon as possible to get back behind the wheel of a Ferrari," Massa told the Italian Formula One team's Website.
He said he does not remember the accident on July 25, in which he was hit just above his left eye by a bouncing spring from fellow Brazilian Rubens Barrichello's Brawn car.
"It is sort of a strange feeling," he said. "I know exactly what happened, that a spring came off Rubens' car and hit me on the helmet, but I didn't feel anything when it happened. They told me that I lost consciousness at the moment of the spring's impact on my helmet and I ran into the barriers, then I woke up in hospital two days later. I don't remember anything and that's why what the doctors did had to be explained to me.
"The last thing I remembered was when I was behind him (Barrichello) at the end of my fast lap in Q2 and then it's blank."
Massa, last year's championship runner-up, spent several days in an induced coma and on a respirator before being released from an intensive care unit last Wednesday.
Germany's seven-time Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher, who retired in 2006, is set to replace the Brazilian at Ferrari while he recovers.
Massa is confident his former teammate will do a fine job. "Michael doesn't need my advice," Massa said. "It was him who gave me many tips during my career when we were racing together. He knows how to win, he knows how to drive and he's great.
"It was the best choice handing over the car to such a fantastic person and I'm sure that everybody will be happy to see him back on the track again - although I hope I'll be back on the track with Ferrari as soon as possible."
The 28-year-old fractured his skull in an accident during qualifying at last month's Hungarian Grand Prix.
Massa boarded a private jet home to Brazil on his own feet yesterday and doctors expect him to make a full recovery. He was accompanied on the flight by his wife Raffaela, who is six months pregnant with their first child, and family doctor Dino Altman.
"I'm feeling much better now and I want to recover as soon as possible to get back behind the wheel of a Ferrari," Massa told the Italian Formula One team's Website.
He said he does not remember the accident on July 25, in which he was hit just above his left eye by a bouncing spring from fellow Brazilian Rubens Barrichello's Brawn car.
"It is sort of a strange feeling," he said. "I know exactly what happened, that a spring came off Rubens' car and hit me on the helmet, but I didn't feel anything when it happened. They told me that I lost consciousness at the moment of the spring's impact on my helmet and I ran into the barriers, then I woke up in hospital two days later. I don't remember anything and that's why what the doctors did had to be explained to me.
"The last thing I remembered was when I was behind him (Barrichello) at the end of my fast lap in Q2 and then it's blank."
Massa, last year's championship runner-up, spent several days in an induced coma and on a respirator before being released from an intensive care unit last Wednesday.
Germany's seven-time Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher, who retired in 2006, is set to replace the Brazilian at Ferrari while he recovers.
Massa is confident his former teammate will do a fine job. "Michael doesn't need my advice," Massa said. "It was him who gave me many tips during my career when we were racing together. He knows how to win, he knows how to drive and he's great.
"It was the best choice handing over the car to such a fantastic person and I'm sure that everybody will be happy to see him back on the track again - although I hope I'll be back on the track with Ferrari as soon as possible."
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
