Sao Paulo Injured Ferrari driver Felipe Massa arrived home in Brazil on Monday after nine days of treatment in a Budapest hospital and said he hoped to make a swift return to Formula One.
The 28-year-old, who fractured his skull in an accident during qualifying at last month's Hungarian Grand Prix, went directly from Sao Paulo's international airport to one of the Brazil's best hospitals, where he will undergo more medical exams on Tuesday.
Massa, who flew by private jet to Brazil, entered the hospital on his own feet on Monday and doctors expect him to make a full recovery.
"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 (www.ferrari.com).
He said he did 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."
Last year's championship runner-up, Massa, spent several days in an induced coma and on a respirator before being released from an intensive care unit last on Wednesday.
Germany's seven-times 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 team mate will do a fine job.
"He knows how to win, he knows how to drive and he's great," he said. "It was the best choice, handing over the car to such a fantastic person."
No timetable has been given for Massa's return to Formula One.
Comments
0 comment