HUNGARY: MOTOR RACING: Bernie Ecclestone tells reporters that the doctors are satisfied with injured Massa's condition

Record ID: 791995

  • Title: HUNGARY: MOTOR RACING: Bernie Ecclestone tells reporters that the doctors are satisfied with injured Massa's condition
  • Date: 26th July 2009
  • Summary: HOSPITAL EXTERIOR AMBULANCE LEAVING GATE CLOSING
  • Embargoed: 10th August 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Hungary
  • Country: Hungary
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes,Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA9ZPYC8Z8U6SJT7BP0T7MQST8
  • Story Text: Formula One driver Felipe Massa was in intensive care on Saturday (July 25) after being hit on the head by bouncing debris and crashing heavily in his Ferrari during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
    Current Formula One champions Ferrari said the Brazilian had emergency surgery at Budapest's AEK hospital which went well and a further update would be issued on Sunday (July 26).
    After visiting Massa in hospital President and CEO of Formula One Management, Bernie Ecclestone told reporters that the doctors were satisfied with Massa's condition.
    "The doctors are happy, he is in a stable condition, and they'll know a lot more tomorrow, " Ecclestone said. "He is sleeping at the moment so there's no impressions. I know that his doctors are happy with him, his condition,"
    Massa's car ploughed straight on at turn four and into the tyre wall. He suffered a cut forehead, skull damage and concussion when hit by a fist-sized spring weighing around 800 grams that fell off compatriot Rubens Barrichello's Brawn car seconds earlier.
    Massa appeared to have been knocked unconscious before the car left the track.
    Fans of Massa who waited for news outside the hospital were worried but hopeful of his recovery.
    "Well, for me, he is the best in the F1, and he would have really deserved to be a world champion. And we hope he will make a recovery and can carry on in the future," Marianna Kovacs said. "He will recover, he will and everything is going to be okay," another fan said.
    The accident brought back memories of the crash that killed compatriot and triple champion Ayrton Senna at Imola in 1994. Senna died at the San Marino Grand Prix after his Williams careered off the track and into a concrete wall, the driver suffering a fatal head injury.
    Massa's accident also followed the death last Sunday of Britain's Henry Surtees, 18-year-old son of Ferrari's 1964 Formula One champion John Surtees, who was killed by a loose wheel hitting him on the head in a race at Brands Hatch.
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