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 city’s best hospitals, where he will undergo more medical exams.
“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 Web site.
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. 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 was confident his former teammate 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.
(SD-Agencies)