Felipe Massa has vowed to attend his home race next month, even though he admits it will be tough to watch another driver at the wheel of his number-three Ferrari. Former Force India star Giancarlo Fisichella is replacing Massa for the final five races of 2009 as the Brazilian continues to recuperate from his Hungaroring accident.
Massa suffered a fractured skull after he was struck by a loose spring from another car during qualifying for July’s Hungarian Grand Prix and is expected to return to competition at the start of next season. He watched the following Valencia race and subsequent rounds on television, but plans to be at Interlagos - where he had hoped to make his F1 return.
“It will be much worse when I have to watch the race in Brazil,” he said. “That was the race I wanted to come back in but it’s difficult to say if it would’ve been possible. It will be difficult to watch it, but I will be there.” Formula 1
“My wife has already asked me, at least 10 times, ‘Are you sure you don’t feel any doubts or worries?’ Always, I say, ‘No, because this is what I like to do.’ Ever since I was a small boy this is my life. This is what I like to do.”
“You need to think about luck in different ways,” Massa said. “I was actually very unlucky with the spring in my face,” he says. “But I was very lucky as well. Every doctor said the same. If the spring had gone one millimetre to the right I would have lost my sight. One millimetre to the left and who knows? I could have been brain damaged. So I was very lucky. And this is more important because it is my life.”
Last week Massa returned from a battery of neurological tests in Miami – that provided absolute confirmation that he is almost ready to resume his career. “Actually, I am OK. The only problem is I need surgery to close a bone in my head that they had taken away because it was completely damaged. A normal guy can live like this without any problem. But for a driver, if you have an accident and you have this problem, the recovery is more difficult. That’s why I need this surgery to close the bone. I will have it soon because that’s the only reason they won’t allow me to race now. Otherwise I feel the same as before. I’m going to Europe to use the simulator and drive some go-karts and then I will know very well if I’m 100%.” Auto Racing Daily
