Felipe Massa on Monday said he felt back to his old self after driving a formula one car for the first time since sustaining serious head injuries in July. 79 days after his qualifying crash in Hungary, the Brazilian was at the wheel of a privately-owned two-year-old F2007, complete with slick GP2-spec tyres, at Ferrari's private Fiorano test track.

"It felt as if the incident never happened," he said. "I'm in good shape physically, I'm the same bastard as before," Massa, 28, joked.
"I had no problems and I'm ready to do a race, or two races in a row."

Ferrari has ruled out a return to the cockpit of his car number 3 at the last two races of 2009, but confirmed Massa as Fernando Alonso's teammate for next season.

"Obviously I'll take my time as a precaution, you have to respect that, but having got in the car I can tell you that I'm just as I was before the accident," said Massa.