Formula One news: Massa awake and talking on Monday afternoon - GPUpdate.net Formula One


Felipe Massa has been woken early in Budapest's AEK hospital after doctors saw marked improvements in the Brazilian's condition, with reactions when being spoken to via the movement of limbs.

With the news coming as great relief to Formula One fans around the world, Massa's condition - which was life threatening after his accident - is no longer declared as critical. "In the last twenty-four hours some major changes have gone through in the condition of Felipe Massa," said Colonel Dr. Lajos Zsíros. "His condition continues to be stable. During the CT scan we performed we could ascertain that there was an improvement in his condition. We stopped sedation and after that Felipe Massa became capable of making contact.

"So in the afternoon we stopped the artificial ventilation of Felipe. As we speak he is sleepy but he gives adequate answers to the questions we ask him and can move his arms and legs spontaneously. Right now he has no fever and we have removed the drain tube from his wound - further improvement of his condition can be expected. During the night we do not plan to perform any more interventions on him."

It must be stressed, however, that the full extent to damage sustained by Massa's eye is still yet to be discovered. "He spoke, he wanted to know what had happened to him and he had some questions," added Brazilian Grand Prix chief medical officer Dino Altmann, who was at today's press conference for Massa in the Hungarian capital. "I would like to say that the family is very happy with the treatment Felipe is receiving here and there's no question about transfer at the moment."

 

That's great news. It says a lot about the general physical conditioning of an F1 driver that they can bounce back like this. I remember watching the wreck in qualifying, and it was obvious that he blacked out for a second or two, then came to enough to lock up the brakes (which takes a not insubstantial amount of force in an F1 car). So, a pound of metal hits you in the head at a speed well above a major league pitcher or professional tennis player, and you black out for less time than it takes to say '1-geronimo'?

Hopefully his vision is unaffected, and he'll be back in the saddle next season (or sooner).

 

Very good news, I hope he is able to return to F1. He definitely appears to be someone with the drive to do so. I totally agree with PMac that his conditioning as an F1 driver is going to be highly beneficial in his recovery.