Felipe Massa has no doubts about returning to Formula One despite coming close to losing his sight in his horrific accident.
Brazilian has no doubts about returning after horror smash
Felipe Massa has no doubts about returning to Formula One despite revealing that he was desperately close to losing his sight in his horrific accident.
Massa was knocked out by a spring which had come off Rubens Barrichello's Brawn GP car during the Hungarian GP, which resulted in him slamming into the tyre wall.
The spring battered into his helmet and he was put in an induced coma in hospital whilst in a 'critical' condition according to the doctors in Hungary.
The likeable Brazilian is now on the road to recovery, and hopes to be back behind the wheel in Formula One next year after undergoing another operation to repair his skull.
Although unlucky to hit the spring at 170mph, Massa says that he is also lucky that it did not cause permanent damage to his left eye.
Luck
"You need to think about luck in different ways," Massa said in
The Guardian.
"I was actually very unlucky with the spring in my face. 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."
Despite being in such a crash, Massa has no lingering doubts about returning to drive his Ferrari again.
"It is my life," he added. "For me, the worst thing that happened was not being able to race. If you can't drive that's terrible.
"But 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.' If I don't drive then I am not the same person.
"Ever since I was a small boy this is my life. This is what I like to do.
"So I really hope, and expect, nothing will change inside me when I go back into the car and start pushing myself to the maximum again."
Operation
Massa would already be racing if it was his decision, but he first needed a further operation to insert a titanium plate into his skull to strengthen it after sustaining such damage.
"Actually, I am OK," he said. "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."
