Maranello, 3th August 2009
This morning Felipe Massa left Budapest in the direction of Sao Paulo do
Brasil, where he will arrive in the evening. His wife Raffaela and his
personal doctor Dino Altmann are travelling with him, while the rest if his
family left for Brazil yesterday.
Before leaving the AEK hospital, where he recovered after the accident
during the Hungarian GP's qualifying, Felipe gave an exclusive interview to
the official Ferrari website.
How do you feel? What do you remember from the accident?
“It is sort of a strange feeling. I know exactly what happened, that a spring
came off Rubens' car and hit me on the helmet. I know that something
happened to me, but I didn't feel anything when it happened. They told me
that I lost consciousness at the moment of the spring's impact on my
helmet and I ran into the barriers, then I woke up in hospital two days later.
I don't remember anything and that's why what the doctors did had to be
explained to me. When I saw Rob (Smedley, his race engineer), he asked
me if I remembered Rubens, but the last thing I remembered was when I
was behind him at the end of my fast lap in Q2, and than it's blank. It's
difficult to explain. I'm feeling much better now and I want to recover as
soon as possible to get back behind the wheel of a Ferrari.”
Do you want to thank anyone?
“First of all I want to thank God. Then I want to thank the doctors at the race
track and at Budapest's AEK hospital, who have done a lot for me, and
Dino Altmann, who came with my family from Brazil and who was
extraordinary over the last days.
But I also want to thank everybody who prayed and who wrote to me via my
own and Ferrari's website, hoping that everything went well. So many
people wrote to me, also many who aren't interested in Formula 1, but had
heard about what happened to me: thank you so much and I want to tell
them that I'm praying also for them. I would have done the same if an
accident had happened to another driver: I would have prayed for him that
everything went well.”
How much help was the fact that your family was here over the last
days?
“My family is important to me. They have always been close to me during
my career, victories and defeats, and the most difficult moments. There
was only Edoardo at Budapest, but when the accident happened Raffaela,
my father, my mother and then my sister came to Hungary. I know that
they've suffered a lot and I want to thank them. And then there's another
family I have to thank: the Ferrari family. They were great, they helped us in
any possible way and it's a great thing to be part of this group.”
What's your first wish when you get back to Brazil?
“Coming back to my home, checking that everything is as it was before.
Many things have happened over the last days and I want to get back to a
normal life. I want to get back into the best possible condition, doing things
you do every day.”
For a while your car will be driven by Michael Schumacher: do you have
any advice for him?
“Michael doesn't need my advice! It was him who gave me many tips
during my career when we were racing together. He knows how to win, he
knows how to drive and he's great: it was the best choice handing over the
car to such a fantastic person and I'm sure that everybody will be happy to
see him back on the track again. Although I hope I'll be back on the track
with Ferrari as soon as possible.
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