By this point, we all know what happened to Felipe Massa just last weekend (the weekend before this one) at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Then there was the news that he would be back in a race car some day. And at the same time, Ferrari announced that The Stig, Michael Schumacher, would be taking Felipe’s place for the remainder of the season.
But now, as Massa went home to Brazil today to start his true recovery process, he talked to the media about what he does and doesn’t remember, how he feels, and what he thinks of Schumi being in his car, and thanks to Autocar, we have all of his speech.
“I don’t remember anything and that’s why what the doctors did had to be explained to me,” said Massa in his first interview since the accident, conducted before flying to Brazil.
“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.”
“First of all I want to thank God,” he said. “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 One, 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.”
“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.”
[Source: Autoblog via Autocar]
[Image: BERTRAND GUAY/AFP/Getty Images]