SPOILER ALERT - Hungarian Qualifying
 

Wow.

I sure hope Massa is okay. I'm watching it on DVR and OUCH!

Hit in the head with a spring? I wouldn't be surprised if he can't race tomorrow. That could take a while to recover from.

I thinks it's pretty clear he went unconscious before the crash.

Ferrari said he will not race. He is undergoing surgery to remove small particles from the wound above his eye right now.

Ian

Incredible. The slow motion video from the car is uncanny. What are the odds for something like that to happen? Hope is recovers swiftly.

I read reports that his helmet was damaged and the entire visor was torn off when the spring hit him. He apparently has a cut on his forehead, bruising around his eye, bone damage to his skull, a concussion. I also read about surgery, as Ian said, and that they were going to keep him in intensive care.

In my opinion he was extremely unlucky that the spring hit him, but extremely fortunate that it didn't hit him full in the visor. My wife and I were saying that it was amazing that he managed to gain consciousness enough to hit the brakes before hitting the tires. That could have been much worse if he'd hit those going any faster.

Hope he recovers fairly quickly and isn't too phased by the incident.

Get well soon Felipe.

I didn't see it yet, my sister tells me it was serious.
Il'' be watching the news tonight.

Its on YouTube if you're fast.

It was amazing. I wonder if he will keep that helmet as a souvenir.

Massa undergoes surgery in intensive care
25 July 2009

Felipe Massa has been operated on in a Budapest hospital and remains in intensive care this evening. As reported earlier, the Brazilian driver suffered from concussion and a damaged skull in Hungary after striking a spring weighing 800 grams which had come loose from Rubens Barrichello's car.

With the section of track on which Massa was traveling seeing usual speeds of approximately 170 miles per hour, Massa was airlifted to hospital having been extracted from the car and taken to the Hungaroring's medical centre.

The latest Ferrari press release reads:

'Felipe Massa has undergone surgery this afternoon at the AEK hospital in Budapest and the outcome of the procedure was positive. Now, Felipe will remain under observation in intensive care. An update on his condition will be issued late tomorrow morning.'

GPUpdate.net has learned that Massa has suffered from bleeding in the brain as a result of the cracked skull and could miss the remainder of the season as a consequence.

Being carried out of his car....

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1248548392.jpg

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http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/77276

Now, I'm no Ferrari fan, but I don't want anyone to get hurt. Massa is a good guy, despite who he works for. I hope he recovers.

Just because he was conscious when he was put on the ambulance doesn't mean everything is fine. It can take minutes to hours for the brain to start swelling dangerously after an accident. Once again, I hope this isn't the case for him.

***

On the lighter side, I was a little amused when timing and scoring went down. I did notice that Alonso went from driver to driver and figured out who should be where. This was a good thing IMO, because it prevented the FIA from monkeying with the results.

None of that sounds very good. I hope he gets to live a normal life at the least and gets to drive again. Thankfully, the part didn't strike mostly the visor, or he might have lost his life over this detached part.

How is it possible to detach a spring from RB's car at speed (not having seen any other part of qualy)?

I remember some engineer in F1 saying: "If a part doesn't fail occasionally, it's probably too heavy."

I'm guessing whatever bracket held the spring (probably carbon fiber) failed. It could be a one-off mistake, or a design flaw. It's even more freakish that Massa's car picked it up. I suspect that Button's car is being gone over with a fine-toothed comb right now as a second such failure will probably get both Brawn cars sidelined.

Just because he was put in the amulance does not mean anything. For you old racing fans, just remember Mark Donohue, 1975, hit a fence post at this same event, went back to the pits, and died the next day from head injuries. Prayers to Massa.

This is looking worse:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090725/ap_on_sp_au_ra_ne/car_f1_massa_crash

Wow 800 grams is 1.75 lbs. It is amazing he was able to slow down at all. He is lucky to be alive and under full medical care. Good luck Mr. Masa

Better news . . .

"Felipe Massa has been operated on this evening and is now in an induced coma in the AEK Hospital in Budapest.

An inaccurate report from AP this evening suggested that his condition was life threatening but this is not the case. The operation was successful and he is likely to be woken tomorrow.

Medical estimates of how long he will be out of action vary from two months, to longer. It has been suggested by one doctor here that he may miss the rest of the season. More will be known when the medically induced coma ends and the medics can assess the amount of bruising to the front of the brain.

The 28 year old was hit in the head by a spring which had fallen from the rear suspension of Rubens Barrichello’s Brawn car. He was on a lap heading back to the pits and was four seconds behind Barrichello on the road, when the spring became detached. It bounced down the road for four seconds and hit Massa in the head. He was briefly knocked unconscious and his feet went onto the brake and throttle simultaneously.

The data says that he applied 60bar of pressure to the brake, which is the equivalent of laying his foot on it gently, while the throttle was effectively jammed on."

from JA.F1

Ian

Interesting to note that the car did downshift several gears apparently on its own as he straightlined across the track and into the tires. Might have saved him much worse injuries.

I really hope massa is able to lead a normal life, his racing carreer could definately be over from this, being in an induced coma is NOT good news.........
Being hit in the head by a 2lb spring at 170mph is not something which should be taken lightly.........

Any questions read my signature and do a search.......even if he leaves the hospital he won't be healed for years....

Strange how these things frequently happen in pairs/threes. Take the weekend that Senna and Ratzenberger were killed (and Barrichello had the worst crash of his career) for example. Now, we have this incident with Massa, right on the heels of the death of 18 y.o. Henry Surtees (son of John Surtees) last week at Brands Hatch. The incident was eerily similar, and involved an arrant wheel from another car striking him in the head.

I'm sure he'll be OK.
Remember Mika Hakkinen? He had a big accident in Adelaide in 1995 and ended up with serious head injuries and in an induced coma. He was perfectly normal afterwards, for a Fin at least. He went on to become a double World Champion.

Look at the video from that and remember that this was before the Hans device...

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I'm really glad that the news is better than it was this afternoon. For some reason The Dish only recorded 8 min of qualifying, so I never saw it, but I saw a terrifying crawl on ESPN, and I feared the worst.

It is looking better for Massa at least from a life threatening point of view, I hope he is able to resume his life as it was before, but obviously no one can know what is going to happen going forward.

A totally freak accident, for sure; and coming on the heels of the Surtees crash, I certainly hope that the race is free from this kind of drama (indeed, I hope that all race events around the world go off well tomorrow) because as many have mentioned, this stuff can happen in threes.

Get Well Soon, Felipe. You have a new baby on the way. He needs you.

Don't forget about the Karl Wendlinger crash, the same weekend (or was it the next?) that Senna died. I don't think Wendlinger ever drove at the highest levels again.

Wow, is that a creepy pic or what? The close up of his face after being taken out of his car. His left eye looks he's passed. :(

I hope he is better soon and able to continue his racing.

I don't wish him ill, but that statement is pure polyanna(ish). Head injuries are funny things and can result in very sudden demise (remember Liam Neeson's wife Natasha Richardson?) I wonder what Barrichello is saying to himself.

The stewards better take a very close look at the Brawn cars to make sure it can't happen again.

Actually, that was (ironically) Barrichello that crashed that weekend as well. His crash had all the makings for being a really bad one. Luckily it was not.

an update on massa....


BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP)—Ferrari driver Felipe Massa remained in “life-threatening” but stable condition on Sunday following surgery on multiple skull fractures.

Peter Bazso, the AEK hospital medical director, told reporters that Massa would be kept sedated until Monday, but will be woken up periodically during that time.

When asked whether Massa’s life remained in danger, Bazso answered: “Yes, of course.”

Bazso said doctors were able to “remove the broken bones and stabilize the area,” procedures required to treat Massa’s “an open skull fracture and a contusion.”

He did not speculate how long it would take Massa to recover, or whether there would be any long-term effects of the injury.

“At the moment, we have to overcome this life-threatening condition,” Bazso said, adding that a CT scan revealed “expected results after an operation of this type.”

Massa’s parents and wife arrived at the hospital Sunday after flying in from Brazil, and doctors woke Massa temporarily to check on his condition and so that he could see his family.

Team principal Stefano Domenicali and several Ferrari staff were also on hand to support Massa’s family, which included pregnant wife Anna Rafaela.

The spring from Rubens Barrichello’s Brawn GP car bounced into Massa’s helmet as the 28-year-old driver reached speeds of about 120 mph. The impact concussed Massa, who plowed into the protective tire barrier.

Massa, who finished runner-up to Lewis Hamilton in the F1 championship last year, underwent surgery around 4:20 p.m. local time Saturday, about an hour after being airlifted to the hospital. He was conscious at the time.

The impact of the rear suspension part, believed to be made of steel, damaged the left side of Massa’s helmet, ripping out the visor and leaving a long gash in its side. Blood was seen on Massa’s left brow.

The crash came less than a week after Henry Surtees, the son of former F1 champion John Surtees, died in similar circumstances an F2 race last Sunday. Surtees was struck in the head by a tire from another car, causing him to lose consciousness and drive into a barrier.

Governing body FIA was expected to launch an investigation into the crash after several drivers and team principals called for safety measures to be re-examined.

No F1 driver has died on the track since three-time champion and fellow Brazilian Ayrton Senna’s crash at Imola 15 years ago.

AP Auto Racing Writer Paul Logothetis contributed to this report.

Barichello's crash was one of the most horrific looking ones I've ever seen:

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That Barrichello crash was certainly scary looking initially, but you have a number of mitigating factors, actual speed into the barrier, angle, the crush/decel of components outside of the tub, the fence (which really distributes/slows decel) etc. Massa is in a much different situation. Plus the brain is a very fragile organ sloshing around in a bag (meninges) in a box (skull).

Anyway, Massa's noodle was almost directly affected. If he pulls through (and I think he should live) he is so lucky that the thing didn't impact his visor more than his helmet. He may never drive again however.:(

I hope he pulls through just for his unborn childs sake.......being able to drive again is an afterthought.....

Once again we are reminded that F1 and indeed most auto racing can be a dangerous sport.
Godspeed Felipe.

Slideshow of Massa:

http://www.planetf1.com/Gallery_Detail/0,17732,3524_5474111_1,00.html

Bump.

Nothing!

Pictures of Massa leaving the hospital in the link above.