Exclusive interview with Felipe Massa: “I hope I'll be back on the
track soon!”
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. |
