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If things go accordingly then the newly initiated ban on Formula One testing during the season may force the Ferrari team to play safe and opt for one of its test drivers, Luca Badoer or Marc Gene, to substitute for the injured Felipe Massa for the remaining seven rounds of the world championship starting with European grand prix at Valencia on 23 August.
Massa, while still described as groggy, was talking, breathing unassisted and moving his limbs at the AEK Military Hospital. However, doctors said that the injured to his left eye could seriously jeopardize his future as a Formula One driver.
The Brazilian underwent surgery on Saturday to a serious head wound suffered during qualifying at the Hungaroring. While travelling at 160mph, he was hit on the helmet by a suspension spring that had fallen off the car driven by Rubens Barrichello. As Felipe Massa made continued improvements in his recovery from serious head injuries in hospital in Budapest last night, speculation was building that Michael Schumacher could replace him at Ferrari.
This harsh reality emerged in the wake of Michael Schumacher’s decision not to try making a comeback with the Italian team for which he won five of his seven world championship titles before retiring at the end of 2006. Schumacher’s long-time manager, Willi Weber, today confirmed that he was “200% sure” that the 40-year-old German would not be competing when the racing resumes after the month-long mid-season break. This assertion by Weber came shortly after Schumacher’s spokeswoman Sabine Kehm seemed to suggest that Schumacher would not rule out the prospect of driving the car, although, if he did, he would need to get a neck injury, sustained in a motorcycle accident some months ago, checked out before making a decision.
There is a trim likelihood that Ferrari might be able to confer Fernando Alonso’s release from Renault for him to compete at least in Valencia, the second of two Spanish rounds of the title chase. As things stand Alonso will be twiddling his thumbs over the European grand prix weekend as the Renault squad was suspended from this race after Alonso’s car lost in insecurely-attached front wheel in Sunday’s Hungarian grand prix. Neither Badoer nor Gene are regarded as front-line drivers. Badoer is 38 and has been a Ferrari test driver for 12 years prior to which he raced unsuccessfully for Minardi in Formula One. Gene also drove for Minardi and then drove three grands prix for BMW Williams before joining Ferrari in 2005.
Massa, meanwhile, is recovering well and could walk out of a Budapest hospital on his own within 10 days, his doctor saidtoday. “My expectation is that he would walk out of the hospital,” said Peter Bazso, the medical director of the AEK hospital. “If his recovery continues at this pace, I wouldn’t rule out that he could leave within 10 days.”
Luca Di Montezemolo, the Ferrari president, who flew into the Hungarian capital to be by Massa’s bedside, said that his main concern was the driver’s recovery and that the team would consider his replacement later.
“Our first priority now is to find out the situation with Felipe and then we will see and we will think, without pressure,” he said. “Only at that moment will we make a decision and, if we have to take a decision, we will make a good decision.”
