Sports
This Thursday marks the 15th anniversary of the accident that severely injured Felipe Massa in 2009. Throughout qualifying for that yr’s Formulation 1 Hungarian Extensive Prix, the Brazilian was once hit at excessive bound by a spring that had smooth from Rubens Barrichello’s Brawn. To boot to the Brazilian’s accident, that bustle was once moreover marked by a series of necessary events. Files and deepest milestones had been damaged in Budapest in 2009. On the opposite hand, it was once all overshadowed by Massa’s accident.
In an bizarre interview with Motorsport Brasil, Massa spoke about the drama he experienced on the time and highlighted the factors on the aid of his return—and the difficulties of getting aid on the aid of the wheel of the Ferrari.
Photo by: Sutton Photos
The backstory
The 2008 season had ended on a excessive for Massa—the Brazilian had won the closing bustle of the yr, in Brazil, and for a few temporary moments had the driving force’s title in his hands. On the opposite hand, Timo Glock slipped within the rain within the closing corners of Interlagos and was once overtaken by Lewis Hamilton, who completed fifth and won (or, as Massa contends, was once improperly given) the 2008 driver’s title by a single point.
In 2009, F1 underwent profound adjustments and the demolish groups fell on the aid of the excellent-attempting Brawn GP and an emerging Crimson Bull. Over the direction of the yr, Ferrari and McLaren recovered. Exact as the Italian crew was once about to shine again, Massa suffered the accident in Budapest.
Throughout qualifying for the Hungarian Extensive Prix, a spring smooth from Rubens Barrichello’s automotive and, after bouncing alongside the be aware, hit Massa’s helmet at over 250 km/h. Massa went into shock and lost consciousness straight. The automotive went straight through a nook and crashed into the tire barrier.
Massa was once taken by helicopter to Budapest’s military scientific institution, where he received treatment, where he spent nine days—two in an induced coma—and underwent two operations. After being discharged, he underwent extra plastic surgical treatment to ranking higher the residence of his skull that had been hit by the spring. He would miss the relaxation of the 2009 season (returning in 2010), and the accident would force a security push that ended in the adoption of the halo on fresh F1 automobiles.
Lifestyles goes on
In taking a gape aid on that day 15 years ago, Massa tells Motorsport, “I’m very grateful that it was once my day, thank God.” The assertion may per chance presumably moreover just attain as a surprise.
“A good deal of oldsters say it was once heart-broken, but I have faith that, while you happen to search for at what befell…on the one hand, I was once heart-broken, for the reason that spring ended up upright in my head. Nonetheless I was once moreover very lucky, because nowadays I’m here living my lifestyles, in large effectively being, and I’m fully chuffed to web my family.”
Massa disregarded the topic as off-limits for him or his family. “The folks closest to me—Rafaela [his wife], my fogeys, brothers, and pals—suffered much extra than I did. They saw the accident and I did now not stare one thing that befell. Rafaela was once six months pregnant with Felipinho, so he did now not stare one thing both,” acknowledged Massa. “Nonetheless that will not be any longer a taboo field within the family.”
“We thank God plenty because I’m soundless here, living with them,” says Massa. “I’m Catholic and I pray on every day foundation, inquiring for effectively being for me and my family. Even when I invent no longer race to church very in general, every time I race by I race in and gentle a candle to give thanks.”
The Ferrari F60 of Felipe Massa is returned to the pits
Photo by: Motorsport Photos
Asked if, after the accident, anybody if truth be told helpful him that he was once now no longer the identical as earlier than, Massa denies it—pointing out that the most acid criticism came from the clicking. He believes that his lack of victories in F1 will not be any longer connected to the accident, but to the dearth of aggressive automobiles.
“No one ever if truth be told helpful me I wasn’t the identical. For sure I was once criticized plenty within the clicking, because after my accident I never won one other bustle in F1. Nonetheless I came end a lot of times.
“Unfortunately I was once denied victory in Germany, within the bustle that befell of living exactly one yr after my accident, on July 25, 2010. That was once one of the saddest days of my lifestyles. After that, I experienced a assorted length, because I now no longer had a aggressive automotive to compete for victories as I did earlier than.
“I invent no longer if truth be told feel that one thing has changed, within the sense of how I was once earlier than and the map I’m nowadays. What I will be capable to say is that nowadays I appreciate lifestyles much extra—each my maintain and various folks’s. Due to you never think one thing goes to happen, but when it does, you value lifestyles much extra. I value mine one-hundred p.c, and I’m grateful for it on every day foundation.”
“And I hope I soundless web so much of ground before me to proceed having fun with my lifestyles and utilizing, which is what I desire to attain,” says the Brazilian. “Nonetheless with so much of security and effectively being, which is the largest thing.”