F1 driver Felipe Massa came through surgery just fine, and has been awakened on multiple occasions to allow communication with family, CNN is reporting. Massa, of course, underwent surgery for head injuries sustained when he crashed during Hungarian GP
qualifying on Saturday. He remains in an induced coma, but doctors at AEK hospital in Budapest are expected to bring him out of it later today.
Ferrari's Massa was hit in the helmet by a 2-pound spring that came loose from Brawn's Rubens Barrichello's car. At speed, the impact was enough to knock him unconscious, causing him to lose control of his car and crash into a tire barrier. The official F1 website even has a diagram of the crash.
Just about every story you read on this topic today has suggestions for how safety might be improved in Formula (everything from stronger helmets to closed cockpits). And for the moment, the Renault team has been suspended after Fernando Alonso's right front tire came loose as he was leaving the pits on Sunday and bounced across the track.
Do you think additional safety measures should be taken in open-wheel racing, or was Massa's accident a freak occurence in a sport that invariably presents some risk to participants?
Update: The Guardian quotes one of Massa's doctors as saying, "He has suffered some damage to his [left] eye. We don't know if he'll be able to race again."
Photo Source: SpeedTV
felonious says:
09:52 AM, 07/27/09
Unfortunately, auto racing is inherently dangerous. While I feel we should continue to research ways to keep drivers and others safe, there are always going to be freak accidents that cannot be avoided. People who participate in this sport know and accept these risks.
Speedy recovery, Felipe!
e10rice says:
12:11 PM, 07/27/09
I was watching this live Saturday morning on the Speed Channel, and it was a freak occurence. Im not even sure they know yet how the spring of the Brawn car came off. He wasnt in an accident or anything. This is just something that can't be prepared for. There is so much that goes into the drivers safety from the Hans device, helmets and the cars structure that surrounds the driver that the only way to fully insure the safety would be to enclose the cockpit. But thats not open wheel racing and its not F1.
Goog luck Felipe, you and your family are in our prayers, hope to see you back on the track when your ready.
beermagazine says:
01:50 PM, 07/27/09
You can't make safety rules for freak accidents. The spring hitting in the head was dumb luck, the tire coming off was a bad pit stop...that's going to happen. People die in auto racing. If we wanted safe we'd race at 10mph.
I was amazed and frightened for Masa watching, but nothing could change that. It's sort of like building an F1 car to withstand an airstrike...odds are that's not happening either.