.:: 2009 Hungarian GP Thread ::.

MASSA UNDERGOES SUCCESSFUL SURGERY

Felipe Massa has successfully undergone surgery for the injuries he suffered in his accident in qualifying in Hungary.

Ferrari said the driver will now remain under observation in the intensive care unit at the AEK hospital in Budapest, where the Brazilian was taken after being hit by a spring during Q2.

Massa had suffered a damaged skull and brain concussion, as well as a cut on his forehead.

The Italian team said a further update on his condition will be issued tomorrow morning.

Brawn confirmed the spring belonged to a damper from Rubens Barrichello's Brawn car, weighing around 800 grams.

"We had a problem at the back, so we are still investigating and we haven't had the piece back from the FIA yet so once we get it back we can understand what occurred and then draw some conclusions," said team boss Ross Brawn.

"It is the first time we've had a problem with the car. The car has been really reliable and we are obviously looking all through the data to understand what caused the problem. It is hard to comment at the moment until we have studied everything.

"We put a new component on Jenson's car in qualifying just to be safe, but we are still studying everything that went on to understand what happened."

SOURCE: Autosport

Had to work today, and i only just sat down to watch quali replay about an hour ago, so was shocked by all the drama!!

 Lets hope Felipe makes a speedy recover.

On another note, Button is running heavy so maybe a 2 stopper is the order of the day??

Things may have taken a turn for the worst.. update soon :(

UPDATE:
It's all very unclear, Sky and the Associated Press say he's in a 'life threatening' condition, James Allen says to ignore them. I'm tempted to ignore them, the surgery was supposedly 'positive'. So no need to be concerned yet :)

UPDATE 2:

Ok so here's the situation. According to the hospital, Massa's condition is serious, life-threatening but stable. That's a contrast to what we heard earlier. This is coming from the BBC now too. I'm sure we'll hear more.

Felipe Massa will not be replaced tomorrow. Therefore, Raikkonen will be the sole Ferrari representative.Redders1989

An interesting thing I found in an article that I remembered about after talking to Kip:

[QUOTE="F1 Racing Magazine - April 2009"]Both the shell and visor are penetration tested. For the shell, a 4KG metal spike is dropped onto the helmet; for the visor, a one-gram lead pellet is fired at three points, at a velocity of up to 323mph. Should any penetration occur, the helmet fails.Redders1989

I don't think that the collision between Massa's helmet and the debris was more than 323mph, so we may possibly be looking at a helmet failure as well here.

Don't be so sure. Massa was going forward on the fastest part of the track at top speed (about 170mph), and there is no telling how fast that spring was expelled from the back Barichello's car. And the spring would be much heavier that 4kg.XSamFisherX

The spring weighed 800 grams, according to Autosport.

According to Sky News, word from the hospital is Massa is now in a "stable and satisfactory condition".

BBC Sport's latest (4 minutes after typing this) is that Massa is in a "Serious but stable" condition, so take from that what you will. Felipe is currently under anaesthetic and will be woken up tomorrow morning.

James Allen has posted the following on Twitter:

"Massa's doctor reporting to Brazilian media that brain scan is clear and signs are positive. Family is en route to Hungary now."

Whereas Rubens Barrichello has posted this:

"I just came back from the hospital. Felipe went through a surgery which went very well. Now he is asleep waiting for a new scan tomorrow."

I know in the grand scheme of things this isn't important (and i say this as a Massa fan who is desperate for news that he will get through this) but i have a terrible feeling this could be the end of Massa"s career as who knows what the extent of his injuries are, plus as a farther to be he may change his priorities in life after this.Racky_rules

Even if he does pull through, this does look like it's going to be a long recovery. I think Kip was right, he text me earlier saying he thinks Massa will be out for quite a while as a result.

According to Sky News, it was a double fracture for Felipe Massa: One at the base of the skull, and one where the cut occurred.

It will be sad if he does go as he did bring an interesting race type to Formula One, however his recovery is what matters now really.

But if we look to the future then it will be interesting to see what happens, whether Ferrari do use Gene or Badore or go for a new driver completley until Massa is able to return (I hope that he does).

FORMULA ONE TO INVESTIGATE ACCIDENT

Formula 1 is to conduct an investigation into the accident in which Ferrari driver Felipe Massa suffered a fractured skull.

The probe will attempt to discover the causes of the incident and whether any changes are required to improve safety.

Brazilian Massa was hit on the helmet by a spring that had fallen off Rubens Barrichello's Brawn GP car during Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying.

Massa, 28, is stable after surgery and will undergo a further scan on Sunday.

His accident came six days after 18-year-old Henry Surtees was killed after being hit on the head by a wheel from a crashed car in a Formula Two race in England.

The investigation into Massa's incident will be conducted by F1's governing body the FIA and the Brawn team.

Barrichello's car suffered a failure in its rear suspension as the Brazilian, one of Massa's closest friends, went through Turn Three of the Hungaroring during final qualifying.

The spring came off the car and bounced along the track until Massa's Ferrari came on to the scene four seconds later.

The spring hit the front left-hand side of Massa's helmet when he was travelling at 162mph. His feet were on both the accelerator and the brake before he hit the barrier at Turn Four, at which point he had slowed to 62mph.

Insiders believe Massa's life may have been saved by the latest generation of carbon-fibre helmets, which were introduced four years ago and are approximately twice as strong as their predecessors.

The stronger helmets are one of a number of improvements have been made in recent years to protect drivers' heads.

Cockpit sides have been raised and the drivers wear a head and neck restraint device to protect them from the high G-forces involved in accidents.

Brawn team boss Ross Brawn described the incident as "a freak accident" and said F1 needed to fully investigate what had happened before deciding whether changes needed to be made.

"We need to keep a perspective on it - from what's been seen last weekend and this, we need to have a proper study to see if we need to do anything," he said.

"We need to digest what's happened and understand it properly.

"It is time to look at the whole thing and take a balanced approach. You can have covers or canopies but you have to be able to get at the driver and extract him if there is an accident. And you don't want anything that collapses down on a driver.

"It is something we will look at. In the history of F1 it is a fairly rare occurrence, but we must take it seriously and see what we can do.

"If there's a need to react, I'm sure F1 will promptly. But we must make sure we don't do something that makes the situation worse."

SOURCE: BBC Sport

Everyone from 11th-20th will move forward a grid position as Massa won't be there. Therefore, positions are now as follows:

10th - Sebastien Buemi
11th - Jarno Trulli
12th - Rubens Barrichello
13th - Timo Glock
14th - Nelson Piquet
15th - Nick Heidfeld
16th - Giancarlo Fisichella
17th - Adrian Sutil
18th - Robert Kubica
19th - Jaime Alguersuari

.

Go Felipe - Our love is with you.

Todays race was quite exciting today, just overshadowed by the accident involving massa yesterday.

Piquet lives for another day as he finished ahead of Alonso (by default!!) :lol:

I was surprised to see the size of the spring at the start of coverage today - that's a hefty lump of metal. Let's hope Massa makes a full recovery. After Kubica had a big crash a couple of years ago the F1 doctor was keen to keep drivers with head injuries away from racing until the risks were low - it's not just recovering from that accident, but the risks of what would happen should he get into another incident while still fragile.

Great result for Hamilton, and looks like McLaren have finally got their car into the form it should have started the season with. I'm sure Webber is a bit disappointed with his 3rd place, as having seen Vettel and Alonso retire, would have felt confident the race was his to take. A bit lucky to escape a penalty for the early pit lane release.

Any word yet on Raikonnen - under investigation from the incident with Vettel at the start of the race? I thought that was odd they decided it would only be investigated after the race :?

Hamilton put in a solid drive today, just shows his ability when the car behaves. Raikkonen seemed genuinely faster than Webber also, which was interesting. They could have taken a handy haul of points with 2 cars though.

There don't seem to be any penalties, the results on the F1 site would say 'provisional' I think, but they look final. I tell you though, my heart almost stopped when Alonso's wheel came off.. after all that's happened recently, that was just too much.

It's good to hear Massa's doing okay. Another 48 hours in an induced coma, and then I guess they'll check him again, but it's looking good thankfully.

RACE UPDATES:

- No action taken against Raikkonen.

- Red Bull have been reprimanded over the unsafe release of Webber.

- Renault have been suspended from the European GP, so only 18 cars will take place, given Massa will be replaced.

UPDATE: Renault have announced they will appeal the decision. Not that it matters really, but should they remain suspended, Nelson Piquet will officially be unable to win the World Championship. Like he had much of a chance, anyway.

I wonder if the reason the Stewards were quite tough with Renault is a result of 2 incidents involving flying debrie that we witnessed in the last week. I bet this won't help Valencia ticket sales though.

In other news the speculation over Massa's temporary replacement although i was slightly disappointed to find this article:

Weber rules out Schumacher as possible Massa stand in

Speculation as to who will replace the recovering Felipe Massa if he needs to sit out future races has already begun. The wildest rumour so far is that his friend Michael Schumacher, who won five world championships with Maranello-based Ferrari until his retirement in 2006, is a candidate.

"I heard that on Saturday evening," his manager Willi Weber told the SID news agency in Budapest. "That's only speculation and I don't see it happening.

"Ferrari already has two very good spare drivers who actually do little else than wait for an opportunity to go into the cockpit if one becomes free," Weber said.

He is referring to test drivers Luca Badoer and Marc Gene, who between them have contested nearly 100 Grand Prix. The latter, a 35-year-old Spaniard, was in Peugeot's winning Le Mans team last month. Gene is also present in Hungary as Ferrari's reserve driver.

However in 1999 when Schumacher broke his leg at the British Grand Prix, Ferrari overlooked its reserve driver Badoer and plumped instead for Mika Salo as the German's replacement.

Should Ferrari again select an external replacement driver, the freshest Grand Prix competitor is the Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais, who lost his Toro Rosso race seat after this month's German Grand Prix. The 30-year-old is also managed by Massa's manager, Nicolas Todt.

1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve, whose father Gilles drove for Ferrari until his death in 1982, is also on the prowl for a drive.

Source: F1-Live.com

...Should Ferrari again select an external replacement driver, the freshest Grand Prix competitor is the Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais, who lost his Toro Rosso race seat after this month's German Grand Prix. The 30-year-old is also managed by Massa's manager, Nicolas Todt...Racky_rules

That would be quite funny if they took Bourdais and he suddenly started getting the results Red Bull/Toro Rosso had expected from his US racing days :)

Realistically though Bourdais may be a better replacement than a reserve driver who has not been allowed to test in an F1 car this season.

That is true cjeck however I think the ban is correct in this case, we have seen what happens and that is really iresponsible if Renault have allowed a car to continue out on track if they knew there was an issue with the wheel. Its hard to say however, as I would never imagine that Renault would allow any person to drive their cars if they knew there was a extreem hazard with it such as wheel falling off (as in what would have happened to Alonso and others if this had come off at 200 mph near a crowded stand?).

I dont understand this, has there been clear evidence Renault knew the car had a problem with the wheel as normally this is put as a racing incident if there happened to be an issue with the car?

Here is the statement from the race stewards as to the reasons of the penalty, and the penalty itself:

1. The competitor knowingly released Alonso without one of the retaining devices for the wheel-nuts being securely in position, this being an indication that the wheel itself may not have been properly secured.

2. Being aware of this failed to take any action to prevent the car from leaving the pitlane.

3. Failed to inform Alonso of this problem or to advise him to take appropriate action given the circumstances, even though the driver contacted the team by radio believing he had a puncture.

4. This resulted in a heavy car part detaching at Turn 5 and the wheel itself detaching at Turn 9.

Having breached Article 23.1.i and Article 3.2 of the 2009 FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations, the stewards ruled that the ING Renault F1 Team is suspended from the next event, the European Grand Prix in Valencia.FIA Stewards