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29 March 2024

Massa braced for emotional Hungary return

Felipe Massa (GETTY IMAGES)

Published
By AFP

Felipe Massa returns to the Hungaroring, where he suffered a high-speed horror crash 12 months ago, determined to stage  an emotional reunion with the medical staff and marshalls who saved his life.

The Brazilian's Ferrari careered off the track at last year's Hungarian Grand Prix after he was struck on his helmet by a part which flew off Rubens Barrichello's Brawn GP car in qualifying.

He spent over a week in a coma suffering from a skull fracture and battled to save his sight in one eye. He also missed the rest of the season.

"Going back to Budapest will be a very special weekend for me, for reasons which you can all appreciate as it was there, just over a year ago, that I was seriously injured," said Massa.

"My first meeting when I arrive at the Hungaroring circuit will be with all the marshals and medical staff who did such a very good job of carefully getting me out of the cockpit.

"I want to thank these people, with whom I now feel a special bond."

Massa arrives in Hungary with the controversy over last weekend's German Grand Prix still engulfing the Ferrari team.

Massa was leading at Hockenheim when he slowed to allow teammate Fernando Alonso to pass and go on to win the race.

Ferrari denied invoking team orders but the team was fined $100,000 for breaching sporting regulations and ordered to appear before the World Motor Sport Council to explain the incident.

A resolute Alonso insists he still has a great feeling from his victory in Hockenheim.

Former double world champion Alonso commended his team for their efforts and was adamant that their one-two victory was nothing more than they deserved.

"All wins are special," wrote Alonso on Ferrari's official website.

"Winning is a great feeling and that was the case in Hockenheim, especially when I think of the huge workload undertaken by everyone at Maranello to achieve this fantastic one-two finish.

"No one ever gave up and I know how pleased they were to see two Ferraris cross the line ahead of all our rivals.

"For over a month now we have been saying that we had to get back to winning at least once before the summer break and finally, we did it.

"We did not have much luck in some races and, because of unusual incidents, we did not pick up the points we deserved.

"There was a slight feeling of frustration with this lack of results, but at last in Germany, for once we had a normal race on a weekend when we had no problems whatsoever and the result was there for all to see."

Alonso is expecting another strong result from his team this weekend in Budapest.

He added: "The win does not change my approach to the rest of the season, we knew full well before Hockenheim, that our car was much more competitive and that was what made me so confident.

"Now we must continue in this direction, starting this coming weekend in Budapest."

McLaren drivers Britons Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button finished 25 seconds behind Alonso in Germany, and McLaren engineering director Paddy Lowe has admitted that his team have suffered by not introducing the rear-blown diffuser sooner.

"We were a couple of races behind Ferrari in introducing it, and half a season behind Red Bull," he said.

"We did reach a point at Hockenheim of being able to race a working system, which was both giving performance, and it was reliable.

"We are able to deliver something extra with that, but being behind on the curve, there's more to come relative to our principle competitors. Clearly Red Bull and Ferrari were quicker at Hockenheim but we hope to close back some, if not all, of it."

Lowe added that he is still baffled by the latest front wing designs of Red Bull and Ferrari.

He said: "It is a phenomenon we're seeing. It may be entirely legitimate, it may not be. We don't understand it."

"At the minute we are working really hard to understand it, and if it is worth performance to us, to deliver that."