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#813 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix

2022-01-02 00:00

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#2009, Fulvio Conti, Translated by Giulia Montemurro,

#813 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix

It's official: Jean Todt will run for the presidency of the FIA. In short, the picture is now complete: Max Mosley who on Wednesday 15 July 2009 expla

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It's official: Jean Todt will run for the presidency of the FIA. In short, the picture is now complete: Max Mosley who on Wednesday 15 July 2009 explains that he will not run again in the elections scheduled for Friday 23 October 2009, defining Todt as the right person to take his place. And, much earlier, the resignation of Jean Todt from Ferrari for personal reasons. In reality, when on March 17, 2008 Luca di Montezemolo communicated to the Shareholders' Meeting Jean Todt's decision to leave his position as board member and any other position in Ferrari, probably the terrible Frenchman already had his next one in mind move, that of reaching the presidency of the FIA. A risky and complicated move because Todt was not one of Ferrari. He was Ferrari. And this very precise identification had to be canceled forever to aim for the highest office in the federation. On the other hand, Jean Todt, since joining Maranello in 1993, has covered all the roles at Ferrari, from director of sports management to managing director and board member. On March 17, it was Montezemolo himself who explained that:

 

"Jean Todt has been a key player in the history of Ferrari over the past fifteen years. His skill and passion have characterized his work and earned him my personal esteem and affection, that of the entire Company and of Ferrari enthusiasts. Everyone these years spent together, the victories but also the difficult moments have created a bond between Jean Todt and Ferrari that will remain forever".

 

Well, it was just that forever that had to be canceled to ensure the necessary impartiality in front of other teams and that would have opened the doors of the FIA to Jean Todt. Since then Todt has worked hard to no longer match his image to the Maranello cars. And in part he succeeded, even if his story, as Montezemolo explained, cannot be erased. Jean Todt spent at Ferrari for sixteen years. From Thursday 1 July 1993, when after closing his office in Paris in Peugeot he showed up dressed in red directly on the track at Magny Cours, to 17 March 2009. A few months earlier, in the first appointment at Luca di Montezemolo's house, scheduled for knowing the man who wanted him in Ferrari and who would have been with him the most successful duo in the history of F1, he borrowed a car. But it was a Mercedes, a very wrong car in certain situations.

 

"I thought: this is crazy".

 

Montezemolo joked years later. Jean Todt repaid his trust with a decisive role in the mass of successes which, years after that very sad 1993 for Ferrari (not only were they no longer winning anything, there were workers on layoffs) would begin to come, making Ferrari is one of the most famous teams in the history of sport. A very determined man, able to explain with work the strong earnings that at a certain point began to rain on him:

 

"If you work hard and if you work well, you too can become a millionaire".

 

He replied to a reporter who asked him for a comment on the rich production prize he had recently received. A man with brusque features and manners, to the point of being contemptuous, but impossibly fussy, very concentrated and capable of choosing people and motivating them: he transformed a confusing and losing bandwagon into a joyful war machine that won everywhere, with joyful machines . French from Pierrefort, where he was born on February 25, 1946, he made his debut as a driver and then co-driver in Rally with the Peugeot-Talbot team before retiring in 1981 and being assigned to management roles by Peugeot itself, to prepare the 205 Turbo 16 model for the World Rally Championship of 1984, which managed to win the World Championship in 1985 and 1986; simultaneously under his management the victories for Peugeot extended to various series, to African rallies such as the Paris-Dakar (four times) and the 24 Hours of Le Mans (two). 

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Despite the results and Jean Todt's insistence, Peugeot preferred never to enter Formula 1, and so in July 1993 the Frenchman willingly accepted the role of director at Scuderia Ferrari. With him the arrival of Michael Schumacher from Benetton to Maranello was determined, together with Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne. And with this group Ferrari became the team that won numerous World Championships: the constructors' title without interruption from 1999 to 2004 and then in 2007 and 2008 and the drivers' title with Schumacher from 2000 to 2004 and in 2007 with Kimi Raikkonen, losing in the other years at the last race, the sensational one in Brazil last year, with Felipe Massa world champion at the finish line and then mocked in the last two corners by the overtaking that allowed Lewis Hamilton to win one more point. Companion of Malaysia's most beautiful and famous actress, Michelle Yeoh, he was awarded the Legion of Honor in his home country and, recently, appointed honorary president of the Auto Federation of San Marino, a country of which he is ambassador at disposal and plenipotentiary minister of San Marino in France. Meanwhile, on Friday 24 July 2009 the High Court of London condemned the tabloid News of the World for having published the images of the sadomasochistic orgy which featured the president of the FIA, Max Mosley, 68 years old, a wife of 48, two children, son of the founder, in England in the 1930s, of the British fascist party. The Sunday book owned by Robert Murdoch will have to pay Mosley 76,000 euros in compensation for the violation of his privacy, the highest amount ever awarded in a similar case. Judge David Eady, fifteen days after the complaint, concludes that, although unconventional, the consensual sexual activities of Max Mosley with the five prostitutes, some dressed in the uniform of the SS and others in the black and white striped jackets of the prisoners of the Auschwitz concentration camp, were to remain a private matter. Also because the trial, according to the judge, did not demonstrate that the sexual encounter in a Chelsea apartment, in which the blows were counted in German, concealed incitement to racism, nor is there any genuine basis for supporting the suggestion that the participants thought of the victims of the Holocaust. Therefore, Mosley is right when he states that the beatings, the bandages, the domination scenes in which he appears as the protagonist, are only made of him and such they had to remain; bringing them to the attention of the world deserves exemplary punishment. However, the ruling is bound to make noise and has already unleashed an internal war within the press over what is meant by freedom of information: Colin Myler, director of the newspaper, says that as of today the press is less free and criticizes the fact that it is not Parliament with a law, but a single judge, decides what is lawful. In the Guardian, however, Roy Greenslade is very harsh:

 

"This pronouncement can only curb some excesses and prevent others from suffering the humiliation suffered by Mosley".

 

And he adds:

 

"If press freedom is curtailed, we know who to blame".

 

In its edition of Sunday 30 March 2009, the newspaper, which has a long tradition of scoops sometimes obtained fraudulently, published some photos taken from a video recorded incognito two days earlier. A chilling sequence: with Max Mosley first whipping and then being whipped by five women dressed, very little, in uniforms that make them look like leaders of the Third Reich. The video was posted on the newspaper's website and the news caused an earthquake not only in the very rich world of Formula 1. It will later be discovered that the sequence was passed on to the tabloid by one of the prostitutes, also the wife of a former British secret service agent. Mosley does not deny the fact; only, he claims that Nazism has nothing to do with it and that those have been his tastes for 45 years:

 

"I have an extravagant sex life but that's my business".

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The embarrassment at the top of the FIA turns into tough positions: BMW, Mercedes and Toyota asked that he be dismissed, Luca Montezemolo instead hoped for his spontaneous resignation. Nonetheless, in June, Max Mosley was reconfirmed as president by 103 votes to 55. The private side remains:

 

"This story has ruined my family's life. I can't imagine anything more humiliating for my children and more devastating for my wife".

 

In the courtroom, his lawyer, James Price, speaks of a serious and indefensible intrusion, while the newspaper's lawyer comments on the verdict as a warning to journalists. It was the most intriguing trial of the year. Partly because the defendant was Max Mosley, son of Sir Oswald Mosley, pre-war leader of the British Union of Fascists, whose finances depended on grants from Benito Mussolini. And partly because Mosley is president of the FIA. But above all for the wonderfully gory details of the case: Max Mosley was suing the UK's best-selling tabloid, the Sunday News of the World, for revealing his S&M encounters with half a dozen prostitutes dressed as concentration camp guards Nazi. But it was also partly a trial of British culture. The increasingly uninhibited tabloids admit virtually no limits to their eagerness to expose. Their line of defense, as in the case of the Mosley v. News of the World case, is that revealing a scandal involving a public figure is in the public interest. And it looked like Mosley might lose this cause, with its tinges of fascism, Nazi guards and sexual pain stimulation. After all, who would feel sympathy for the son of a fascist who plays Nazi sex games? But the sentence was in favor of him: and it was a victory for human rights. What people do in private, within the confines of the law, with others who freely acquiesce to their actions, is their business, regardless of who they are, who their father was, and however disgusting the fantasies they indulge in. Will the attitude of the British tabloids change? No, and for four reasons. The first is that the judge has set the compensation at a limited amount, 60.000 pounds (76.000 euros). As a deterrent it is worth little. The second is that people who buy tabloids expect these revelations, and get them, every week. The third is that tabloids now have to compete with tabloid sites on the Net, and this competition drives them to make ever more shocking revelations. The fourth is that people, including the big ones, will continue to have all kinds of sex with people who are not their partners. The same day Max Mosley won his case, actor Balthazar Getty said he broke up with his wife over the publication of photos showing him kissing a topless actress, Sienna Miller. It is therefore a good day for justice and a bad day for the tabloids. But they will continue, as they have in the past.

 

"I'm sorry for Mosley's wife, for her and her family. That must have been devastating, he didn't deserve it. I'm really, really sorry that happened. I just want to get down on my knees and apologize, I wish I never did".

 

The blonde Michelle, the most famous sadomasochistic dominatrix in the United Kingdom, says in an interview that she regrets having helped the tabloid News of the World to film the sadomasochistic session of the president of the FIA, Max Mosley. The woman says, crying:

 

"I was naive and stupid. That session didn't have a Nazi background".

 

Unlike the other four prostitutes who took part in the paid party last March, Michelle - a 40-year-old dominatrix with two children, wife of a British secret service agent who, due to the scandal, had to resign - was not presented at trial in the High Court. Max Mosley, who won the case against the tabloid obtaining 76,000 euros in compensation for violated privacy, is now receiving new cement from Michelle to remain as president of the FIA. But despite these partial victories, the world of F1 continues to ask for his resignation. 

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Says, for example, Jackie Stewart:

 

"It's not good for the movement that there are people who don't want to shake his hand, and I don't even think that the tabloid's sentence is in any way an encouragement to continue his mandate. There is a shadow on the federation that must be removed".

 

Turning instead to matters relating to the Formula 1 World Championship, ahead of the upcoming Hungarian Grand Prix, Jenson Button leads the World Drivers' Championship with 68 points, 21 points clear of Sebastian Vettel. Mark Webber, who signs a new one-year contract ahead of the race weekend on Thursday 23 July 2009, is 1.5 points behind Sebastian Vettel, and 1.5 points ahead of Rubens Barrichello. Regarding the recent contract extension, Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner says:

 

"I'm delighted that we have re-signed Mark for 2010. He has continued to show huge commitment and determination this season, especially following his bike accident at the end of last year. His recent results show he is on the form of his life - most notably with his recent win at the German GP - and he has the motivation to deliver at the highest level.It was therefore a straightforward decision to extend the relationship.We believe that the driver line-up of Mark and Sebastian [Vettel] is one of the strongest in the sport".

 

Webber said he had always been keen to remain with the team, and hopes he can carry his current strong form into 2010.

 

"I'm extremely happy that Red Bull and I have been able to agree to race together again next year. Even in the leaner and tougher years at the start of my relationship with the team, I've always enjoyed working with them, so now to go through this purple patch, which we hope will continue for a good while to come, makes the work even more enjoyable.We've got a very exciting finish to this year's championship, but I'm also looking forward to helping to develop and race the RB6 in the 2010 World Championship".

 

In parallel, Brawn GP leads the Constructors' World Championship, with a lead of 19.5 points over a resurgent Red Bull Racing, and 48 points over Toyota. Mark Webber won in Germany, after starting from pole position, to take his first career win. Despite a drive-through penalty handed down for a dangerous manoeuvrer to keep Barrichello's Brawn GP behind him at the start, the Australian driver managed to win nearly ten seconds ahead of his team-mate, Sebastian Vettel. In Germany, Felipe Massa, finishing third, managed to conquer his first podium of the 2009 season. Jenson Button, on the other hand, was unable to go beyond a fifth place, after being passed by the Williams of Nico Rosberg, who finished fourth after starting fifteenth. On the eve of the Hungarian Grand Prix, there is a lot of talk about Scuderia Toro Rosso's choice to hire the young Spanish driver Jaime Alguersuari to replace Sébastien Bourdais. This is because Alguersuari has never carried out tests with Formula 1 cars, and he had only carried out some straight-line aerodynamic tests the week before the Hungarian Grand Prix, in Faenza. Felipe Massa says the Spanish driver is too young and inexperienced to drive a Formula 1 car. 

 

"For me he's too young. When I came into Formula 1 I was just 20 and for me it was also quite young. I was too inexperienced to ask what I needed from the car so I made some mistakes. For sure I had a very difficult car to drive, but anyway, it was not easy for me, but even for myself, and I can say it was too early for me, I did the whole winter (of testing), so I did many tests in Formula 1. He's never driven a Formula 1 car, or he has driven it in a straight line or whatever. For me it's wrong. It's not good for him. For me he can burn himself very quickly. Maybe he's an incredible talent and he will do much better than everybody thinks, but for me it's not good for him. I'm surprised a team would put a guy like this in the car. For me it's not right".

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And Mark Webber and Jenson Button are also expressing their fears.

 

"I've never been a big fan of Formula 1 being a learning school but it seems like it is these days. I don't think Formula 1 is a learning school. When you arrive in F1 you should be ready. It's not a place to learn. Anyway, some guys are doing that but it's harder without testing these days. I think we're going to see a bit more of it, maybe, in the future where guys are learning".

 

Vettel believes however that it is wrong to criticize Alguersuari - and if anything it is the fault of F1's rules that he has had so little mileage before being thrust into F1.

 

"I heard Mark was not so pleased about the fact that Jaime is driving this weekend. I think in the end if there is anything to criticize then I think it is the rules. As you can see, you end up having a situation that a driver is entering F1 without having done a single test. So I think it is extremely difficult for young drivers, independent from their age, the next generation, to get to F1 as you have no chance to prove yourself. You have only one or two days.If you start skiing, you know how hard it is after one or two days to really know what is going on for instance.Therefore, I wish him all the best and I think he has enough time, but for sure it is not the easiest way to go".

 

Vettel believes Alguersuari should take his time to build up speed this weekend.

 

"In the end you have to find your own way, and I think there is more than one person who gave him advice to just take his time. That is the most important thing. If he is really quick enough or not, you can' t really tell by one race. It will come or it doesn't. Every other driver has made this experience in their own way".

 

For his part, Jaime Alguersuari defends himself, saying:

 

"I don't really care what all the people say, I just do my work. I do what I know, to be honest. I am here because Red Bull just asked me to, as I do Formula 3 or World Series or GP2, I don't care. I just drive the cars. That's my job and that's what I enjoy doing in life. I'm here because Red Bull just sent me a message telling me that I have to drive this car so I'm here. I don't care what other people say, that's the main thing, first of all. And the second thing is that I know what my expectation is, I know what my target is. I know that today I didn't make any mistakes and I hope tomorrow I don't and even in the race and that's how I work at the end.My target here is to drive the car and not make mistakes.Then we will talk about times and about speed.But I don't 't feel I am a danger, not really".

 

Three free practice sessions are held before the race; on the first Friday morning and on the second Friday afternoon. Friday 24 July 2009 McLaren sets the pace in both Friday free practice sessions, with Heikki Kovalainen leading during FP1 and Lewis Hamilton leading during FP2. Aside from the resurgence of McLaren's performance, Friday's usual leaders are also competitive, with Williams drivers Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima both setting times good enough for the top five in both sessions. Mark Webber's Red Bull is also in the top five in both sessions. Brawn GP implements its usual strategy of running on fuel during the Friday practice sessions. In the first session Jenson Button is tenth and Rubens Barrichello thirteenth. In the second session Barrichello improved and climbed to seventh position, while Button dropped to thirteenth place. The British driver's lap time is just 0.727 seconds slower than Lewis Hamilton's fastest time, in an extremely tight session. Jarno Trulli ended the sessions in sixth and eighth place, beating teammate Timo Glock in fourteenth and tenth. 

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Renault had a mixed session, with Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet Jr. struggling to find the ideal setup for the car. Felipe Massa and Kimi Räikkönen recorded times that were good enough for P7 and P8 in the first session, but did not improve during FP2, as neither driver managed to enter the top ten. this leaves the Ferrari drivers disappointed with a lack of pace. BMW Sauber are another team that struggle to find the right pace in free practice, leaving both drivers unhappy with the setup. Nick Heidfeld's time in the second session, for example, allows the German to finish FP2 in ninth position. Force India overtook Scuderia Toro Rosso in both sessions, with both cars lapping within a second of their best times. Giancarlo Fisichella (P16 and P17) and Adrian Sutil (P18 and P16) are both confident they can improve on Saturday's times. Sebastian Buemi finds himself doing much of the set-up work for the Italian squad, improving his lap time by 0.8 seconds between sessions. Alguersuari put in a solid performance in both sessions, but finished last in both sessions. Each driver completes 82 laps over the two sessions. On Saturday 25th July 2009, McLaren also confirmed itself in FP3, as Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time. Nick Heidfeld is second in the BMW Sauber, followed by Nico Rosberg in third place. Heikki Kovalainen was fourth, ahead of Sebastien Buemi's Toro Rosso and Timo Glock's Toyota. The German driver's session was far from without problems, as his Toyota developed a hydraulic leak during his first flying lap. The German driver returns to the track shortly before the end of the session, and records the sixth fastest time. Only 0.7 seconds separate Nick Heidfeld from Rubens Barrichello, thirteenth. At the start of FP3 Jaime Alguersuari sets the second fastest time, before inexorably dropping to P18. Both Force Indias lap slower than the Spanish. Furthermore, Adrian Sutil crashed after misjudging turn 8. The German driver hit the crash barrier with his car. A few hours later, in Q1 Nico Rosberg sets the best time, lapping in 1'20"793. Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber are the only drivers who manage to get under the limit of 1'21"0. Jaime Alguersuari, who is in P19 with a few minutes to go, slows down on exiting turn 12 due to a hydraulic failure which prevents him from returning to the pits. 

 

The Spanish rider will go down to the last potion, after Adrian Sutil (who goes all the way up to P18) laps faster than him. The two are joined by the BMW Saubers of Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica, and the second Force India of Giancarlo Fisichella, eliminated since Q1. After a seven-minute break, Q2 begins. Many drivers set their fastest laps in the closing minutes of the session. Meanwhile, Felipe Massa's Ferrari, which is in sixth position, is involved in a serious crash at Turn 4. TV replays show debris hitting his Schuberth helmet, just above his left eye, as he travels at 261 km/h. The impact knocks the Brazilian driver unconscious. Footage in his car shows that Felipe Massa still has his feet on both the accelerator and the brake pedal. The Ferrari decelerates with a force between 0.6g and 1.4g, and hits the barrier at a speed of 100km/h. After the car ducks under the tire barrier, the engine can be heard revving again at the rev limiter, indicating that the Brazilian's foot is still resting on the accelerator and that he is therefore unconscious. This crash comes just six days after FIA Formula 2 Championship driver, Henry Surtees, was fatally injured after being struck on the head by a bouncing wheel on the Brands Hatch track circuit in the UK, resulting in some discussion on the safety of open cockpit race cars. A little later it is suspected that a rear suspension shock absorber spring (weighing around 800 grams) may have come from the car of Rubens Barrichello, who had reported that something had come off a few minutes earlier. Shortly after, Ross Brawn confirmed that the spring actually came from Rubens Barrichello's car, and also had the same spring replaced on teammate Jenson Button's car before the start of the race. The Brawn also undergoes an inspection during Q3, leaving Jenson Button just one run to qualify, due to the lengthy inspection. Despite Felipe Massa's accident, some drivers managed to improve their times towards the end of the session, as they had overshot the zone before the accident, causing the Brazilian driver to drop to eighth position. Jenson Button and Kazuki Nakajima both move into Q3, with times recorded regularly despite the yellow flag present in turn 4 following Felipe Massa's accident. The technical problem that slows down Rubens Barrichello means that he is excluded from Q3 for the first time this season. Sebastien Buemi, Timo Glock, Nelson Piquet Jr. and Jarno Trulli also do not pass. 

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Even if Felipe Massa's time is sufficient to move on to Q3, the accident excludes him from any further participation in the session. The Brazilian was slowly extracted from his damaged Ferrari and taken to the in-house medical centre, where he was stabilized before being airlifted to hospital. After the accident, the first to give good news is Flavio Briatore:

 

"Is fine".

 

Soon after, another positive sign:

 

"They saw him raise his arm from the stretcher and signal that everything is ok".

 

Then he confirms them through the words of the manager, Nicolas Todt:

 

"He's talking, he's conscious".

 

And again, those of Luca Colajanni, Ferrari press officer:

 

"He is conscious, but now he is going to the Budapest hospital for tests. Massa was grazed by an object that appears to be a spring flown from the bodywork of Barrichello's car. He will undergo extensive tests but does not appear to have any apparent injuries".

 

Reassures the team principal of the Scuderia Ferrari, Stefano Domenicali:

 

"He was intubated to reassure him, but he's fine, everything is under control".

 

This means that only nine drivers will take part in Q3, which was delayed by twenty minutes due to the long time it took to extract Felipe Massa, repair the tire barrier and check for further debris on the track. With qualifying nearing its conclusion, the official timing system starts malfunctioning, leaving the drivers perplexed in the pit lane, asking each other for their times for comparison. The problem will later be revealed by Formula One Management and LG: it is a broken cable. When the timing system returns to normal, Fernando Alonso discovers that he has set the fastest time, thus conquering his first pole position of the season.

 

"It was quite a stressful qualifying to be honest. In Q1 we had the yellow flag from Toro Rosso I think in turn 13, so we were P15 at that moment and we had to get the lap to go through turn one. We did it at the end and then in the end in Q3 as you said the times were not working, so we were waiting in parc ferme, chatting between us drivers, asking what time you did, what time you did and try to find in which position you were. Now confirmation arrived that we are on pole. A fantastic effort from the team. We put some new stuff on the car at the Nürburgring that worked very well and here we confirmed that we made a step forward. But, obviously, it is not enough. We need to keep working but finally we found the direction to go".

 

Alongside the Spanish driver, Sebastian Vettel will start from the front row, with Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton on the second row. Followed on the third row by Nico Rosberg, who was leading the standings when the system crashed, and Heikki Kovalainen. 

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Meanwhile, Felipe Massa is being operated on at the AEK hospital in Budapest. The surgery was successful, but in the evening, speaking in broken English, the neurologist Peter Bazso paints a worrying picture:

 

"Skull fracture with very serious brain damage".

 

The doctor adds that the Brazilian driver is in critical but stable condition, he is kept in an induced coma and is on a respirator as a precaution. When asked if there will be consequences and if the patient risks his life, Bazso replies:

 

"We'll see, we don't know right now. It's too early to answer".

 

Words that infuriate the Maranello team and lead spokesman Luca Colajanni to release a reassuring statement:

 

"I want to reassure everyone. Felipe's life is not in danger. The surgery he underwent to remove a bone fragment from his face was successful. He is now sedated and we have to wait for the night to pass. His conditions are satisfactory, then it is clear, he had a head trauma and a skull injury, his brain suffered a concussion and was swollen, there was surgery and therefore only in the next 24-72 hours will it be possible to understand the conditions realities of the pilot, any brain damage and their outcome as always occurs in head trauma". 

 

A thorough examination by the doctors of the Aek hospital in Budapest shows that Felipe Massa suffered a cut on his forehead, a left supraorbital bone lesion and a concussion. Therefore, the operation to reduce the bone lesion was necessary, after which Felipe will remain under observation in intensive care. In short, a near tragedy. The live images say it, the photos with his swollen face make it clear. Terror and miracle, because Massa is still alive, he underwent successful head surgery, even if until nightfall, a symptom of how dramatic the accident was, conflicting rumors chase each other, with the Hungarian doctor Peter Bazso speaking of brain injuries serious, serious conditions, pharmacological coma, artificially aided breathing and spreading concern, and with Ferrari which instead denies and reiterates its reassuring picture, Massa stuffed with sedatives, under observation and in intensive care, but without neurological complications. Fear, because that crazed car that doesn't turn, that crashes, with the dazed Brazilian sod inside, against the tire barrier is not a pretty scene. It is not pleasant to see a spring, weighing 700 grams, which has detached from Rubens Barrichello's car, which no longer belongs to a Brawn GP shock absorber, which shakes on the track and hits the Ferrari driver's helmet. just above the left eye. The surgery he underwent, everyone agrees on this, was perfectly successful, lasted 90 minutes and made it possible to reduce the fracture and remove a dangerous bone fragment. Everyone is now waiting for him to wake up, and on Sunday 26 July 2009, at 10:00 a.m., there will be a more precise clinical picture. Naturally Felipe Massa will not take part in the Hungarian Grand Prix, Ferrari excluded him from the outset, his conditions just couldn't allow him, and who knows when he will be able to return to the track this year, given that for a forecast it is not enough an encouraging post-operative course, he still has to spend the night, the doctors want to wait for him to wake up, before definitively dissolving the prognosis, issuing a definitive verdict and starting to talk about recovery times. Massa was hit by an object while traveling at 240 km/h, being a pilot, before talking about the future, it will be necessary to understand in depth the conditions of the left eye and if it is possible, hopefully, to exclude any limitation to the field vision (the Hungarian doctors appear quite optimistic about this), which would risk penalizing his career. The date of the return, for now, is still unknown. However, the fact that Felipe Massa can be considered a miracle worker is not. Because a centimeter or two of difference was enough to witness a tragedy. 

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The impact with the spring was tremendous, it made a hole in the helmet and chipped the visor. If the debris had caught the pilot in the eye, without a minimum of protection, the brain damage probably would have been lethal. Massa crashed because, in fact, after the unexpected impact, he passed out. From the telemetry it is understood that he pressed, but probably unconsciously, both the accelerator and the brake, reducing the speed slightly. He also fared well in the reaction to the rescue, because he had no spinal damage. Usually in these cases the pilot is removed after being immobilized and not with arms, as the Hungarians did. He could have been paralysed. Ferrari was frightened (by regulation they cannot introduce a reserve driver, only Kimi Raikkonen will race), and the moment experienced by his wife Raffaela, in Brazil, six months pregnant must have been terrible. Mass is alive. And that's what matters to him. Meanwhile, Rubens Barrichello, despite being only an indirect cause of the accident, still feels guilty. The Brazilian is very shaken. Immediately after the end of qualifying, the Brawn GP driver tries to visit his compatriot at the medical center, before being transported by helicopter to the hospital in Budapest, but they won't let him into his room.

 

"They stuffed him with sedatives, he's agitated, they want to calm him down, but he talks, he's conscious".

 

He still claims to the circuit. Then he goes to the hospital, where Nicolas Todt, the son of Jean Todt, manager of the Ferrari driver, and Eduardo, Felipe's younger brother, are already present. After the visit, Barrichello says:

 

"He answers questions, but he's upset".

 

And Bernie Ecclestone is also worried.

 

"There's a boy in the hospital and I'm very sorry, I hope it's nothing serious. Surely what happened is not his fault".

 

Stefano Domenicali, the Ferrari team principal, also remains in hospital for a long time.

 

"In misfortune he was blessed with good fortune. Such objects are like bullets. Thank God he was grazed and his helmet held up well".

 

Meanwhile, Dr. Peter Bazso is the neurologist who operated on Massa at the Aek hospital in Budapest. Late in the evening, in front of the cameras, he still tries to explain:

 

"Massa arrived here unconscious and in stable clinical conditions. We did all the tests and decided to operate on him".

 

Then he submits himself to the journalists' questions, to which he answers in somewhat broken English and for this reason at times ambiguous if not even contradictory, as when he defines the brain damage suffered by Felipe Massa first as mild and then as very serious. Contradictions that trigger an exhausting communication conflict with Ferrari which, however, until late in the evening rules out brain damage and life threatening. How is he now?

 

"Has a skull fracture with brain damage".

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How long did the operation take?

 

"An hour".

 

Does he have an eye problem?

 

"No, he has a brain problem".

 

Is he damaged?

 

"Yes, slightly".

 

Is there a risk of a second operation?

 

"At the moment I would say no. We don't need a new operation".

 

What kind of consequences will this accident have on Massa?

 

"At the moment it is too early to tell".

 

Will he be able to run again?

 

"It's really too early to tell".

 

When will he wake up?

 

"We will wake him up tomorrow morning at 10.00 a.m.".

 

Does he breathe on his own?

 

"No, use the respirator but not for his condition. If only for those we might as well keep him awake. But as a precaution it is undoubtedly better to wait. Also because otherwise he would feel immense pain: he has suffered a very hard blow".

 

Is he in an induced coma?

 

"Yes. We asked him a few questions first and he was able to understand".

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Does he have limb problems?

 

"No. Just a skull fracture with brain damage".

 

Are you serious?

 

"Be serious, very serious".

 

Is he in danger of life?

 

"It's too early to answer this question. The best thing is to wait for him to wake up and then proceed with new exams".

 

On Sunday morning, concerns about Felipe Massa's health remain. When your head is involved, you can never let your guard down. But that sense of anguish that dominated the air in Budapest on Saturday night seems to have dissolved, because the great fear for Massa's condition has passed. The news that everyone was waiting for arrived in the paddock around lunchtime, after the pilot had been awakened from his induced coma at around 10:00 a.m.. The Tac gave a negative result, in the sense that she excluded brain injuries, and this, thinking first of the man than of the driver, was the most important thing for Ferrari. Massa has not suffered serious damage, he only has a small edema where the fracture occurred, which is destined to be reabsorbed quickly. He remains under observation, in intensive care, immediately after the examination he was again filled with sedatives, again artificially helped in breathing, he returned to his state of pharmacological coma, necessary to reduce brain activity to a minimum and favor the post-operative course and he will remain like this for 48 hours, even if the Hungarian doctors have let it be known that they will wake him up every now and then to check his reactions. Only tomorrow can the prognosis be dissolved and whoever takes care of him will be able to issue a definitive verdict. Massa is hospitalized in the Aek, a hospital in the center of Budapest, owned by the Hungarian army, his privacy is protected to the maximum, but the pilot can still receive important visits, wanted by those who are treating him to realize if he was able to acknowledge all loved ones and also to help his morale. Thus Massa can see the tears of Raffaela, his wife, six months pregnant, who, when leaving from Sao Paulo, before boarding the plane, had invited everyone to pray for him. He meets mom Ana and dad Luiz Antonio, sees his brother Eduardo who, together with his manager Nicolas Todt, Jean's son, had rushed to the hospital since Saturday afternoon. His doctor, Dino Altman, also enters the hospital room and tries to understand with gestures how conscious his client was. He is happy after the visit because Felipe Massa responds correctly to any request. Ferrari gathers around him. On the track and in the hospital. Before the start, a gigantic sign appears in front of the pits:

 

"Come on Felipe, we are with you".

 

President Montezemolo will arrive in Budapest on Monday morning.

 

"I hope to have good news".

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Everyone is rooting for him, even the riders, a group in which Felipe Massa has many friends. Sunday 26 July 2009, at the start of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso maintains the first position, followed by Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber, Kimi Räikkönen and Sebastian Vettel. Hamilton and Räikkönen almost touch in turn 1: this slows down the Finn slightly, and allows Webber to maintain third place. While Hamilton goes slightly wide at the exit of the first corner, allowing Webber to try to overtake. The counter-effect causes Räikkönen and Vettel to almost come into contact, with the German's Red Bull grazing the rear of the Finnish driver's Ferrari. Vettel loses further positions to Rosberg and Kovalainen due to the accident. Räikkönen will be investigated after the race for both incidents at the start. At the end of the first lap, Sutil returned to the pits due to a water pressure problem. The German driver is forced to retire. Meanwhile Fernando Alonso starts to break away from the group, setting the fastest time of him - 1'23 "529 - during the fourth lap. The positions remain the same until the start of the fifth lap, when Hamilton approaches Webber at the first corner and, with the help of the KERS, passes the Australian before the second corner. Once away from Webber, Hamilton begins to close the gap on Alonso. Alonso's Renault suffers from graining on the rear tires (when the tires lose small bits of rubber before sticking to the tread, effectively separating the rubber from the track surface very slightly), and also a fuel pump problem, which forces him to switch to a different engine map setting. Alonso pitted on lap 12, and stayed there for 6.4 seconds. However, the Spanish helot is released with the right front wheel screwed in incorrectly, causing the bolt to go off, which comes off as the rider navigates turn four. The wheel, however, comes off at turn nine and Alonso brings the car back to the pits on three wheels. The missing wheel was replaced, allowing the Spanish driver to continue the race. However, Fernando Alonso pitted over the following lap as an earlier fuel pump problem forced him to retire. As Hamilton extends his lead to nearly six seconds, Räikkönen and Webber make pit stops on lap 19. 

 

The Finn was stationary for 8.3 seconds, while a slight problem with the fuel system cost Webber precious seconds. In fact, the Australian was released just as the Ferrari was driving down the pit lane. Hamilton pitted on lap 20 but was delayed slightly by the presence of the Williams of Rosberg, who entered the pit lane as Hamilton was about to exit the McLaren garage. Kovalainen took the lead, followed by Vettel but both drivers pitted at the end of lap 21, handing the lead back to Hamilton. Vettel's slow pit stop saw him lose a track position to Rosberg. During Hamilton's stint on a second set of Supersoft tyres, race engineer Phil Prew tells him to take care of his tires as he has a 15 second lead over Räikkönen. Meanwhile, Jenson Button, who started heavily loaded with fuel, climbed up to second at his first stop at the end of lap 25. Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel struggles with his car, and is passed by Rubens Barrichello on lap 27. The German driver reports to his race engineer, Guillaume Rocquelin, that something is broken on his car. And, shortly after, he returns to the pits at the end of the lap. The Red Bull Racing team replaced the nose and checked the rear suspension, and the German driver rejoined the track a lap down, before retiring on lap 30. Rookie Jaime Alguersuari made his first Formula 1 pit stop on lap 28. Meanwhile, Timo Glock manages to climb into the top ten at this stage of the race, thanks to a race strategy that includes a long first stint of 32 laps. During lap 38 Buemi spun at turn 2, and subsequently regularly resumed the right direction of travel behind his teammate, Alguersuari. Lewis Hamilton remained in first position for the rest of the race, making his final pit stop on lap 46, and won the Hungarian Grand Prix. Kimi Räikkönen is second, followed by Mark Webber, Nico Rosberg, Heikki Kovalainen, Timo Glock, Jenson Button and Jarno Trulli. This season he had never been on the podium. And now he wins a race: this is the parable of the World Champion, Lewis Hamilton, who incredibly managed to precede Kimi Raikkonen and Mark Webber at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

 

"Yeah, I was able to manage them quite well but something I want to say is that yesterday was, I think, and maybe I can speak for all of us drivers, quite a sad day to see Felipe not with us here today. Hopefully I speak on behalf of all of us when I say we miss him and wish him well and wish him a speedy recovery.But back to the car, it was just fantastic.The team asked me to look after the tires in which through all the great experiences I have had - good or bad - I was able to apply that today, so really a big thank you to all the guys and all the fans that have always given me support and never gave me up and to all my family".

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In short, a sort of return to the past, with the top teams once again on top of the world. And yes, because Fernando Alonso was on pole, who managed to sprint like in the old days keeping the first position, only to then have to surrender to fate with a tire that suddenly came off and threw the whole Circus into despair. still scalded by Massa's incredible accident. But Renault's troubles aren't over. the aerodynamic rim guard was not in a safe position and as the Spaniard left the pit lane no countermeasures were taken, therefore the stewards disqualified the French team for the next Valencia Grand Prix and Alonso will not be able to race in front of his fans . The race, however, can be summarized entirely in the message displayed in the Ferrari box:

 

"Come on Felipe we are with you".

 

Nobody seems to want to run. And luckily, the good news about Felipe Massa's condition arrived just before the start, as he didn't suffer any brain damage. Kimi Raikkonen himself, for his incredible second place (which Ferrari immediately dedicated to Massa), refuses to celebrate by stepping off the podium immediately after the award ceremony. Ferrari dedicates Kimi Raikkonen's second place to Felipe Massa. The team principal of the Maranello team, Stefano Domenicali, dedicates Ferrari's best result of the season to the Brazilian:

 

"It was a very good race, Raikkonen had a great race, unfortunately in the final he had to slow down due to a reliability problem, but it went well and I'm happy for the team. Now let's think about Felipe, to whom we dedicate this result".

 

The bitterness for the near tragedy is still a lot. Yet the strange podium, narrowly missed by Renault, conquered by McLaren and Ferrari should make us think: Brawn GP proved to be fragile and easy to beat, as well as Red Bull. But by now it could be too late because despite everything Button remains firmly in command of the World Drivers' Championship with 70 points. The novelty therefore lies entirely in Red Bull, where in second place with 51.5 points, there is now Mark Webber, who overtakes his teammate, Sebastian Vettel, forced to retire, who remains at 47 points. The Australian driver says, at the end of the race:

 

"I am a little bit of a surprise. I think we expected to be a little bit quicker after our running on Friday but to be honest we knew these guys would be around us. It was a pretty difficult venue for us and we knew that we didn't have the advantage maybe that we had in the last few events. All in all for me I am still pretty happy to get the result we did. I think we had a better chance to fight Kimi if maybe we did a slightly different pit stop and maybe chose a different tire but that was my call. I was worried about how long the length of the stint was and it was quite difficult to know which tire to put on but overall we still have a lot of positives. We are still up here. We haven't been blown away by any means. We are in the hunt and we can take our car to a lot of venues and be competitive, so our guys and Renault have a lot to be proud of. We are still very much a force, so it is still a positive day for us".

 

Kimi Räikkönen also achieved his best result of the 2009 season to date, but he is unaware that he is under investigation, due to contacts at the start of the race.

 

"I don't know about the whole thing, so if you can tell me what it's about that would be nice...I haven't even noticed if I touched somebody. I was in-between, I think, Mark and somebody else but I don't know what's going on. That is the first time when you told me but I didn't feel any touching or anything, so I cannot comment on that".

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Two hours after the conclusion of the race, representatives of Ferrari, Red Bull and Renault are summoned by the race stewards due to the various incidents that occurred during the race. Ferrari and Kimi Räikkönen are cleared of any wrongdoing. Red Bull receives a reprimand for the second consecutive race, due to the dangerous release of Mark Webber in the direct path of Kimi Räikkönen in the pit lane, in the first round of pit stops. Renault, as mentioned, receives the harshest punishment of the three incidents, in the form of a suspension from the next race of the season, the European Grand Prix. The race stewards considered that Renault knowingly released car #7 [Alonso] from the pit stop position without one of the wheel nut retainers being securely in place, this being an indication that the wheel itself may not have been properly secured. Aware of this, the Renault team took no action to prevent the car from exiting the pit lane. The Renault team did not inform the driver of this problem or advise him to take appropriate measures under the circumstances, although the driver radioed the team believing he had had a puncture, causing a heavy part of the car to detach at the time. turn 5 and the detachment of the wheel itself at turn 9, in violation of articles 3.2 and 23.1.i of the sporting regulations. Within half an hour of the decision, the Renault team appealed the decision for the mandatory €6.000 fee. The International Court of Appeal will hear the case on Monday 17 August, and will grant the request to lift the suspension. The team will still be fined $50.000 for violating regulations in Hungary, but will be allowed to race at Valencia. The resurrection of the old leaders coincides with the downsizing of this year's peons, now in clear trouble, including the Brawn GP, seventh with Jenson Button, never a protagonist, tenth with the anonymous Rubens Barrichello, more forgivable, because he was forced to race in a state of shock, after what had happened to his friend Felipe Massa the day before, struck by a spring lost from his car's shock absorber. Sigh, Rubens:

 

"Every time I crossed that point, I saw his face in front of me".

 

Brawn GP is in crisis, Red Bull Racing, on the other hand, is hurting itself. Sebastian Vettel is imprisoned at the start, from second he becomes seventh, he is closed on a regular basis by Kimi Raikkonen and ends up running in the middle of the group. A runway exit, the front wing changed, retirement. Things go better for Webber, third in the race, second in the championship standings. But with one fault: he had a position taken away from the pit stop by Kimi Raikkonen, even getting a yellow card for dangerous exit from the pits. The Finn, on the other hand, is impeccable this time: great start with Kers, from seventh to fourth, good pace, a problem with the right exhaust kept under control. However, never like the revived Lewis Hamilton. Exceptional at the start, from fourth to third, and then in overtaking Mark Webber. Fernando Alonso takes part and he finds the triumph again. Now that McLaren and Ferrari are back in the limelight, the idea of putting Michael Schumacher back on track also seems more than logical. Twenty-seven days - so long until the next European Grand Prix - are decidedly few to get Felipe Massa back on his feet, and so someone is seriously thinking about this solution: forcing the German to interrupt his holidays and re-enter the fray, transforming the finale of the worst season in Ferrari's recent history in a media event, an irresistible attraction for sponsors and fans. Of course, the risk of reducing the next European Grand Prix to a melancholic Amarcord race is more real (there will also be Rubens Barrichello, whose Brawn GP has suddenly stopped working...) but, perhaps, it's worth running . Niki Lauda has no doubts about this:

 

"For the Formula 1 business there could be nothing better than the return of Schumi; with him the interest would rise by 20-30%".

 

The point, however, is this: will forty-year-old Michael Schumacher want to risk his image with a car that, however improved, has never seemed up to the task? Anyone who knows him knows that he is not one to back down. But this time the German appears skeptical. 

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In the face of the irresistible appeal of the color red, the charm of the return, the desire to prove that you are still the best, there are at least five points which advise against rentrée. And Michael Schumacher is counting them right now: he has never used Kers; he hasn't raced on slick tires since 1997; he won't even be able to do a test ride (the regulations forbid it); he's put on a bit of weight and too abrupt a diet could be debilitating; after the motorcycle accident this fall he still has some neck problems. Nonetheless Sabine Kehm, his publicist, carefully avoids dismissing the idea, as manager Mark Weber did, somewhat hastily, saying:

 

"Whoever sits in the car at the next race in Valencia, it will not be Michael Schumacher. I am not 100 per cent sure; I am 200 per cent sure. The pressure on him would be huge. He would be expected to win, but he has not driven this car. When Michael was racing he would get as close to perfection as possible. In this case, it would not be perfection; it would be a gamble - and that's not Michael's style".

 

Sabine Kehm says:

 

"Right now Michael is only thinking about Massa, with whom he is a personal friend. However, he has kept in shape and if Ferrari were to call him, he could evaluate any proposal".

 

At Ferrari - and it's not a trivial statement - they still haven't thought about replacing Felipe Massa. They are too busy with the medical aspects of their pilot. Only in the hours following the Hungarian Grand Prix will the topic begin to be addressed. The natural candidate for replacement should be Marc Gené. If Schumacher's idea remains the same, Massa's Ferrari should belong to him, even if Luca Badoer, the historic test driver, has little chance this year due to the ban on testing. Meanwhile, in Budapest, Hungarian doctors continue to speak of life in danger for Felipe Massa. But his personal doctor denies this statement:

 

"I do not agree. And neither is my French colleague Saillant, here as FIA consultant. There is no imminent risk. Certainly in the presence of a head injury anything is possible, but the post-operative signals are all very positive".

 

You are the pilot's personal doctor. How did you find it?

 

"The general conditions are satisfactory. He recognized me. I asked him: do you know what happened? And he nodded at me. I told him: shake my hand. And he squeezed me. I showed him all of his family and he understood who his wife was, he recognized her parents, his brother and his manager. The brain wasn't damaged, there's just a little edema where the bone broke, but nothing to worry about".

 

Why then do Hungarian doctors continue with the scaremongering?

 

"A matter of point of view, they prefer to be more cautious, perhaps even too much. The reaction of the pupils is normal, twenty-four hours after the accident it continues to improve, the CT has shown a positive evolution and these appear to me as encouraging facts".

 

So you're not afraid to be optimistic?

 

"It's the course that makes me think so".

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When will she be able to get back on track?

 

"Hopefully, in two months".

 

She fears a lot about the field of vision.

 

"He has a fractured eye socket, but there is no damage to the eye, no limitation of the field of vision. Right now it's right to think only of man. But I don't think he will have any problems getting back to racing".

 

And indeed, on Monday 27 July 2009, Felipe Massa finally spoke. And he asks:

 

"What am I doing here in the hospital?"

 

The Brazilian rider is no longer intubated, since Sunday evening he has been breathing independently. And he sleeps, being tested after the terrible accident, but no longer because he was induced by doctors with a pharmacological coma. For now, even if he could still be sedated in the next few days, he can spontaneously dream of his return to the track, his future, hopefully there will be victories with Ferrari. Felipe Massa remembers nothing of his accident. But it matters little, there are abundant signs on his face to remind him of it, the important thing, according to the doctors, is that he is conscious, answers questions correctly, reacts to requests, recognizes his wife Raffaela, father Luiz Antonio and mother Ana, his brother Eduardo, the manager Nicolas Todt, the only people so far allowed in his room, in the hope that a Ferrari man, Stefano Domenicali, who returns from Italy on purpose, will also be able to see him in person. The Brazilian is alert, aware, in continuous improvement, as demonstrated by the umpteenth CAT scan. Felipe Massa satisfies the cautious Hungarian doctors, who are careful not to unravel the prognosis, and makes the Brazilians happy, with their personal doctor, Dino Altman, who doesn't hesitate to talk about a fantastic recovery. Felipe Massa is strong and courageous, a fighter, he gets angry when his brother Eduardo prevents him from removing the tube that he stuck in his nose:

 

"Let go of my hand".

 

The Brazilian seems to be progressing well towards his recovery. However, at lunchtime, Dr. Robert Veres, the surgeon who operated on him, speaks of a lesion to the optic nerve, a diagnosis that puts his career at great risk. Veres doesn't rule out anything, either that the damage is slight, and therefore could allow the pilot to get back on track, or more serious, he claims that to understand the real extent it will be necessary to wait ten days, that the left eye is completely open, that the vision can be thoroughly tested, while experts debate whether the injury is reversible or irreversible. There are no brain injuries. But Felipe Massa is a driver, and he has to see better than the others, he can't be impaired and on a professional level, his future depends on this aspect. Sure, says Altman well, with his right eye open, he sees very well, but maybe it's a somewhat simplistic explanation and more than an observation it seems like a hope or a prayer, one of many. We will understand in the next few days which direction Felipe Massa's crossroads will take. We have to wait, a patience that Ferrari has also decided to adopt as its line of conduct in choosing the driver who will replace him. Robert Veres is the Hungarian neurosurgeon who operated on Felipe Massa on Saturday, repeats:

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"There was a bone fragment that was crushing the brain, it could cause serious damage, we had to remove it immediately. It took us 40 minutes to decide and I think our timeliness was very useful".

 

In place of that fragment now what is there?

 

"A small hole, the fracture must heal".

 

Hungarian doctors continue to speak of a pilot in danger of life…

 

"There are rules in surgery: in the presence of an open cavity you have to affirm that the patient's life is in danger, because a complication is always possible. This does not mean that CAT scans continue to undergo positive evolutions, they exclude injuries to the skull, and show signs of clear improvement".

 

Did you touch the brain during the operation?

 

"How can you not touch the brain, if you operate in the head?"

 

Is there any damage to the eye?

 

"We can't rule it out. The eye is closed, we haven't tested the vision yet, but the optic nerve, given the trauma, may have been affected. From a morphological point of view there is no damage. Now we have to wait for him to wake up well. I think it will take seven or ten days to figure out if he's had a visual field loss".

 

Could there be a second operation?

 

"I do not know. We think day by day".

 

Do you think his career is at risk?

 

"It's too early to tell".

 

Season?

 

"I'd say yes".


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