SÃO PAULO, Brazil/MARANELLO, Italy — Injured Formula 1 driver Felipe Massa, who suffered severe head injuries when he was struck by a spring that flew off another car during a horrific July accident, underwent nearly five hours of plastic surgery in São Paulo on Monday, Ferrari reported.
Ferrari said the operation "had a positive outcome."
"After a short stay in hospital, Felipe can go home and then start with his physical preparations," the automaker said in a statement posted on its Web site.
Massa told the London-based Guardian newspaper on Tuesday that he will soon have another operation to implant a titanium-infused plate into his head.
"I am OK," he told the Guardian. "The only problem is I need surgery to close a bone in my head that they had taken away because it was completely damaged. A normal guy can live like this without a problem. But for a driver, if you have an accident and you have this problem, the recovery is more difficult."
He added that he intends to be ready to race for Ferrari next season, but he called for safety improvements to the sport in the wake of his accident and the death days earlier of British driver Henry Surtees. Surtees died when a tire flew off a Formula 2 car, hitting him in the head.
In the meantime, Ferrari is prepping for its home race on September 13 at Monza. It released a video of Massa's new replacement, Giancarlo Fisichella, who admitted "there is a lot of pressure" in the run-up to the Italian Grand Prix.
"The goal is to score a lot of points," Fisichella said. "It would be a dream to get on the podium."
Inside Line says: Massa, who has no doubt about his return, shows incredible guts in the aftermath of a terrible accident. But clearly, F1 needs safety improvements. — Anita Lienert, Correspondent
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