27/07/2009
NEWS STORY
Ferrari Chairman Luca di Montezemolo arrived at the AEK hospital in Budapest this morning where he met Felipe Massa's wife Rafaela and the Brazilian driver's parents, to see the Hungarian doctors.
"I'm confident and optimistic about Felipe's capacity to recover," said di Montezemolo at the end of his visit, "also because he has excellent medical care and I want to thank the staff at the AEK hospital for the work they're doing. Thank you also to Professor Sailant and Piete, who came here immediately. Their support will be fundamental also from a psychological point of view for Felipe's family and for the whole team."
As far as Felipe's family is concerned di Montezemolo said: "They are fantastic people, a very united family and their presence will help Felipe a lot in the coming days."
"It was a serious and incredible accident, but thank God this is a different situation compared to 1976 when I went to see Niki Lauda after the accident at the Nurburgring. We have to wait, but the signs are encouraging.
"Our priority is the recovery of Felipe as a man," he continued. "He has been with us for a long time and he is part of the family and not just of the team... We're all waiting for him at Ferrari and I'm convinced that we'll see him again in one of our single-seaters and that he will be again on top. Yesterday's race would have been perfect for Felipe.
"I'm heading back to Maranello with Stefano (Domenicali)," he added, "who will make suggestions how to substitute Felipe until he returns, which I hope will be very soon. We'll make a decision when the time is right, considering that there's a break of a month now."
Massa was scanned again this morning with a negative outcome. His condition remains stable.