From GMM
Felipe Massa 's personal doctor Dino Altman has countered reports the injured Ferrari driver's left eye was damaged in his crash during Hungarian GP qualifying.
The 28-year-old Brazilian is now out of coma and expected to walk out of hospital sometime next week with no long-term effects from his serious head injuries.
But the damage done to his left eye remains largely unknown, amid reports the optic nerve was damaged when his helmet and visor was struck by a 800 gram steel damper spring at 275kmh last Saturday afternoon.
An official of the AEK hospital on Tuesday is quoted by Italy's ANSA news agency as saying checks on the injured eye will only be able to be conducted "in a week to ten days, not before".
But Massa's personal doctor, also attending to Massa at the AEK military hospital in central Budapest, insists: "His left eye has no problem, his eyesight is okay."
Massa's father Luiz Antonio said: "Felipe is better and better, I would not say from day to day but rather from hour to hour."
On July 2, 1972 during the Grand Prix of France at Charade, Austrian driver Helmut Marko was the victim of a similar accident.
A stone thrown by a tire of the car that ran in front of him pierced through his visor, hitting him straight in the eye and blinding it instantly. Miraculously, the Austrian managed to stop the car undamaged but the damage to his eyesight was already done.
Dr. Marko is today Red Bull’s advisor in Formula 1.
photo: WRI2
Felipe Massa 's personal doctor Dino Altman has countered reports the injured Ferrari driver's left eye was damaged in his crash during Hungarian GP qualifying.
The 28-year-old Brazilian is now out of coma and expected to walk out of hospital sometime next week with no long-term effects from his serious head injuries.
But the damage done to his left eye remains largely unknown, amid reports the optic nerve was damaged when his helmet and visor was struck by a 800 gram steel damper spring at 275kmh last Saturday afternoon.
An official of the AEK hospital on Tuesday is quoted by Italy's ANSA news agency as saying checks on the injured eye will only be able to be conducted "in a week to ten days, not before".
But Massa's personal doctor, also attending to Massa at the AEK military hospital in central Budapest, insists: "His left eye has no problem, his eyesight is okay."
Massa's father Luiz Antonio said: "Felipe is better and better, I would not say from day to day but rather from hour to hour."
On July 2, 1972 during the Grand Prix of France at Charade, Austrian driver Helmut Marko was the victim of a similar accident.
A stone thrown by a tire of the car that ran in front of him pierced through his visor, hitting him straight in the eye and blinding it instantly. Miraculously, the Austrian managed to stop the car undamaged but the damage to his eyesight was already done.
Dr. Marko is today Red Bull’s advisor in Formula 1.
photo: WRI2