Felipe Massa Injury update

[Kayvan]

Saw this over weekend...


http://www.autoblog.com/2009/07/26/felipe-massas-skull-fractured-by-track-debris-during-hungarian/

Another site has a close up of his face & helmet which I'm not going to link. The above edge of helmet is fractured and clear lens has a crack, though not shattered.

I thought these lens were like industrial/safety goggles and could withstand a huge amount of pressure....but if helmet broke at 150mph, its probably too much.

 

[Empty Pockets]

Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time...:frown

 

[DanQ]

The visor on the helmet is a weak link. It's plastic and not all that thick..good thing the spring hit the helmet and only part of the eye port. I don't think Massa would be alive if the spring had hit only the visor. On one of the reports I thought they said there was something like 15,000 lbs of force at impact? I don't know. 800 gram spring at 162 mph???

I hope he fully recovers and can race again. I enjoy watching him run.

 

[Sinovac]

I watched the qualifying and it appeared he was ok at the time. He was alert and waved at one point. Hopefully he will fully recover. It take guts to race in any class, but open wheel racing is on another level altogether.

 

[Sinovac]

Here is a good animation of the incident.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHZybt3eOAI

 

[GTED]

The commentator on Speed said the spring weighs 1.5lbs, but the force of the hit was ~1600lbs! Not 15k, but still deadly.

Now, rumor has it that Schumacher might be coming back until Ferrari figures out what needs to be done. It might just remain as a rumor....

Ed

 

[DanQ]

Thanks for the correction ~1600lbs sounds more accurate. Still a big impact to the head. I think there are reports that Schumacher's manager said he wasn't coming back..

I'm hoping Bourdais gets a chance to redeem drivers coming from north america series....

 

[Gulf GT]

Autosport is reporting that Schumacher is going to replace Massa...

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/77418