I dont think Massa will be back this session but he probably will be, he's strong =)

Massa shoudnt race when he is fit to race, he should race when he is fit to crash.

On the other hand its good to see he has the determination.

I'm not fully sure Massa will race again this season let alone in Valencia. It'll be a shame for him if he is out for the rest of the season.

If he does miss out on the rest of the season then it may well weaken his chance of doing well next season due to missing out on time in the car. Missing races combined with limited testing would mean that he'll probably have got a lot less practice in than other drivers by the start of next season.

What is Massa's current condition? I google him up on occasion but haven't seen much said yet about expected recovery time and such like. Is he all clear on eye damage yet? I think I'll open up the google box now and see what it says...

Well, Massa can drive the 2009 spec car after the last race of the season, because then it won't be the current car. This will get him back up to speed ready for testing the 2010 car, so I don't think the effects will be too bad.

Even before the end of the season he could be driving the 2007 car that Schumacher was using to get back into driving competitively, so that he could race in the last few rounds of this season.

It still looks pretty nasty. But it could have been worse, had Massa been 2 or 3 inches further to the left on tack then he would be dead, as the spring would have gone straight through his visor.

But having had a serious head injury myself, I can tell you he won't race in Valencia. My head injury wasn't at 150mph, and it still took me nearly 1 year to fully recover, and I still get headaches now, 5 years later.

He will be legend.

And... Uhm..... Why?

He is now a legend just because he had a spring hit him in the face and he survived it?

Quote from DevilDare :

And... Uhm..... Why?

He is now a legend just because he had a spring hit him in the face and he survived it?

Yeah. I bet we wouldn't.

His survival didn't come down to talent, ability or intelligence. Or even fitness (partially). It was down to sheer luck, and a very good helmet.

The helmet should become a legend perhaps, but not Massa (for this).

I know it's wrong, and I'm a bad person for saying this.....



...but looking at the photo of Massa above, all I can think about is "The Bells, The Bells"

Quote from tristancliffe :

His survival didn't come down to talent, ability or intelligence. Or even fitness (partially). It was down to sheer luck, and a very good helmet.

The helmet should become a legend perhaps, but not Massa (for this).

Not really, the helmets these days have much more technoledgy and are made of more contact absorbing materials yes, but the visor only had 2 screws compared to a couple of years ago when they had 4(removing 2 for weight which is stupid considering a screw weighs nothing) the visor flew off on instant contact which may of done less damage to massa's head if it had 4 screws.

Ah, yes. Not surprising that the non-engineers jump on the number of screws. Tell me, oh clever one, how much worse is it with 2 screws than 4? That's right, you don't know. You only assume that 2 is worse. Could it be that the remaining screws were larger, or worked in a different way? Your steering wheel in your car is held on by one nut. Would two be safer?

And as the visor coming loose didn't make any difference in this accident (other than, perhaps, absorbing a small amount of energy from the damage from Felipe's face) why get in such a hissy fit about it?

What if the threads of the screws had been the cause of the damage to Massa's skull? Would you then be saying they should have gone to two screws (imagine, if you will, that they had kept 4 screws for this example)? What if the remaining two screws had moved and pierced his skull? Would you then like no screws?

I love it when ignorant people make stuff up. And in F1 threads there are few more clueless than Mustafur.

I find it quite amusing that the press always seems to find something or someone to blame.

If the helmet had 2 screws more he would have been fine. How do they know that, are they willing to sit in a F1 car going 100+ MPH whilst getting a spring fired at their head at 150mph+ to find out? I wouldn't think so.

What's the chances of this accident happening again, 1 in a million?

Personally I think they'd be better taking a look at the cars to see if they can improve them more, so that parts are less likely to come off of the car.

Quote from tristancliffe :

Ah, yes. Not surprising that the non-engineers jump on the number of screws. Tell me, oh clever one, how much worse is it with 2 screws than 4? That's right, you don't know. You only assume that 2 is worse. Could it be that the remaining screws were larger, or worked in a different way? Your steering wheel in your car is held on by one nut. Would two be safer?

And as the visor coming loose didn't make any difference in this accident (other than, perhaps, absorbing a small amount of energy from the damage from Felipe's face) why get in such a hissy fit about it?

What if the threads of the screws had been the cause of the damage to Massa's skull? Would you then be saying they should have gone to two screws (imagine, if you will, that they had kept 4 screws for this example)? What if the remaining two screws had moved and pierced his skull? Would you then like no screws?

I love it when ignorant people make stuff up. And in F1 threads there are few more clueless than Mustafur.

Don't assume at all, i never said its the reason why, look your self i said ''may'' nor did i blame the helment after all if it wasn't for it he clearly wouldn't of lived, im just saying safety is ever improving and there are always adjestments to be had, and after accidents like these we realise why such effort is put into these helments.

Im not in a hissy fit about it i was just comparing helment designs from past to present really and found it a bit strange that the past helments had more screws holding the visor and then you go on the attack, is the irony lost somewhat?

please read before you spill crap.

oh and look whats happened now: http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/he ... detail/090808135039.shtml

ouch

Quote from Mackie The Staggie :

I know it's wrong, and I'm a bad person for saying this.....



...but looking at the photo of Massa above, all I can think about is "The Bells, The Bells"

Haha, harsh.

Regarding the helmet, I don't think making the visor attachment would change things much, I guess its just Schuberth trying to cover their tracks with a bit of do-gooding, can't really fault them for doing so in today's 'blame' society.

A visor probrably wouldn't do much to stop a spring at those speeds, infact perhaps the visor took the blow quite well by detaching like that which might have helped, I'd rather the visor did what it did than stay attached but crack and result in the driver having pieces of visor embedded in his face.

oh no I hope we won't be getting amercian "football" style helmet or hockey mask in F1..........those are effing ugly.

Firstly it was very unlucky the spring hit Massa at all, considering possible car positions and timing.
Secondly where is the "white visor" jokes?

Quote from Mustafur :

oh and look whats happened now: http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/he ... detail/090808135039.shtml

ouch

"Felipe's visor only came off when the doctors pulled on it," said Oliver Schimpf.

In conclusion, shut the **** up.

Quote from dawguk :

"Felipe's visor only came off when the doctors pulled on it," said Oliver Schimpf.

In conclusion, shut the **** up.

hmm i wonder how it got him in the skull.

The visor came off on the left side and the spring went though.

Quote from Mustafur :

hmm i wonder how it got him in the skull.

The visor came off on the left side and the spring went though.

Did it put a red carpet for the spring as well?

The visor coming off can only be the result, not the cause of the spring getting through.

Meh im sick of this crap. hes alive and recovering it was a freak accident lets leave it at that, there are a few improvments made to the helment now to improve the unlikelyhood of the visor doing that agian.

I still think thats its a good thing that where talking about the visor being a safety issue and not the tracks or cars(as much as they used to be) it shows how much safer F1 is these days.

Quote from tristancliffe :

The helmet should become a legend perhaps, but not Massa (for this).

Totally agree.
But do you supose he will be back for Brazil just to finish it up infront of his home crowd?
Even if its just a lap in practice.

I don't think they'll let him back in the car this season... I think he'll even miss a part of testing :P

Maybe a parade lap in front of his home crowd or some donuts or something...