Ferrari Chairman Luca di Montezemolo arrived at the AEK hospital in Budapest in the 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," Luca di Montezemolo said 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 Chairman 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 Nürburgring. We have to wait, but the signs are encouraging. Our priority is the recovery of Felipe as a man. 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 Domenicali, who will make suggestions how to substitute the Brazilian driver until he returns, which I hope will be very soon," continued Montezemolo. "We'll make a decision when the time is right, considering that there's a break of a month now." There has already been speculation that former Ferrari star Michael Schumacher could be tempted out of retirement to contest some races this year or that Spaniard Fernando Alonso, widely rumoured in the media to be on the verge of joining Ferrari for next year, could deputise in Massa's seat in Valencia where his Renault team won't be taking any part following a one race ban that was dished out by the stewards in Hungary yesterday.

Felipe Massa has been scanned again in the morning with a negative outcome. His conditions are stable. Meanwhile messages from all over the world reach Felipe in hospital and the Ferrari website has set up a special sections for wishes for the Brazilian driver.