There has been more good news today from the AEK hospital in Budapest, where Felipe Massa (above at the Hungaroring last weekend prior to his crash) has been recovering since last Saturday following his crash during the qualifying session.

There has been more good news today from the AEK hospital in Budapest, where Felipe Massa has been recovering since last Saturday following his crash during the qualifying session. According to Ferrari today "he driver has had more exams carried out, confirming his continuing improvement. Felipe speaks, can sit upright and was even able to take his first steps. Today he will leave intensive care. From the clinical and radiological point of view everything is going extremely well."

"Felipe will stay at the AEK hospital for the next view days, until he can be taken somewhere else," adds the statement issued today while Ferrari also says that this afternoon Chairman Luca di Montezemolo will come back to Budapest, when he will greet Massa personally "on behalf of the whole Company and the fans who continue sending best wishes via www.ferrari.com."

Meanwhile, Massa's team mate Kimi Raikkonen passed his own comments today. "First of all I want to wish Felipe well again," said the Finnish driver, who won the 2007 F1 World Championship title for Ferrari. "He had an incredible accident on last Saturday and I think that he was on everybody’s mind in the Scuderia Ferrari and the drivers on the grid. I know that his condition is improving constantly and I’m glad to hear that. I really hope that he’ll be alright soon and get back on the track. It was an absurd accident and the Team had some very difficult moments, because in the beginning we didn’t know why Felipe ran off the track at this point. But then a driver has to blind out certain things once he’s on the track.

"The second place on Sunday was a good result for the Scuderia, especially under these circumstances. We’ve made some progress, there’s not doubt. The high temperatures helped our car and I could press hard on the soft and on the hard compound. We managed to get a place on the podium, but we couldn’t really fight for victory. It’s strange how it always goes well on certain tracks and some are completely the opposite: in Germany things go always wrong for me, but in Hungary I drove on the podium again, for the fifth time.

"With these eight points we gained here we’re now on the third place in the Constructors’ Championship," continued Raikkonen. "That’s where we want to stay, because this is the goal we set for ourselves for the second half of the season. Obviously we’re trying to gain another place on the podium, but we know that it’s difficult, because the competition at the top is really hard. I won’t give up also because I would like to win at least one race this year.

"Now I can’t wait to race at the Finland Rally, although I’m going there to have fun. We had some very good tests with my Fiat Grande Punto Abarth S2000 and we’re ready for racing. I’ve got great experience in Formula 1 but not in rally driving, although I know a bit what it’s about. Getting used to a new track in Formula 1 is quite easy, but in a rally the stages always change. After this experience I’ll relax with my family and my friends. It’s high summer in Finland and it’s good to chill out a bit before we start with the preparations for the European GP at Valencia."