Formula One driver Felipe Massa says he is close to a full recovery and is aiming to return to racing at the Brazilian Grand Prix in October.
The Brazilian said in an interview with Globo TV late on Sunday that he was aiming to be back for the Oct. 18 race, but it would depend on the results of his weekly tests.
“I don’t know if it will be possible, but I hope to be back in my home race, which is always very special to me,” Massa said. “Maybe even before that, let’s see.”
Massa said his left eye was not yet fully healed from his life-threatening crash at the Hungarian Grand Prix on July 25 that left him hospitalized for nine days with multiple skull fractures.
“I’m improving. I’m still not 100 percent and my sight in the left eye still isn’t 100 percent,” Massa said. “I’m about 85 percent, 90 percent recovered. There is still a bit to go before I’m back to normal.”
Massa is resting in Brazil, saying all he was doing was sleeping, watching a lot of TV and playing video games.
The 28-year-old driver said he still could not remember anything about the crash and was not bothered by images of the accident.
His Ferrari hit a protective barrier after his helmet was hit by a loose part from another car and caused him to lose consciousness in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
ALONSO
Two-time Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso was meanwhile cleared to race at the European Grand Prix in his native Spain after Renault won its appeal on Monday to overturn a one-race suspension.
Motor sport’s governing body had suspended Renault from Sunday’s race in Valencia after the team allowed Alonso to leave the pit lane with a loose wheel during last month’s Hungarian GP.
But the French Motor Sport Federation overturned the suspension before the FIA’s International Court of Appeal at the FIA’s Paris headquarters on Monday.
Renault was instead fined US$50,000.
Champagne corks often pop and loud, boisterous cheers are usually heard around Constitution Dock when the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race line honors winner finishes in the Tasmanian state capital. There were no such celebrations this year when the defending champions on board LawConnect won the race in the early hours of yesterday morning, as it came about 24 hours after two sailors died on separate boats in sail boom accidents two hours apart on a storm-ravaged first night of the race. LawConnect, a 100-foot super maxi skippered by Australian tech millionaire Christian Beck, sailed up the River Derwent at just after 2:30am.
Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan yesterday dumped defending champions Germany out of the United Cup with world No. 2 Alexander Zverev sidelined by an arm injury barely a week away from the Australian Open. The upset in Perth sent the Kazakhs into the semi-finals of the 18-nation tournament. In Sydney, women’s world No. 2 Iga Swiatek led Poland into the last eight by winning a rematch of her 2023 French Open final against Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic. Britain also progressed to the quarter-finals with Katie Boulter’s dominant 6-2, 6-1 victory over Australia’s Olivia Gadecki enough to guarantee they won their group. The US and
HAT-TRICK PREP: World No. 1 Sabalenka clinched her first win of the season, as she aims to become the first woman in 20 years to win three Australian Opens in succession Coco Gauff, Jasmine Paolini and Taylor Fritz yesterday all clocked impressive wins as tennis powerhouses Italy and the US surged into the quarter-finals of the mixed-team United Cup. World No. 3 Gauff swept past Croatia’s Donna Vekic 6-4, 6-2 to avenge a loss at the Paris Olympics, while Fritz took care of Borna Coric 6-3, 6-2 in searing Perth heat. That was enough to put the Americans — last year’s winners — into a last-eight clash with China today, while Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan today are to meet defending champions Germany, led by Alexander Zverev, in the other Perth quarter-final. In Sydney, the in-form
Chess great Magnus Carlsen on Friday quit the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships in New York after governing body FIDE barred the Norwegian from participating in a round at the tournament for wearing jeans. FIDE said in a statement that its dress code regulations were designed to “ensure professionalism and fairness for all participants.” It issued Carlsen a US$200 fine and gave him an opportunity to change into the correct attire, which the world No. 1 rejected, it said. Carlsen said he had a lunch meeting before the round and had to change quickly. “I put on a shirt, jacket and honestly like
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