Felipe Massa was airlifted to hospital after he crashed his Sauber Petronas C23 during a test session in Barcelona on Wednesday.
Felipe Massa was airlifted to hospital after he crashed his Sauber Petronas C23 during a test session in Barcelona on Wednesday.
Massa’s car suffered a right-front suspension failure and veered off the circuit at Turn One, which is approached at over 290 km/h. The C23 hit the tyrewall, but the Brazilian was able to get out of the car unaided.
However, Massa was taken to the medical centre after complaining that he felt unwell. From there, he was airlifted to the General Hospital of Catalunya at Sant Cugat in the outskirts of Barcelona for observation.
Later, he was then given the all-clear and told the team: “No problem, I’m fine.”
The accident caused Sauber to cut short its test programme, which will recommence at Fiorano next week.
Collated test times – February 4
1. F. Alonso – Renault R24 – 1m14,665 – 104 laps
2. R. Schumacher – Williams-BMW FW26 – 1m14,679 – 51 laps
3. J. Button – BAR-Honda 006 – 1m14,699 – 114 laps
4. M. Gené – Williams-BMW FW25 –1m14,997 – 64 laps
5. R. Barrichello – Ferrari F2003-GA – 1m15,058 – 84 laps
6. F. Montagny – Renault R23 – 1m15,288 – 81 laps
7. O. Panis – Toyota TF104 – 1m15,444 – 81 laps
8. J.P. Montoya – Williams-BMW FW26 – 1m15,590 – 41 laps
9. L. Badoer – Ferrari F2003-GA – 1m15,646 – 75 laps
10. T. Sato – BAR-Honda 005/B – 1m15,724 – 64 laps
11. K. Raikkonen – McLaren-Mercedes MP4/19 – 1m16,083 – 91 laps
12. C. Da Matta – Toyota TF104 – 1m16,110 – 86 laps
13. P. De la Rosa – McLaren-Mercedes MP4/19 – 1m16,440 – 39 laps
14. D. Coulthard – McLaren-Mercedes MP4/19 – 1m16,573 – 39 laps
15. F. Massa – Sauber-Petronas C23 – 1m17,777 – 4 laps