Rob Smedley, the former race engineer to Felipe Massa, offered a detailed and emotional insight into the Brazilian\u2019s life-threatening incident at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
Massa required successful life-saving surgery, while Smedley was left questioning whether he wanted to carry on in Formula 1.<\/p>\n
Rob Smedley gives detailed insight into Felipe Massa crash<\/p>\n
Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for news you can trust.<\/p>\n The terrible incident in question happened during qualifying, with \u201ctotal confusion\u201d enveloping Ferrari in the moments after the incident as \u201cawful guttural moaning\u201d was heard on Massa\u2019s team radio after initial silence.<\/p>\n Smedley, appearing on the High Performance Racing podcast, recalled the traumatic experience.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me, the team, in terms of operations, had taken another little notch upwards from 2008. He\u2019d taken another little notch upwards from 2008,\u201d Smedley began in reference to Ferrari and Massa. \u201cHe was consistently performing and performing really well.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that was a race definitely which suited the car, and I thought that we would probably get a decent qualifying out of it. Even though the car was awful in real terms, he was always inside the top 10 in qualifying.<\/p>\n \u201cHe just started the lap. He\u2019s going up the hill to Turn 5. I see him start to slow down. It\u2019s not an accident. It\u2019s slowing down, and I\u2019m like, the engine\u2019s broken or gearbox is broken. It\u2019s a classic the car just coming to a stop, but a little bit faster.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I\u2019m looking, and as he\u2019s slowing down, I jump on the radio and go, \u2018Mate. What\u2019s happened?\u2019 There\u2019s no response. So then I immediately think he\u2019s p*ssed off. He doesn\u2019t want to talk. He\u2019s in the middle of qualifying. Gearbox is broke. Engine is broke. Something like that. Doesn\u2019t want to talk.<\/p>\n \u201cThen I see him come to an abrupt halt. The line goes down. So then I\u2019m like, \u2018Oh, he\u2019s crashed. Actually, he wasn\u2019t just slowing the car down, now he\u2019s crashed.\u2019 But he\u2019s slowing down, then he crashes.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018Aright, this is weird.\u2019 \u2018What happened?\u2019 No response.<\/p>\n \u201cThen I\u2019m asking the guys back in the garage. I\u2019m saying, \u2018What\u2019s happened here?\u2019 And one of them says to me, \u2018Well, going up the hill, he\u2019s started to press the brake and started to press the accelerator at the same time, but he\u2019s like hard down on the brake and the accelerator.\u2019 I\u2019m like, \u2018Oh, this is weird.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cNow this is a completely new situation. You\u2019re not understanding anything.<\/p>\n \u201cThen it shows the in-car camera of him. It flashes to that. Still haven\u2019t heard from him, and it shows the in-car camera. He\u2019s got his hands on the wheel, but he starts to veer over to the left-hand side of the road. Then he goes over the kerbs. Then he goes from one side of the track to the other, bounces across the gravel into the tyre wall.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018He\u2019s just driven it into the wall.\u2019 His hands are still on the wheel, which is really weird to watch anyway. When you see a driver going into the wall, you\u2019ll always see at the very last minute they\u2019ll take their hands off.<\/p>\n \u201cSo we\u2019re still in this state where we\u2019ve got no idea what\u2019s going on. Total confusion. Confusion from the garage, confusion from me. Nobody knows what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n \u201cAt that point, his radio opens, and there was this like awful, guttural moaning. Somebody in a lot of pain, like a lot of pain.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he\u2019s come to, he\u2019s been fumbling around, and somehow, just out of instinct, he has pressed that button, and he\u2019s opened it. He wasn\u2019t saying anything. There\u2019s just an awful guttural moaning. There was this sudden realisation that this is not normal.\u201d<\/p>\n Smedley revealed that he turned Massa\u2019s radio off at this point, to protect the driver and the Ferrari team who could hear this.<\/p>\n Minutes later, Flavio Briatore, the Renault team boss at the time, came along the pit wall to Ferrari with a still image. Ferrari\u2019s first thought was that a bird had struck Massa\u2019s helmet.<\/p>\n \u201cThen it started emerging that maybe something had come off Ruben\u2019s car,\u201d Smedley continued.<\/p>\n \u201cActually, it was the third spring off the rear suspension, 800 grams, a kilogram, something like that.<\/p>\n \u201cHe got taken to the medical centre. They sedated him. They give him a tracheotomy, and they airlifted him out.\u201d<\/p>\n Smedley went to the hospital where Massa was being operated on.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a military hospital in Budapest, and it has some of the world\u2019s leading technology and doctors for head trauma, but on that Saturday night, it was, he\u2019s in theatre, and, \u2018We don\u2019t really know whether he\u2019s going to make it.’\u201d<\/p>\n Growing emotional as he recalled this traumatic experience, Smedley took a brief pause to collect himself before continuing.<\/p>\n Massa was placed in an induced coma. By Sunday night, he was \u201ca lot more stable,\u201d though his situation remained \u201ctouch and go.\u201d<\/p>\n Smedley returned to the Hungaroring on Grand Prix Sunday to \u201csupport the team,\u201d even though he acknowledges that he probably should not have been there.<\/p>\n \u201cI wasn\u2019t very present.\u201d<\/p>\n Smedley revealed that Ferrari flew him back out to Budapest the following weekend as Massa emerged from the coma and began to recover.<\/p>\n He continued: \u201cIt was quite shocking to the point that it was funny, because his head was literally about twice the size of what it normally would be, and it was all black and blue, literally his whole head was black and blue.<\/p>\n \u201cHe first started talking Portuguese to me. Then he didn\u2019t know who I was. Then he thought he drove for McLaren.<\/p>\n \u201cThen when he worked out who I was and who he drove for, he kept saying to me, \u2018Give Stefano [Domenicali] a ring and tell him I\u2019ll be back in the car next week. I can come testing on Monday. I\u2019m feeling a lot better now.’\u201d<\/p>\n Smedley confirmed that the incident made him question whether he wanted to carry on in Formula 1. He made Ferrari aware of his considerations.<\/p>\n He ultimately decided to carry on, and was glad that he did as he \u201cthoroughly enjoyed\u201d the remainder of his time in Formula 1.<\/p>\n More on Ferrari from PlanetF1.com<\/p>\n Button learned why Michael Schumacher wanted Barrichello as Ferrari teammate<\/a><\/p>\n Former Ferrari F1 Academy driver issues emotional plea after \u2018toughest year by far\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Smedley continued as Massa\u2019s race engineer until joining Williams in 2014, where he took on the position of head of vehicle performance.<\/p>\n Massa missed the remainder of the 2009 season, before returning to action with Ferrari from the start of 2010.<\/p>\n He too switched to Williams in 2014 before making his final Grand Prix start at the 2017 Abu Dhabi GP.<\/p>\n Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp<\/a> to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.<\/p>\n You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel<\/a> for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!<\/p>\n