Eye injury means Felipe Massa might never race again

The Ferrari driver is in a stable condition in intensive care at the AEK military hospital in Budapest after fracturing his skull in a freak accident during qualifying for the Hungary Grand Prix on Saturday.

Although the 28-year-old, still in a medically-induced coma, has shown signs of improvement after undergoing emergency surgery, it has emerged he may have sustained eye problems. The doctor who operated on Massa, Professor Robert Veres, said: "He has suffered some damage to the eye. We don't know if he'll be able to race again."

Even if he can eventually return to the grid, Veres said that was unlikely to be this season. Earlier today it was claimed that Massa had "a quiet night" as he continued his recovery.

After yesterday's race at the Hungaroring, Massa was visited by Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali, team-mate Kimi Raikkonen and Brawn GP's Rubens Barrichello and boss Ross Brawn. It was a spring that had worked loose on Barrichello's car that hit Massa on his helmet at 162mph, causing his injuries and subsequent crash into a tyre barrier.

A Ferrari spokesman said: "Felipe had a quiet night. He is okay, and he is due to have another CT scan today." Doctors at the hospital were encouraged by the positive results of yesterday's first CT scan following surgery, and hope Massa continues to show steady improvement.

A spokesman for the Hungarian defence ministry, under whose jurisdiction the hospital is run, has been quoted as saying on local television that Massa is starting to communicate. "He reacts when he's spoken to. We are optimistic a slow recovery is beginning," said Istvan Bocskai, who also confirmed Massa could move his hands and legs.

Rob Smedley, the English engineer who looks after Massa's Ferrari, has revealed the moment of horror when it seemed his friend had not survived the freak accident.

Smedley, so close to Massa that he calls him his "little brother", was among the first to visit the Brazilian in hospital.

"There is hope, which at one point there wasn't," said Smedley. "Felipe is improving, his condition seems to be getting better and better all the time.

"Physically he's in very good shape. There is obviously the main worry about his cerebral injuries, but they seem to be improving and they seem to be not as bad as we first thought."

Smedley, 35, recalled how he had tried to make urgent radio contact with Massa after the accident which saw the Ferrari career into a tyre barrier at an estimated 170mph.

He said: "When I didn't hear back, it started to get very worrying. Then the doctors arrived on the scene and they eventually extracted him from the car. It's horrendous."