Brazilians asked to pray for Massa, remember Senna

The wife of Formula One driver Felipe Massa asked Brazilians to pray for her husband, whose condition improved Monday after a high-speed crash in Hungary left him near death for two days.

Massa’s accident during qualifying Saturday for the Hungarian Grand Prix revived grim memories for many Brazilians. In 1994, three-time F1 champion and fellow Brazilian Ayrton Senna crashed and died at Imola. His death put the country into a prolonged state of national mourning.

Newspapers carried banner headlines and television reports provided detailed coverage of Massa’s crash. A day after the accident, the Rio de Janeiro daily Extra’s front page read: “Brazil Prays for Massa.”

Massa’s skull was fractured after he was hit in the helmet by a loose part from another car. Robert Veres, the neurosurgeon who operated on Massa, said Monday his life was no longer in danger, although the damage may have ended his F1 career.

“I ask that each of you, in your own religion, to pray for him,” said Raffaela, Massa’s wife who is six-months pregnant after watching her husband’s accident on television from Sao Paulo.

Massa’s father, Luiz Antonio, said his son’s crash was “tough news to digest, but fortunately the worst has passed and he is recovering well.”

The 28-year-old driver finished second in last year’s championship in a season that came down to the final turn during the Brazilian Grand Prix last November in his hometown of Sao Paulo. The effort further endeared him to a Brazilian racing community that has not had a native F1 champion since Senna in 1991.

Alexander Silva, a 25-year-old butcher, stood outside a newsstand in Rio reading the latest headlines about the driver.

“It was a nightmare accident and all Brazilian Formula One fans are traumatized,” he said. “This is made worse because it almost seems like a replay of when we lost Senna.”

Silva said Massa’s survival was key to the sport thriving in Brazil, a nation of F1 fanatics that prides itself on its daring drivers.

“If he had died the sport would have lost all its luster in Brazil,” Silva said. “It’s horrible for the fans like me. We’re all praying he makes it out alive.”