Ahead of an official interview on Monday morning before heading back to Brazil, Felipe Massa - via his brother Edoardo - has admitted that he is lucky to be alive following his crash during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix, but insists he will race again.

"When I woke up I didn't know why I was in hospital," Edoardo apparently told the News of the World on his brother's behalf, "so I was asking 'Why am I here?' I was pulling all the tubes and my brother Eduardo tried to stop me so we had a fight.

"The accident was just so unlucky but I know I am lucky to be alive," he added. "I don't remember anything of what happened."

As he prepares to head home to Brazil where he will continue his recovery, the 2008 championship runner-up, who will be replaced by Michael Schumacher in Valencia next month, insists that had it not been for the freak accident during qualifying last week he could have won the race.

"That was my race," he told the British tabloid, which is written for (and by) the sort of people who have to follow the words with their fingers and usually simultaneously mouth them. "I couldn't believe it when they told me Lewis had won and Kimi Raikkonen was second.

"I will race again," he vowed, via his brother.