F1 will react to Massa, Surtees crashes - Ecclestone

Bernie Ecclestone has promised Formula One will react to the recent accidents of both Henry Surtees and Felipe Massa, following the latter's crash during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The F1 chief executive was speaking at the AEK military hospital in central Budapest, having attended to check on the progress of Ferrari's Massa, who is in induced coma after being struck on the face by a small piece of steel debris.

28-year-old Brazilian Massa's accident, sustaining skull fractures and brain concussion, comes less than a week after Surtees died when a wheel struck his helmet in the Brands Hatch F2 race.

"This is not nice," Ecclestone said on Saturday night. "I thought we had seen an end to all this sort of thing. It's mad. This is just a few days after one death and it is very disturbing.

"Professor Sid Watkins deals with this and I have spoken to him this evening. He is going to get on to it straight away," the Briton added.

Ferrari reacted angrily to reports that Massa is fighting for his life, insisting the Brazilian's emergency surgery went well.

FIA doctor Gary Hartstein backed the Italian team, briefing reporters in Hungary that doctors will wake Massa on Sunday morning and perform another brain scan.

A hospital spokesman said: "He had suffered serious, life-threatening injuries including loss of consciousness and a fracture of the forehead on the left side and a fracture on the base of the skull.

"After the operation he is being cared for in intensive care and now he is in stable, satisfactory condition."

It is said that Massa's pregnant wife Rafaela is en route to Hungary from their native Sao Paulo.