“I am feeling pretty good about it”- Juan Manuel Correa narrates his road to recovery as he is set to vie for his Formula 1 career.
Anthoine Hubert left for the heavenly abode after succumbing to the injuries he received from a collision during a Formula 2 race at Spa, Belgium. But during the same incident, Juan Manuel Correa was also involved in the crash.
His injuries were so brutal that it kept him out of the action until now, depending on the hospital’s metal framing. However, now Correa is set to return to the competition this year, by working up through the ranks of F3.
After one and a half years, WE ARE BACK!! Very proud to announce this and to be doing it with @ARTGP pic.twitter.com/Ck8mHdjoii
— Juan Manuel Correa (@JMCorrea__) February 1, 2021
While disclosing his return, the American-Ecuadorian race driver described his road to recovery during an interview saying, “Everything has been dedicated to trying to get back into a race car.”
“The whole thing is an adventure, but I am feeling pretty good about it. I spent 14 months living with a metal frame on my right leg, but that has now been taken off, which was a huge, huge step.”
“I then had a metal rod inserted inside the bone, which was really the only way for me to be ready so soon. Now, I am pretty free to put weight on the leg, and I can basically do whatever I want, as long as the pain allows it.”
“Then, it has just been a lot of hard rehabs now. I am walking a bit already without any help, I am also walking quite big distances with the help of a crutch, so I am slowly regaining a sort of normal life.”
Working to recover mentally too
Apart from the physical recovery, Correa also shed light on the mental recovery, as Hubert’s death and the collision overall obviously would have marked a deep trauma within his mind.
“In a way, it feels surreal still because of everything that has been going on. Driving always felt like something that was so far away, but now we are here.”
“There is still some work to do physically, although I have kept up with that as much as I could do in the wheelchair. Then there is the mental aspect, which we are working on too.
“We are working on the things that we can work on, both physiological and cognitive, including my reactions and everything like that.”
