Juan Manuel Correa is aiming to return to motor racing in 2021 once he has completed his recovery from the serious injuries he sustained in a crash at Spa-Francorchamps last year.
The 21-year-old sustained serious leg injuries in the crash during last year’s Formula 2 feature race at Spa, which claimed the life of Anthoine Hubert. Correa is attending the championship’s return to the track this weekend as a guest of the series to pay tribute to his late rival.“Being in Spa this week definitely brings a lot of emotions, some positive and some negative,” he said. “It is going to be a difficult weekend in that sense, but I am here, mainly as a tribute to Anthoine but also to see old friends, revisit the paddock which is somewhat of a family to me, and to enjoy the overall race weekend.”
“To be back in Europe these last few weeks has been really amazing and a huge development in my progress, my rehab and my road back to racing,” added Correa, who returned to Miami in November last year. “It is something that I have been wanting to do since the beginning of the year and now finally I am able to travel, and I am able to train properly.”
Following the crash, Correa was given the option of having his right foot amputated due to the extent of the damage it had suffered. He chose not to and went through lengthy surgical procedures to restore as much of the leg and foot as possible.
He has resumed training but is awaiting the removal of support structures on his damaged legs to begin developing those muscles. He will have to undergo further surgeries but intends to return to racing once his recovery is complete.
“It has been great to see the level that I am at with my upper body strength,” he said.
“My upper body is ready to drive. I have the level of strength necessary to drive any car I want and now it is just a matter of time and to wait a little bit more for the leg to get better.
“We are confident that as they start taking the metals off in the next few months and with the proper rehab the legs will be more than ready to drive next season.”
Correa was previously a member of the Alfa Romeo-affiliated Sauber Junior Team and tested a 2013-specification Formula 1 car prior to his crash.
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slowmo (@slowmo)
28th August 2020, 0:50
Regardless of whether he gets the driving career he wants in the future, I’m glad he’s making a recovery that enabled him to keep the use of his foot.
BasCB (@bascb)
28th August 2020, 7:18
Indeed @slowmo. Good to see modern medicine is able to do that (even it it clearly is a lot of operations to do)
Shimks (@shimks)
28th August 2020, 8:26
Wow. Big lump in my throat.
Frasier (@frasier)
28th August 2020, 17:36
A very long process to rebuild his leg(s). I had a device much simpler than that on my broken leg back in ’99, three months before Michael Schumacher broke the exact same bones at Silverstone. He had his plated internally and was racing again before they removed my frame after 24 weeks, but Correa has been a whole year in metal, different scale of injury.
I hope he gets back decent use of his right leg, not guaranteed by any means, I can imagine just walking is bonus right now.