Injured F2 racer Correa to undergo major surgery to avoid amputation
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Formula Two driver Juan Manuel Correa will undergo over 10 hours of surgery on his right leg on Sunday in order to avoid amputation, four weeks after being injured in a crash that killed French racer Anthoine Hubert.
Correa suffered a spinal injury and fractured his legs in the crash.
He was transferred to a specialised intensive care unit in London this month and was moved to another hospital specialising in orthopaedic surgeries earlier this week.
The Ecuadorean-American, who was taken out of a medically induced coma last week, was now “fully conscious”, a statement issued by his family said, with his lungs having recovered enough for doctors to attempt the surgery.
Doctors had given Correa the option of a “reconstructive amputation” of his right foot, the statement added, but the 20-year-old had decided to proceed with the surgery instead.
“Sunday’s surgery will be crucial in determining Juan Manuel’s future,” said the statement.
The car wreck of Juan Manuel Correa of Sauber is removed during the Formula 2 race at the Spa-Francorchamps race track in Stavelot, Belgium, 31 August 2019. EPA-EFE/REMKO DE WAAL
Hubert died when his car was hit at speed by Correa’s after the French driver crashed into the barriers at Spa during the Belgian Grand Prix support race on Aug. 31.
He was the first driver fatality at a Formula One race weekend since Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger were killed at Imola in 1994.
