As the 28-year-old Ferrari driver's previously life-threatening condition continues to steadily improve, Massa's dad told his local newspaper Folha de S.Paulo that Felipe this week asked for a proper meal.

He said Massa is now improving almost by the hour, but that doctors are not yet ready to allow him to return to solid foods.

Felipe's first words to doctors and family members, including his close brother Eduardo, were along the lines of "why am I in hospital?  What happened to me?", indicating he has no memory of being struck in the helmet by a steel damper spring at the nearby Hungaroring last Saturday.

Memory loss aside, however, there are no signs of any brain damage whatsoever, as he is lucidly answering questions in Portuguese, English and Italian.

Feared damage to his left eye, meanwhile, has proved unfounded, after Massa opened his bruised eyelid on Tuesday and was able to see.

The Sao Paulo newspaper insists it is still possible Massa will transfer from Hungary to the Paris hospital Pitie-Salpetriere, perhaps next Thursday.