Ferrari's Felipe Massa, who underwent surgery following a 200kph crash in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix, was in a "serious, but stable" condition in a Budapest hospital on Saturday.

"The condition of the driver is serious, but stable," said a spokesperson at the AEK Hospital.

The hospital's chief doctor Peter Bazso added: "At the moment he's under anaesthetic and will be woken up on Sunday."

Some media reports suggested the driver's condition was "life threatening" but a Ferrari spokesperson denounced those claims as "bullshit".

The 28-year-old Brazilian — winner of 11 Grand Prix and the world championship runner-up in 2008 — came off at Turn Four after being struck by a piece of bodywork which had flown off the rear of compatriot Rubens Barrichello's Brawn car.

Massa was airlifted to hospital and underwent surgery on his fractured skull.

Ferrari said that Massa suffered skull damage, cuts to his forehead and brain concussion.

Massa was hit on the face and was momentarily concussed as his car skewed off the circuit and into the tyre barriers.

The Brawn team confirmed that Barrichello's car lost a piece of suspension and on-board film from Massa's Ferrari showed him being struck, losing control and going off the track.

"My thoughts right now are with Felipe and his family who are really close friends of mine and I hope he is going to be ok and will be fit as soon as possible," said Barrichello.

Massa was lifted out of his driver's cockpit after being attended by medical staff and then taken to the circuit medical centre.

The accident took place shortly before the end of the Q2 mini-session during the hour-long qualifying period in which Massa managed to clock the eighth-fastest time.

Barrichello, who visited Massa at the medical centre, said he was shocked by the accident.

"I asked somebody from Ferrari and they said he (Massa) was not speaking very well; he was not actually talking to the team. Then I started to get worried," the veteran driver told www.autosport.com.

"I wanted to see him myself because I've been in situations like that. We are Brazilians and sometimes we have a family, sometimes we don't, and when we wake up all we want to see is someone we know.

"I wanted to be there in case there was not anybody from the family there.

"But he was conscious, he was moving and he was very agitated with the fact that he had a cut on his head. With that, they sedated him for him to calm down, and then they moved him to hospital."

The incident again threw the spotlight in safety in motor racing just a week after Britain's Henry Surtees was killed in an accident in a Formula Two race at Brands Hatch.

The son of former world champion John Surtees was struck by a wheel which flew off a competitor's car.

Barrichello said safety again needed to be examined.

"I don't believe in coincidences in life. Things happen for a reason and I think this is the second message. Imola (in 1994 when Ayrton Senna was killed) was a message.

"The cars were improved. Unfortunately we lost a boy (Surtees), which is tremendously sad. It is not a coincidence that something happened right now. In the Grand Prix Drivers' Association we talked quite a lot about it and something needs to be done."

Massa has been with Ferrari since 2006 and was pipped by just one point by Lewis Hamilton in the title race in 2008.

He is currently in fifth place in the drivers championship with 22 points.

Meanwhile Spain's two-time champion Fernando Alonso took pole position.

AFP