Correa returns to social media with emotional message

F2 racer Juan-Manuel, who was severely injured in the horrendous accident that cost the life of fellow hopeful Anthoine Hubert at Spa last month, made an emotional return to social media on Tuesday.

It's been a challenging and demanding past five weeks for the American-Ecuadorian driver, who was placed in a coma and on life support following his ordeal at the Belgian Grand Prix.

The 20-year-old Sauber junior driver also endured recently a crucial intervention on his lower right leg which doctors have so far saved from amputation.

Yesterday, Correa posted a series of short videos on his Instagram account in which he personally expressed his condolences to the Hubert family.

• Stewart: Hubert tragedy a 'wake-up call' for F1

"It’s been a very rough five weeks since the accident," he said.

"Obviously, I’ve never said it publicly but I want to give my deepest condolences to the Hubert family. It’s been such a shock to everyone that such an accident happened. You never really think something like that can happen and especially not to you, until it does.

"I’m just grateful to be here even though obviously I have a long road of recovery and it’s still uncertain if I will ever recover to 100%. I am grateful to be alive, and to the people who have been with me the past five weeks."

Correa paid a heartfelt tribute to his family and to all those that supported his recovery efforts during a period of distress which he says says has changed his life.

"I’m very grateful to my family and for the support over the past few weeks. Without them, I would not have made it.

"This has really changed my life, the way I see things, the way I think about life and everything in general. It’s been a life-changing experience."

The young driver says he has come to terms with his situation, adding that he will undergo one final operation in London before returning to his home in the US.

"It is what it is, I have accepted what happened and I can only be positive now and work as hard as possible for the fastest recovery possible and the best recovery as well.

“The plan will be to have another surgery next Monday and that will be the last surgery here in London. And after that, beginning of November, I should be travelling to Miami to see my siblings and to start my full on recovery.

“This should last, according to the doctors here, they’re expecting it to last 10 months to a year before I can start to really tell how the right foot really is because at the moment I have a metal frame that doesn’t let me move the foot at all so it’s just healing. That will be there for at least eight to 10 months.

"We will see what happens but I’m positive, there’s nothing else to do," he concluded.

"I can either me here and be sorry for myself and be depressed or I can just get on with it and be positive and do the best I can for the recovery."

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