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GENOA, Italy - Formula 1 driver Robert Kubica will need at least a year to regain the full use of his right hand, according to the surgeon who operated on him after he crashed a rally car on Sunday.
The 26-year-old spent seven hours in an operating theatre while surgeons battle to reattach a hand that was almost severed in the crash into a church wall during the Ronde di Andora Rally.
Lead surgeon Igor Rossello, a hand specialist, told Sky Italia that it would take "about a year" for Kubica's hand to regain its full function.
"I don't want to be too optimistic," Rossello said, "but we expect a good outcome. He should recover enough functionality to resume his activity. It was a very complicated procedure and there was the risk he would lose his hand."
POSITIVE OUTCOME, BUT...
The operating team had worked hard to "set the bones and reattach veins, tendons and muscles".
Rossello said, however, it would take a few more days to understand the full extent of the injury. Kubica had lost a lot of blood before arriving in the operating theatre. He injured the same arm in a road accident in 2003 when titanium bolts were inserted to support the bones.
Despite the positive outcome of Sunday's surgery, it is highly unlikely that the Polish driver will be able to race for his Lotus Renault team during 2011. The new season will start on March 13 in Bahrain.
Lotus Renault confirmed earlier on Sunday that Kubica was taken to Santa Corona Hospital in Pietra Ligure with multiple fractures of his right arm, leg and hand in a collision. Fellow F1 driver Fernando Alonso of Ferrari reportedly paid a brief visit to the hospital later on Sunday.
Local health authority official Roberto Carrozzino told Sky Italia that Kubica's life was not in danger but that it was "a very delicate situation". It took two hours to get Kubica to hospital in Pietra Ligure, a small coastal town about 60km south-west of Genoa, because it was difficult to extract him from the wreckage.
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ANSA said Kubica was 4.6km into the rally, near Genoa, when his Skoda Fabia left the road and hit a wall. His co-driver Jakub Gerber was unhurt.
"We were driving the first four kilometers of the first trial," Gerber told ANSA. "I was looking at my notes and didn't notice that the car skidded. Only after the moment of impact did I see that Robert was holding his arm and shortly afterward he lost consciousness."
Kubica is widely regarded as one of F1's most talented drivers and collected 136 points in 2010 to finish eighth in the Drivers' standings.
The previous week he closed Formula 1's first test session of the season with the fastest time over three days in Spain. He had been due to lead the Lotus Renault F1 team this season alongside Vitaly Petrov of Russia.
Former HRT driver Bruno Senna and Romain Grosjean, who drove for Renault in 2009, are reserve drivers.
It was not immediately known whether Senna or Grosjean would take Kubica's place in Bahrain should he fail to recover.
The next F1 test session will be over February 10-13 in Jerez, Spain.
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Wheels24 will be watching this story closely to bring you frequent updates over the next few days.