Juan Manuel Correa is targeting an early 2021 comeback to racing after completing rehabilitation, but admits his parents have lost the passion he still has for motor racing.
Correa suffered serious leg injuries in the Formula 2 crash which claimed the life of Anthoine Hubert in Belgium last year. The Ecuadorian-American driver opted against amputation in favour of reconstructive surgery on his right leg and is continuing his rehabilitation at home in Miami.
Correa is ahead of schedule in that process and earlier this month shared a video of him walking without crutches, something doctors did not think he would be able to do until the tail-end of this year.
Speaking on the ESPN F1 Podcast, Correa said his love for motor racing has not diminished despite the crash and the life-altering injuries he sustained in it.
When host Alexis Nunes asked if that was the case for his parents, Correa replied: “No. Definitely not.
“They’re very scared and it’s very hard for them to know that I want to come back. I think they know how important this is for me and they know they are not going to be able to keep me from it.
“When I want something in life very few things are going to keep me from it. They’re more focused on supporting me coming back.”
In November doctors told Correa he would not be walking without crutches for a year and a half, but he has already reached that stage after seven months. He is determined to also beat their estimated timetable of when he will be able to return to competitive racing.
“I was very blunt with them, I said ‘when can I drive again if I want to drive?’ They said not before two years, this was in November.
“Looking at how it has all progressed up until now, I think I will not be driving this November but probably sometime early next year [2021] if everything goes well, so that’s still almost a year ahead of that prognostic the doctors told me.
“I was in crutches three weeks after they told me it would take me six months, and I am nearly walking now and its been seven and a half months and they told me it would be a year and a half.”
During his recovery Correa had support from British driver Billy Monger, who had both legs amputated after a Formula Ford crash in 2017. Monger has since returned to competitive racing with prosthetic legs.
“[Monger] was very much behind me throughout the whole process, he came to visit in the hospital. I felt with him we had a very strong connection because he knew what we both had been going through.
“He knew how it felt. He was a big inspiration because he’s actually racing again, so that’s my benchmark to say ‘OK I can do this and I can come back’, so that was very important.”