12:30am UK, Thursday July 30, 2009

Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher is making a sensational return to Formula One to replace the badly-injured Felipe Massa.

Massa and Schumacher ride a motorbike in Brazil

The German racing legend, who retired in 2006, is to undergo a rigorous training programme to make a comeback in the European Grand Prix in Valencia on August 23.

“Though it is true that the Formula One chapter has long been closed for me, it is also true that for team loyalty reasons I cannot ignore that unfortunate situation,” he said.

“But as the competitor I am, I also very much look forward to facing this challenge.”

Massa is set to leave intensive care just days after suffering horrific injuries in a freak crash at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The Ferrari driver was struck on the head by a spring that had fallen from Rubens Barrichello‘s Brawn GP car during Saturday’s qualifying session.

Massa has been in a serious but stable condition at the AEK military hospital in Budapest.

But he has now taken his first steps around the bed and continues to make progress, sparking hopes that he may be able to return to F1 racing.

“Thanks God all news concerning Felipe are positive. I wish him all the best again,” Schumacher added.

A Ferrari spokesman said: “Felipe speaks, can sit upright and was even able to take his first steps.

“From the clinical and radiological point of view everything is going extremely well.”

After the crash, Massa underwent emergency surgery and was subsequently placed in a medically-induced coma to aid his recuperation from a double skull fracture.

The first signs of his recovery came on Monday, when he was brought out of his coma.