AFP - Ferrari ace Felipe Massa admitted on Sunday he was lucky to be alive after surviving a 275kph horror crash at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The Brazilian was struck by a suspension spring which had worked its way off Rubens Barrichello's Brawn GP, resulting in Massa crashing his Ferrari into a tyre barrier in qualifying in Budapest.

Massa needed emergency surgery on his fractured skull and spent two days in a medically-induced coma.

"I know I'm lucky to be alive," Massa told the News of the World.

"I don't remember anything about the accident but I will race again."

He explained: "When I woke up I didn't know why I was in hospital, so I was asking 'why am I here?'.

"I was pulling all the tubes and Eduardo, my brother, tried to stop me - so we had a fight.

"The accident was so unlucky but I know I'm lucky to be alive. I don't remember anything of what happened.

"It was my race, so when I awoke from the coma I couldn't believe it when they told me Lewis (Hamilton) had won and Kimi (Raikkonen) was second."

Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher will take over from Massa behind the wheel of the Ferrari at the next race in Valencia on August 23.