Simon Pagenaud has released a long-awaited update on his medical condition. The winner of the 2016 NTT IndyCar Series championship and 2019 Indianapolis 500 suffered a massive crash on July 1 at the Mid-Ohio IndyCar event when his Meyer Shank Racing entry experienced a brake component failure entering the high-speed Turn 4 complex.
Despite walking away from the car unaided, the Frenchman began experiencing significant concussion symptoms and was ruled out from driving by IndyCar’s medical team. Although he’s made significant strides in his efforts to get back to racing, he’s not finished as the healing process continues into the new year.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1408]
“I know it’s been a long time and it was I felt it was time to give you an update,” Pagenaud said. “I’m making major progress. Unfortunately, the injuries don’t show on the outside. I actually feel really great physically, but it’s on the inside [where the injuries are located]. So those are frustrating injuries because you don’t get to see them heal. Just time makes a difference. So I have to be very patient, doing a lot of rehab and getting stronger every day. With that, however, it goes up and down and some days you get better, some days it’s a regress. But overall, I just want to reassure everybody that I’m doing well. I just want to be at the top level, and I’m working on that. I am working on getting myself back to 100%.”
Pagenaud will continue heading down the path he’s on in the hope that he’s able to resume his career in a timely manner.
“All the doctors, the IndyCar medical team, has been phenomenal, helping me, connecting me with the right people,” he said. “And I do a lot of work in the background that obviously right now nobody gets to see, but I want to thank everybody for the support. And I want to reassure everybody that I’m not forgetting about all the support from fans out there that have been so supportive. So thank you very much, everyone. I’ll keep working hard and keep pushing. I’m very hopeful to get stronger and better very soon.”