Former Formula One driver and twice Champ Car champion Alex Zanardi remained in serious condition in intensive care on Saturday after suffering severe head injuries in a road accident while racing his handbike in Italy the day before.
The 53-year-old Italian, who lost both legs and nearly his life in a 2001 Champ Car crash in Germany, was in a drug-induced coma and intubated, said Giuseppe Oliveri, neurosurgeon at the Santa Maria alle Scotte hospital in Siena where Zanardi was taken after the accident.
His condition was described as serious but stable.
"The operation went as it should have, it was the original situation that was not good," said Oliveri, who performed surgery on Zanardi on Friday.