Surgeon optimistic on Robert Kubica injury

(GETTY IMAGES)

Robert Kubica's injured right hand is making progress but more time is needed to determine if he can fully recover, his surgeon said on Monday after the Formula One driver spent his first night in hospital following a crash.

The Pole, who went through seven hours of surgery involving seven doctors split into two teams to attend to multiple fractures to his right leg and arm, was put into an induced coma after hitting a church wall at high speed in a rally in Italy.

The possible recovery time for the hand has been put at around a year if the next few days show the surgery was totally successful.

"The hand is warm and this means the operation went well," surgeon Mario Igor Rossello told reporters at the Santa Corona hospital near Genoa.

"We need at least six days to check if the circulation of the blood in the limb responds as it should."

Messages of support have poured in for the 26-year-old Renault driver from across Formula One.