GENOA, Italy (AP): Robert Kubica will need up to a year to regain full use of his right hand, according to the surgeon who operated on the Formula One driver after his rally car accident on Sunday.

The 26-year-old Kubica spent seven hours in surgery after suffering serious injuries in a high-speed crash on Sunday morning while competing in the Ronde di Andora Rally.

Kubica's Lotus Renault team said doctors were "reasonably satisfied" with how the operation went, and the driver is in a serious but stable condition in an induced coma. He is expected to be woken Monday morning.

Lead surgeon Igor Rossello, a hand specialist, said it would take "about a year" for Kubica to recover functionality in his badly damaged right hand.

"It has been a very important and difficult operation," Rossello said in a team statement. "Robert Kubica's right forearm was cut in two places, with significant lesions to the bones and the tendons. We did our best to rebuild the functions of the forearm.

"At the end of the operation, Robert's hand was well vascularised and warm, which is encouraging."

Rossello said he expected the driver to recover "enough functionality for him to resume his activity."

"It was a very complicated procedure and there was the risk he would lose his hand," Rossello told Sky Italia, adding that the surgery team had worked on "setting the bones and reattaching veins, tendons and muscles."

Rossello said, however, it will take a few more days to understand the full extent of the injury. He said Kubica had lost a lot of blood before arriving in the operating room.

Kubica injured the same arm in a road accident in 2003 when he had titanium bolts inserted to support the bones.

Despite the positive outcome of Sunday's surgery, the Polish driver appears highly unlikely to be able to race for his Lotus Renault team this year. The new season begins March 13 in Bahrain.

Kubica was taken to Santa Corona Hospital in Pietra Ligure after suffering multiple fractures to his right arm, leg and hand in a collision.

Fellow F1 driver Fernando Alonso of Ferrari reportedly paid a brief visit to the hospital later on Sunday.

Lotus Renault team principal Eric Boullier said he would travel to Italy on Monday with Kubica's teammate Vitaly Petrov to visit Kubica and "tell him that we are impatiently waiting for his return."

"We have been really impressed with the way the doctors looked after him today and we would like to thank the whole team of the Santa Corona Hospital for their professional approach and dedication," he said.

In the aftermath of the crash, local health authority official Roberto Carrozzino told Sky Italia that Kubica's life was not in danger but that it was "a very delicate situation."

Carrozzino said it had taken two hours for Kubica to arrive at the hospital in Pietra Ligure, a small coastal town about 35 miles (60 kilometers) southwest of Genoa, because it was difficult to extract him from the wreckage of his car.

ANSA said Kubica was 4.6 kilometers from the start of the rally, near Genoa, when his Skoda Fabia left the road and hit a wall. His co-driver Jakub Gerber was unhurt.

"We were driving the first four kilometers of the first trial," Gerber told ANSA. "I was looking at my notes and didn't notice that the car skidded. Only after the moment of impact did I see that Robert was holding his arm and shortly afterward he lost consciousness."

Kubica is widely regarded as one of F1's most talented drivers and collected 136 points last season to finish a creditable eighth in the drivers' standings.

Last week, Kubica closed Formula One's first test session of the season with the fastest time over three days in Valencia, Spain. He had been due to lead the Lotus Renault F1 team this season alongside Petrov of Russia.

Former HRT driver Bruno Senna and Romain Grosjean, who drove for Renault in 2009, are the reserve drivers for Renault.

It was not immediately known whether Senna or Grosjean would take Kubica's place in Bahrain should he fail to recover.

The next F1 test session is Feb. 10-13 in Jerez, Spain.

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - Capping one of the greatest postseasons for any quarterback, Aaron Rodgers led the Packers to their first NFL championship in 14 years Sunday with a 31-25 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Rodgers, the game's most valuable player, thrilled his legion of Cheesehead fans with a spectacular six-game string that should finally erase the bitterness of the Brett Favre separation in Green Bay. He's now equal with Favre in Super Bowl wins and he extended the Packers' record of NFL titles to 13, nine before the Super Bowl era.

"It's what I dreamt about as a little kid watching Joe Montana and Steve Young," Rodgers said, "and we just won the Super Bowl."

The Packers QB threw for three touchdowns, two to Greg Jennings, and the Packers overcame even more injuries, building a 21-3 lead, then hanging on to become the second No. 6-seeded team to win the championship. Coincidentally, the 2005 Steelers were the other.

Rodgers threw for 304 yards, including a 29-yard touchdown to Jordy Nelson, who had nine catches for 140 yards to make up for three big drops. Rodgers found Jennings, normally his favorite target, for 21- and 8-yard scores.

"Wow! It's a great day to be great, baby," Jennings said.

Then the Packers held on as Pittsburgh stormed back.

"We've been a team that's overcome adversity all year," Jennings said. "Our head captain (Charles Woodson) goes down, emotional in the locker room. Our No. 1 receiver (Donald Driver) goes down, more emotions are going, flying in the locker room. But we find a way to bottle it up and exert it all out here on the field."

Few teams have been as resourceful as these Packers, who couldn't wait to touch the Vince Lombardi Trophy, named for their legendary coach who won the first two Super Bowls. Several of them kissed it.

"Vince Lombardi is coming back to Green Bay," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said as the silver prize was handed to the team.

After sitting for three seasons, Rodgers took the Packers to two late-season victories just to make the playoffs as a wild card. Then he guided them to wins at Philadelphia, Atlanta and archrival Chicago before his biggest achievement - against a Pittsburgh team ranked second in defense.

They barely survived a sensational rally by the Steelers, who still own the most Super Bowl rings with six in eight tries. But Pittsburgh failed to get its third championship in six years with Ben Roethlisberger at quarterback.

Roethlisberger's season began with a four-game suspension for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy. It ended with Roethlisberger standing on the Pittsburgh sideline, his head hung, hands on his hips, feeling something he never experienced: defeat in a Super Bowl.

Not even a decidedly Pittsburgh crowd could make a difference for the mistake-prone Steelers. Their two biggest defensive stars - Defensive Player of the Year safety Troy Polamalu and outside linebacker James Harrison - were virtually invisible. The offense didn't seem to miss outstanding rookie center Maurkice Pouncey (ankle injury), but Roethlisberger only occasionally made key plays until the second half.

The biggest plays were left to Rodgers, Nick Collins with a 37-yard interception return for a TD, Jennings, Nelson, and the rest of the guys in green and gold. They gave coach Mike McCarthy, who grew up in Pittsburgh rooting for the Steelers, something Lombardi got in the first two Super Bowls, and Mike Holmgren won in 1997 with Favre.

"This is a great group of men here, a lot of character," Rodgers said. "We went through a lot together."

Even on Sunday, they did. Woodson went out late in the first half with a collarbone injury, a few plays after Driver was sidelined with an ankle problem.