Montoya unhurt in shunt

Montoya was on his fourth lap of the morning and was running on wet tyres after a rain storm had soaked the Magny-Cours circuit. He lost control of the rear of the car on the run-up to the quick Imola chicane, which is approached at 180mph in the dry.

The car snapped to the right and spun around, entering the gravel trap rear-right corner first. That launched the car into the air, but fortunately it didn't roll over. It hit the tyrewall with enough momentum to remove both the left-front and right-rear corners.

"I went out in the morning when it was raining quite heavily and my car was aquaplaning so much that I just could not keep it on the track," said Montoya. "I had quite a big crash and the car was seriously damaged, but luckily enough I walked away with no physical consequences at all.

"Anyway, after my car came back to the garage and was thoroughly checked and fixed, I could go out again for the last half of the second session. A big thanks to the mechanics who were very quick in putting my car back on track. But still weather conditions were changing so quickly, that I could not get too much running either."