Truck shunt stops testing

The duo have been nominated to help develop the latest Michelin wet weather tyres and had completed about six separate sessions on Saturday morning before the incident happened.

Under blue skies and with the sun shining, Michelin had been using its special water truck to dampen the track - but it appeared to have lost control on its own water and understeered off into the gravel trap on the exit of the main hairpin.

With mechanics reduced to laughter by the sight of the truck stranded in the gravel trap, one told autosport.com: "It appears his set-up hadn't completely dialled out an understeer problem!"

The weight of the truck, which is still full of water, has left organisers with a major problem in trying to extract it from the gravel trap. Two vehicles were dispatched to try and haul it out of the gravel but they failed - and a call has gone out for a crane to lift the truck out.

Before that arrives it appears the truck will be emptied of its contents to help ease its extraction from the gravel - which is likely to lead to one corner at Jerez being much wetter than the rest for the remainder of the day.