de la Rosa says Lucky to Survive Crash

Spain's Pedro de la Rosa said on Sunday he was lucky to survive a first lap crash at the Italian Grand Prix after his Arrows car flipped high in the air and rolled several times before landing upside down.

De la Rosa went through a "frightening series of rolls through the gravel trap", his team said, at the second chicane in an accident which involved six cars and led to the death of a trackside fire marshall.

"I just saw the yellow flags and braked and then saw pieces of car all over the place, lots of tyre smoke and after the smoke cleared there were two cars travelling really slowly and I just couldn't slow down my car enough," de la Rosa said.

"I think it was (Ricardo) Zonta and I hit him on the rear wheel, this launched me into the air and then I just barrel-rolled until the car stopped.

"Fortunately I am okay, there is no problem. It is a racing incident. I wouldn't say I was unlucky as I am lucky to be here.

"I stayed a little time in the car after the crash because the car was upside down and the marshalls were trying to turn it over but they couldn't so I decided to get under the gravel a little bit and crawl through the small gap under the car."

de la Rosa's teammate Jos Verstappen finished fourth after making a bad start.

"I made a very, very bad start and maybe that was good for me as I avoided all the accidents. I was alongside Pedro at the second chicane but managed to miss all the debris," he said.