Schumacher Speaks Out after Monza Crash

World Champion Michael Schumacher has admitted he was very lucky to escape unhurt from his heavy crash while testing at the Monza circuit on Tuesday.

"I'm fine," Schumacher said. "Naturally, on Wednesday and Thursday I still felt the aftereffects of the accident, but not too much. The doctors advised me to take a short break to relax and suggested I should not make an immediate return to testing.

"On Thursday afternoon, I did some light training and over the weekend, I will continue with my normal physical training programme."

The Ferrari star lost control of his car at the Variante della Roggia corner, crashing heavily against the tyre barriers and destroying his car. Schumacher was forced to miss the rest of the testing session, but after further medical tests he was given the all-clear to return to racing at the German Grand Prix next week.

Schumacher, who leads the Championship by 37 points with six races remaining, admitted there was no indication of anything wrong with his car before the accident.

"It all happened very quickly," he added. "I braked and without warning the rear of the car snapped to the left and then I ended up in the right hand side barrier and slid along.

"I could not control it, because in the impact, the front right wheel came off, so I had no steering and more importantly, no brakes. I did not scrub off much speed as I went along the barrier on the gravel and then the car ended up where the barrier formed an angle.

"I have to say I was very lucky, because the guardrail absorbed much of the impact of the accident."