Brake problem caused Sutil's crash

The German's high speed incident at the Abbey chicane caused Q1 to be stopped, and severely damaged his car. Sutil, who escaped injury, will have to use his spare chassis in tomorrow's race.

"Fortunately Adrian is okay, and we take any potential car problem that could cause an accident like that very seriously," said chief race engineer Dominic Harlow. "We will fully understand what happened and ensure that it is addressed."

Sutil veered off the road in the first part of the chicane, then spun across the gravel and hit the barriers backwards.

"I had a brake problem and then had no brakes going into the complex," he explained. "I pushed on the pedal but there wasn't anything. I tried to avoid a big accident but it was impossible so I crashed really hard.

"I'm completely okay, I was just taken to the medical centre for some checks as it was a big crash."

The accident not only consigned Sutil - who had been third in Friday practice - to 18th on the grid, but prevented his team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella from completing his last Q3 lap and getting above 16th.

"The cars were clearly fast enough for top 15 and unfortunately both traffic and Adrian's shunt meant we were denied our deserved starting positions," said Harlow. "We can however look forward to a competitive race were we will try to convert our improvement in pace to points."

Fisichella reckoned he would have been on the cusp of Q3 but for the incident and an earlier problem with traffic.

"We made an improvement but unfortunately on the last set of tyres, [Sebastien] Buemi was in front of me and I slowed down on my first lap," he said.

"Then on the second lap there was the red flag due to Adrian's accident and I couldn't improve. I was looking at a top 12 start so it's a shame, but it's just too bad this time."