Da Matta escapes after blow-out scare

Toyota's Cristiano da Matta could count himself lucky after a potentially disastrous blow-out at the fastest point of the Monza track ended with a harmless spin into the gravel trap

Da Matta was travelling at around 215mph when his left-rear tyre blew-out, which pitched him into a huge spin on the approach to the Parabolica. Team-mate Olivier Panis has his own worrying moment when his brakes failed later in the race, but he was able to return the car to the pits.

"All of a sudden, I felt a big vibration at the rear and I started to lose the car straight away," said da Matta. "At this stage we are not 100 percent sure what happened, but most likely, I picked up some carbonfibre debris after an incident on the start-finish line. For both myself and Olivier to retire is a missed opportunity, as I reckon we could have added to our points total today."

Panis said: "I had a fabulous start and was up to sixth on the first lap. Marc Gene got past me, but I continued to run well in the points. Unfortunately, shortly after the second stop, the brake pedal went completely to the floor and I had to stop."

Toyota has now lost ground in the battle for fifth in the constructors' championship to rivals BAR-Honda and Jaguar, who both scored heavily at Monza on Sunday.