Enge escapes high-speed shunt

With only seconds of the session remaining, Enge lost control at the fastest corner on the circuit, plunging head-on into the tyrewall in a fashion not dissimilar to Luciano Burti's crash at Spa. But the conveyor belts that cover the tyrewall did their job and prevented the Prost chassis from digging in like it did in Burti's case.

Instead, both right-hand corners of Enge's car were ripped away as he bounced off the barrier. He walked away uninjured.

"It's very bad for me to have such an accident in the first session," he said. "I was just too fast on the entry to the corner. I tried to correct it, but I got off line. Once I was on the grass, I just locked the wheels and waited for the impact.

"I'm quite good physically, although my neck hurts a little bit. As for my speed, I hope I can improve tomorrow," he added.

Nick Heidfeld was also uninjured in a big crash in the second session at the equally infamous S Curves, shunting at the same spot where Nigel Mansell went off in his Williams in 1987.