Firman suffers huge practice crash

The huge accident occurred when the rear wing failed on the Briton's car on the straight before turn five, a fourth gear left-hander preceded by a flat-out kink to the right, taken at roughly 175mph. As Firman turned into the kink, his wing-less Jordan snapped right, where it skated backwards across the grass verge at the side of the turn four gravel trap, dissipating little of its speed.

Firman's machine then spun sideways on before it slammed with massive force into the barriers. A measure of the impact was that the crash barrier was bent out of shape in the incident, and a number of nearby photographers had a lucky escape as tyres and the barrier awning flew in all directions.

The rookie then waited in his wrecked Jordan until a medical team arrived, who assisted him out of the car. Looking understandably shaken, Firman was able to walk to a stretcher, where he was checked by members of the FIA medical team.

Firman, who was seen waving to the crowd from the stretcher, has been flown to hospital in Budapest for examination. He appeared to have escaped from the high-speed shunt with bruising to the leg, but full precautionary checks are routine after an accident featuring such heavy deceleration, where head injuries are always a concern.

The Briton is unlikely to drive again this weekend, which has caused speculation that Hungarian Zsolt Baumgartner, who drove in yesterday's private test session for the team, could be drafted in as a replacement.

"Zsolt doesn't actually have an F1 superlicence, so it's not even an issue," said a team spokesperson. Friday morning's private test is not considered to be any official part of a Grand Prix meeting, so drivers do not require a superlicence to participate.