Heidfeld Uninjured after Heavy Shunt

German Nick Heidfeld escaped unhurt from a heavy crash during today's free practice for the Japanese Grand Prix to set the twelfth quickest time of the session for the Sauber team.

Heidfeld lost control of his Ferrari-powered car coming out of the S-Curves, crashing at more than 200km/h and destroying his car in the incident. The German was taken to the medical centre for a check-up after the accident, which forced the second session to be red-flagged, but was found to be fine.

"My car was good this morning, and we were working through our tyre comparison when I went off in the last right-hander in the Esses on my first flying lap on new tyres partway through the second session," Heidfeld said.

"I just had too much understeer, got on to the grass and spun. It was a big impact but fortunately I went in backwards. I'm okay."

Heidfeld's teammate Kimi Raikkonen, who will be replaced at the Swiss team by Brazilian Felipe Massa next season, finished the session in 15th place.