Tyre blamed for Barrichello shunt

The Brazilian lost control of his Ferrari on the run through the banked section of the track, but, despite extensive damage to the car, he emerged unscathed. The cause of the deflation has yet to be established.

"Rubens lost control of the car because of a loss of pressure in the left rear tyre and then ended up in the wall, " explained Todt. "We are still investigating the causes of the incident."

Bridgestone Technical Manager Hisao Suganuma confirmed that the tyre was to blame.

"The cause of the accident is still under investigation, but it seems there was a loss of pressure in the left-rear tyre," he said. "We are working with Ferrari to establish what caused this to happen."

Barrichello missed the remainder of the two morning practice sessions, and is anticipating an intense hour and a half of practice on Saturday morning.

"It was fortunate that I hit the wall with the side of the car which lessened the impact," said Barrichello. "I was not hurt at all.

"This is one of those days to forget, but now I am looking forward to catching up tomorrow. In any case, Michael's laps have given the team plenty of information, so I will not be starting from zero. On top of that we have data from the past two years, so I am confident I will be on the pace for qualifying."