JULY 20, 2002

Giancarlo's near-miss

GIANCARLO FISICHELLA had a huge accident at Magny-Cours on Saturday morning when the Jordan driver ran over the curbs in the Estoril corner and the front wing of the car came off and went beneath the wheels of the Jordan. This meant that Fisichella had neither steering nor front braking and hit the wall on the outside of the circuit at around 130mph. The speed of the car was not greatly reduced because the car flew over an access road which joins the circuit at that point. Fortunately for Fisichella the car the penultimate stack of tires and so avoided a direct hit with the wall but the impact was still a major one and Fisichella appeared to be having some trouble with his right wrist when he was taken to the circuit medical center.

The car was very badly damaged in the crash but did its job of protecting the driver.