Massa escapes at Ste Devote.

Felipe Massa escaped largely unharmed from a big accident at the Monaco Grand Prix, after his Sauber ran off the road at the tight first corner with 14 laps to go.

The Brazilian had already been involved in one incident with fellow countryman Enrique Bernoldi, which resulted in the Massa pushing the Arrows driver down the escape road at Ste Devote, but the second collision was altogether more sickening.

Having served a penalty for the assault on Bernoldi, Massa resumed well down the order, but ran out of road at the first turn when it is believed the rear brakes failed on his C21. With the front wheels locked up, the Brazilian collided with the tyre wall at an estimated 100mph, ripping off the nose and sidepod on impact. The car was then thrown back into the run-off area, where Massa collected his breath before climbing out unaided. Although visibly shaken, he later managed to return to the pits on foot.

"I had a pretty exciting first Monaco Grand Prix," he said with some understatement, "The car had lots of oversteer but I had a good battle with Bernoldi, which
unfortunately ended when I braked a bit too late for the Ste Devote corner. We both went into the escape road and then I had to do a stop and go penalty.

"On my 64th lap, nothing happened when I braked for the same corner, and the car just went straight on into the tyre wall. It was a big impact and I hit my nose on the steering wheel, but otherwise I'm okay. I'll be leaving tomorrow for the Silverstone test."

"As anticipated, it was a difficult race for us, but we take heart that the structural integrity of the C21 enabled Felipe to get himself out of the cockpit and walk away from his high-speed accident at the first corner," commented team boss Peter Sauber.

The team will hope to get Massa's car repaired in time for testing at Silverstone from Tuesday to Thursday next week in preparation for the Canadian GP next week.