Schumacher shunts at Monza

Michael Schumacher's Italian Grand Prix weekend got off to a bad start when he crashed halfway through Friday afternoon's second practice session at Monza.

The world champion got out of shape as he turned into the high-speed Parabolica bend at the end of the lap, and even his lightning reflexes could not keep the car on the road. He skated across the gravel trap and struck the tyre wall with the right rear of the car, albeit having slowed down considerably.

"When you are not as competitive as you want to be, you try everything you can to improve and my spin was partly the result of that," Schumacher admitted, "I made some changes to the set-up, but it made the car a bit unstable which made me slide off the track."

The German then spent the remainder of the session watching from behind the barrier with a glum look on his face.

"It was not a heavy impact, as I was already at the corner exit, but we have lost some track time, although it is not too important as we have tested enough here," he mused, "The important thing is that the tyres are not damaged, so I can use them again."

At the time of his mishap, Michael was lying fourth on the timesheets, albeit someway off the pace, indicating that the team and Bridgestone are in better shape than they were in Turkey. However the accident will not have helped preparations for Sunday's race, as the Scuderia will have lost valuable time to assess possible tyre choices.

Michael has won the Italian GP four times with Ferrari, in 1996, 1998, 2000 and 2003.