Thursday April 13th, 2000

British American Racing driver Ricardo Zonta of Brazil escaped with a cut finger when his car crashed into a spectator enclosure during testing on Thursday.

The Brazilian's car went out of control at the high-speed corner where double world champion Michael Schumacher broke his right leg during last year's British Grand Prix.

Zonta's car hit the spectator fencing, flipped over the top of it and smashed its way through a concrete wall before landing upright and facing in the same direction in the enclosure, according to an eye-witness.

It is believed the accident was caused by a front suspension failure on Zonta's car, but the BAR-Honda team was unable to confirm this.

Team spokesman Graham Jones said: "Absolutely nobody was injured or hurt in the accident, apart from Ricardo who suffered a cut finger. We will carry out a full investigation."