Heikki Kovalainen is complaining of a sore neck and elbow and will spend the night in hospital after his terrifying high-speed crash in the Spanish Grand Prix that briefly knocked him unconscious, but his McLaren-Mercedes team hope he will be able to race again in Turkey in a fortnight's time.
The Finn speared off the track on lap 22 of the 66-lap race, after a failure of the left front wheel rim on his MP4-23 possibly caused by debris punctured the tyre and rendered Kovalainen a passenger as his car headed straight on at unabated speed into the Circuit de Catalunya's tyre barriers. The 26-year-old had just taken the lead of the race at the time, following pit-stops for both Ferraris, team-mate
Lewis Hamilton and BMW-Sauber's
Robert Kubica.
With the
McLaren embedded heavily into the tyres the worst was feared, and both the medical car and safety car were deployed onto the track. Happily, as Kovalainen was stretchered away to the circuit medical centre almost ten minutes later, he gave the thumbs-up to the crowd, and he was subsequently transferred to a nearby Barcelona hospital for further checks.
Reports said he was wearing an oxygen mask as he was taken away by helicopter, but added that he was conscious and suffering only from concussion.
McLaren CEO Martin Whitmarsh later confirmed that Kovalainen was complaining of a sore neck and elbow, and added that he was likely to be fit again in time to compete in the Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul a fortnight away, comments echoed by team principal Ron Dennis.
I am extremely pleased to be able to report that Heikki is safe and well, the 60-year-old stated. He was airlifted to the Hospital General de Catalunya in Sant Cugat del Valles for precautionary checks, and he will remain there overnight. However, he has no broken bones and CT scans performed at the hospital confirm that he has no head injuries.
