Wilson unlucky as choas reigns in Brazil.

F1 hasn't seen a race so full of incidents and accidents as yesterday's Brazilian Grand Prix for a number of years. Britain's Justin Wilson, competing in only his third Formula One race, proved to be unfazed by the treacherous weather conditions that delayed the start of the race at Interlagos by 15 minutes and then demonstrated his ability to run in the wet, for the first time in a Formula One car, in his Minardi Cosworth.

With all competitors forced to run in the rain on intermediate tyres, there being no 'full wets' available as a result of pre-arranged cost cutting measures, the decision to start the Brazilian Grand Prix behind the safety car amidst the unceasing downpour was the correct one.

Wilson's qualifying time, placing him 20th on the grid, had only been narrowly beaten by four hundredths of a second by Jos Verstappen. Wilson's speed and time proving closer to his team-mate than any of the other F1 new boys!

At the start, the 24-year-old was immediately able to capitalise on his grid position thanks to Verstappen, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Antonio Pizzonia and Ralph Firman all starting the race from the pit-lane. When the safety car pulled in at the end of the eighth lap, Wilson, already familiar to racing in the rain at Interlagos following a damp Dallara Nissan World Series event last December, mastered the conditions to further improve his track position and challenge 1997 Formula One World Champion Jacques Villeneuve ahead of him in 11th place by the end of lap nine. From then Wilson was comfortably the leading rookie with Toyota's Cristiano Da Matta behind him followed by Pizzonia and fellow Brit Firman further back.

Unfortunately for the former International F3000 Champion, his run of good fortune at Interlagos was to come to an abrupt end on lap 15 as his Minardi PS03 aquaplaned and spun out at the soon to be infamous Turn 3. Wilson explained the situation to ITV's F1 pit-reporter Louise Goodman having returned to the pits.

"Quite simply with all the rain we've had falling here there's a river running off the grass banking at Turn 3," he commented. "The water running over the track changes position slightly on each lap but it's a solid stream and I was the first to get caught out."

Wilson may have been the first to spin out at Turn 3 but unlike those to soon follow he had no advanced warning of just how bad that part of the circuit was to become. He was soon joined by a distinguished list of drivers to fall victim to the conditions on that particular corner. BMW WilliamsF1 pilot Juan Pablo Montoya spun and retired only a couple of laps later with Jaguar's Antonio Pizzonia collecting the Colombian's car as he too spun out on the same lap. Then soon after five times World Champion Michael Schumacher succumbed to the same conditions that had ended Wilson's race and the Ferrari star joined the list of retirements. Justin's team-mate Jos Verstappen then added to the cars parked behind the barrier on lap 31.

While it was disappointing for Wilson's race to end so early, most of the field had either crashed or spun out by half way through the 71-lap race. The Grand Prix was eventually red-flagged with a result declared based on positions at the end of lap 53, following two major collisions involving Wilson's former F3000 sparring partners Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso.

McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen was declared the winner followed by a disconsolate Giancarlo Fisichella for Jordan, the Italian believing he had won the race having been first to cross the line following the red flag. Alonso was third but failed to make the podium celebrations as the medical staff were attending to him as a result of his massive crash at the final corner.

With the season's opening three Formula One races all long-haul 'fly-aways', Europe welcomes the F1 circus in a fortnight's time with the San Marino Grand Prix.