McNish describes Suzuka crash

Allan McNish was left a little bruised and unable to take part in the Japanese Grand Prix after his high speed crash in qualifying. The now ex-Toyota driver was back behind the wheel for the Sunday morning warm-up but on medical advice he pulled out of the race. McNish said it was initially oversteer at the 130R corner that caused the accident.

Allan McNish.

Photo by Toyota Racing.

"I was on a good lap on my second run when right at the end of the corner the car snapped into an oversteer," he said on his official website. "I put on opposite lock but it spun the other way backwards into the barrier, actually punching a two foot hole in all three layers of the barrier before bouncing upside down and landing the correct way up again."

"I got out by myself and after checking everything was where it should have been and working decided after a 175 mph, 69G impact I was a lucky boy."

It was McNish's last drive for Toyota and he was disappointed to not be able to race: "Obviously with this being the last race of the season and my last race with Toyota in F1, I was wanting to go out on a high but this left me somewhat deflated."

2002 was McNish's debut in Formula One and it's yet to be seen what he will do next but he hopes to sort out his plans in the near future: "My first season in F1 was a roller coaster ride," he commented. "I'm looking forward to the future now and will hopefully have things finalised over the next few weeks."