Ferrari's Formula One championship leader Felipe Massa crashed heavily today but still set the fastest time in free practice for Sunday's British Grand Prix.
Massa, the first Brazilian to lead the F1 standings since the late Ayrton Senna in 1993, skidded on oil left on the track by the Renault of double world champion Fernando Alonso.
The Ferrari spun at the 210kph Stowe corner, slamming backwards into the wall with 33 minutes of the first session remaining.
Massa stepped out unhurt but the car had considerable damage to the rear.
"It was a big crash, but that's part of the game and I have had much worse accidents in my career," he said.
"I didn't see any flags and I had approached the corner in the usual way and then I totally lost control of the car under braking. I tried to slow down, but the impact was still pretty violent."
Massa, winner of three races so far this season, had been top of the timesheets when he crashed after completing eight timed laps and no-one was able to go faster when the session re-started.
McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen was second fastest with Lewis Hamilton, in need of a home win after two races without a point, third ahead of Kimi Raikkonen.
Toyota had a difficult afternoon, with Germany's Timo Glock stopping with a drive-train problem and Italian Jarno Trulli crashing into the tyre wall at Stowe when his rear wing flew off at the end of Hangar Straight.
Trulli was taken to the circuit medical centre for checks and cleared to continue tomorrow.
Alonso, who had pulled up at the same corner Massa crashed at only minutes previously, was sixth after the first practice day.
Afterwards, reporters were more interested in which team he would be racing for by the end of the season. The Spaniard said he expects to decide his future after September's Italian Grand Prix.
"I think [I will make the decision] after the summer when all this period of races, then the break and then Belgium and Monza are over.
"And after that will be time to think about what the possibilities are for next year," the Spaniard said.
For the second year running, Alonso is a central figure in the driver merry-go-round as interested teams await his decision before finalising their driver line-ups.
Last year, after his well-documented fallout with McLaren, his return to Renault was finalised only after the end of the season.
Honda have openly expressed an interest while Renault-powered Red Bull, currently outperforming their engine providers, are also watching with interest.