THE Formula One World Champion, Michael Schumacher, yesterday suffered heavy bruising to his right knee in a high speed crash in the opening minutes of the first free practice session for tomorrow's Belgian Grand Prix at the Spa Francochamps circuit.
The German took no part in the afternoon session but expects to be fit for today's qualifying series and to challenge Gerhart Berger - the fastest man yesterday.
Both Marlboro McLaren's featured strongly - David Coulthard was second with Mika Hakkinen fourth, Damon Hill was seventh fastest - four places behind the only man between ham and his first world championship title - Jacques Villeneuve.
Martin Brundle was fastest of the Jordan cars in ninth with Rubens Barrichello 10th while Eddie Irvine finished the day in 13th place.
Berger, who started from pole position in a Ferrari for last year's Belgian Grand Prix, began this year's event in similar style by clocking the fastest time in his Benetton Renault.
The veteran Austrian, at 36 the oldest and longest serving driver in the sport, showed his experience by outstripping all his younger rivals with a best lap of one minute 53.706 seconds on a dry surface.
His time was faster than that with which he claimed pole position last season and was also the only lap inside the 1:54 barrier, proving that both he and the Renault powered Benetton team are powerful contenders this weekend.
Berger said he was optimistic for the race. "We have done everything we wanted to and now we have the same aerodynamic set up as for Hockenheim, which I believe makes the car more efficient."
Villeneuve was delighted with his first look at the Spa circuit. "It is not an easy track, it's tough to learn, but the car is pretty good. There are a lot of high speed turns that are very demanding, so it is fun.
"I enjoy this type of track, you can really get into it. It is very smooth as if driving on water".
Asked about his accident, Schumacher said: "What happened is a real shame because the car was very good in the quick corners, to the extent that I could take Eau Rouge flat.
"Unfortunately, I made a mistake and I lost control of the car. When I hit the tyres, my right leg hit the steering wheel and broke it and that is how I hurt myself. Now I will put myself in the hands of my physiotherapist and tomorrow I plan to be back to normal."
