A SPECTACULAR 140mph accident which left Frenchman Olivier Panis struggling to escape from the shattered remains of his Prost Mugen Honda with two broken legs brought the Canadian Grand Prix to a premature end here yesterday with 14 of its 69 laps left to run.

This disastrous incident over-shadowed a fortuitous victory for Michael Schumacher's Ferrari, a success which catapulted the German driver back into a seven-point world championship lead after pre-race favourite Jacques Villeneuve spun his Williams into the wall while running in second place at the end of the second lap.

Yet the most bitter disappointment was reserved for McLaren driver David Coulthard. His prospects of beating Schumacher to victory were thwarted when his car stalled with clutch problems no fewer than three times at a final, unscheduled tyre stop in a race blighted by high levels of tyre wear.

Schumacher had produced a dazzling lap to edge out Villeneuve from pole position on the final lap of qualifying and the Ferrari driver made perfect use of his advantage to accelerate into an immediate lead as the pack jostled into the first tight left-hander.

Further back, Eddie Irvine got embroiled in some energetic wheel banging with the result that his Ferrari was propelled backwards on to the grass and out of the race - a fate shared by tail-ender Jan Magnussen's Stewart-Ford a couple of corners later.

Schumacher stormed through at the end of the opening lap 1.4 seconds ahead of Villeneuve, the French Canadian ace being willed on by the enthusiastic 120,000-strong crowd. Unfortunately, the enormity of the occasion proved too much for him. Coming into the final S-bend to complete lap two, Villeneuve allowed the Williams to slide a little off-line as he swung into the first right-hander.

In a flash, the rear end was sliding wildy out of control. He tried to slam on the corrective steering lock, but the situation was beyond salvation. The Williams half-spun into the outside wall, taking the full force of the impact against its left front wheel. There was nothing left but for Villeneuve to release his seat harness and walk away, punching his helmet in disbelief that he could have made so elementary an error.

This unexpected drama left Schumacher nursing a 1.8-second lead over Giancarlo Fisichella's Jordan, Jean Aiesi's Benetton and the McLaren-Mercedes of David Coulthard.

Then on lap seven, Schumacher sustained what would have been a potentially disastrous setback. Ukyo Katayama spun his Minardi into the barrier on the back leg of the circuit, forcing the safety car to be deployed in order to slow the field while the stricken car was removed from the edge of the circuit.

This cost Schumacher his four-second lead over Fisichella, so when the green flag signalled the restart two laps later, he had to start work again. For the next five laps, the young Italian driver kept pace with the leading Ferrari, but gradually Schumacher asserted his advantage and eased open a 3.4-second advantage by the end of lap 20.

By this point, the field had been further depleted, most notably when Ralf Schumacher's Jordan plunged off the circuit under-braking for the first left-hander. The Peugeot-engined car slammed into the end of the tyre barrier at seemingly undimished speed, but the inherent strength of today's breed of Formula One machine was once again put on very public display and the young German driver was able to walk away without a scratch.

The Williams team's prospects took another dive when Heinz-Harald Frentzen made an unexpectedly early first pit stop on lap 11 in order to change badly blistered tyres. The German driver had qualified fourth and could reasonably have been expected to pick up where Villencuve left off. Now this premature delay seemingly wrote him out of the front-running picture.

With Schumacher senior's Ferrari now edging away steadily at the front of the pack, the battle for second place heated up.

On lap 25, Fisichella and Alesi came in for their first pit stops together, but the Frenchman's Benetton just got out ahead of him. On lap 28, Schumacher made the first of two scheduled stops, allowing Coulthard's McLaren - running on a one-stop strategy - through into the lead.

Coulthard stayed out until the end of lap 40 before dodging in for tyres and fuel. That put Schumacher back in front, but the Ferrari was in for its second stop at the end of lap 44, resuming in second place. McLaren's strategy now seemed set to pay off as Coulthard went back into the lead, but badly blistered tyres meant that he had to follow Schumacher's example and make an unplanned extra stop on lap 52.

On the same lap as he pitted, Panis's accident brought out the safety car once again and, once the gravity of the situation was appreciated, the race was red-flagged to a halt with Schumacher back in the lead.