Less is better

Barrichello: Hungaroring needs shorter main straightaway

BUDAPEST, Hungary (Reuters) -- Ferrari's Brazilian Formula One driver Rubens Barrichello said after a high-speed crash at the Hungarian Grand Prix that the run-off area after the main straight was too small for safety at the redesigned Hungaroring.

"We said on Thursday that there was not enough run-off," Barrichello told journalists. "Thanks God I am O.K., but I'm O.K. because the car is strong enough."

Rubens Barrichello is sixth in the Formula One points race. Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Barrichello, winner at the Hungaroring last year when Ferrari clinched their fourth successive title, plunged straight ahead into the tire wall at the end of the main straight after what appeared to be a disastrous suspension failure.

He lost his left rear wheel and and slammed with locked brakes into the tire barrier and the impact also tore off his Ferrari's front wheels and said it all happened without any warning.

"I went for the brakes, I lost the suspension and all of a sudden I had nothing: I was a passenger, the car went straight," Barichello told journalists.

The main straight at the Hungaroring was extended this year at the FIA's request to just under 800 metres but the racetrack squeezed between the hills east of Budapest cannot be extended any further.

"I feel sorry for this. Somebody had a chance to create a new design; by creating a new design just make it a little bit shorter and give us the run-off," Barichello said.

Barichello's accident left him sixth in the championship, trailing five points behind Renualt's Spaniard Fernando Alonso, who scored his first ever Formula One victory and also the first for the new Renault team.

The suspension failure coupled with team mate Michael Schumacher's eighth place set Ferrari back to second position in the constructors' championship, now led by Williams with 129 points, eight ahead of Ferrari.

Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.