David Coulthard admits that were it not for safety improvements in recent years, the accident - which saw Luciano Burti's Prost hit a tyre barrier at nearly full speed, would have been fatal. But Coulthard says the incident shouldn't cause motor sport's bosses to reduce speeds at high-speeds tracks like Spa. Instead he called for further improvements to run-off areas.

"Danger is an integral part of our sport," said Coulthard. "We can't have a series of low speed corners, because that's not what F1 is about...What we should try and do is make the run-off areas as safe as possible, to minimise the chances of a driver getting hurt because he hits the barrier."

Burti probably owes his survival to the improvements in cockpit safety introduced following the double tragedy at Imola in 1994 when Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger were killed. It's still not certain whether the 26-year-old will recover in time for the next grand prix on Sunday week.

Colin Maitland, BBC SPORT