World champion Michael Schumacher emerged unscathed from a spectacular crash late in the second practice session today for the Australian Formula One Grand Prix.
As Schumacher was spinning through the air, he lost his place as second fastest when Jordan's Jarno Trulli jumped him with 1:29.267.
Schumacher was denied the opportunity of beating his best effort of 1:29.284 with his unfortunate crash and only minutes left in the afternoon session.
The German seemed to lose control of his Ferrari as it spun into gravel and then flipped twice before coming to rest. Schumacher quickly removed his helmet and jumped out of the mangled wreckage.
His crash took the gloss off a big day for Ferrari with number two driver Rubens Barrichello going well under last year's pole position time with one minute 28.965 seconds for the 5.303 kilometre Albert Park circuit.
That was a stunning 1.591 seconds quicker than Mika Hakkinen's 1:30.556 time in claiming the pole position for last year's race.
AFP