MARCH 23, 2003

Wilson in hospital

Justin Wilson's Malaysian Grand Prix ended with the 24-year-old British driver being taken off to hospital after he lost all feeling in both arms because of an ill-fitting HANS device.

It took the Minardi team eight minutes to get Wilson out of the car and he was then taken off to hospital as he was unable to move his arms and had no feeling at all. Even a couple of hours after the race he was still unable to move his arms.

"He was in a terrible state," said his manager Jonathan Palmer. "I don't know how he drove the car back to the pits."

Palmer said that Wilson will be fine in time for the Brazilian GP in two weeks.

The problem appears to have been caused because one of the seats belts slipped off the HANS device and caused it to twist slightly which meant that pressure was being applied in the wrong places.