Fernando Alonso reckons he was "lucky" to escape serious injury in the first corner carnage at Spa although does have a "bit" of back pain.
Arriving at Spa, the Championship leader was the only driver to have scored points in every race this season. His run, though, came to an end when he was taken out in a first lap accident through no fault of his own.
Starting fifth on the grid, Alonso was vying for track positions when he was hit from behind. Added to that, Romain Grosjean narrowly avoided hitting his head when his Lotus became airborne in the shunt.
Alonso, who was slow to get out of his stricken F2012 and was assisted by the marshals, later revealed that his back had been hurt in the crash.
"I have a little bit of pain on my back because of the hit," he said. "It is a shame I could not continue the race. I did not know what happened until I saw the TV.
"The cars behind me touched and lost control, and they were in front of us.
"It was a disappointment to see points lost but in five days I can be in the car in Monza.
"You can have an injury in your hand or your head with a crash like that, so I am lucky in that aspect.
"I felt a train coming with a big, big hit. I stayed in the car due to the hit. There was a bit of fire in the car and I could not breathe because of the smoke so I jumped out."
Alonso's DNF cost him a chunk of his Championship lead as Sebastian Vettel, who finished second, is now just 24 points behind with Mark Webber a further 12 off the pace.
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