Vitantonio Liuzzi has revealed how lucky he was to escape injury in his Brazilian Grand Prix crash, after a piece of suspension pierced the cockpit and ripped his boots.
The Italian brought out a safety car late in the race when a suspension rocker broke, pitching him into the crash barriers at Turn 2. Although Liuzzi was able to walk away from the incident without trouble, it was only later that he discovered how fortunate he had been.
"It was quite a big impact," explained the Force India driver. "We thought at the beginning it was a pushrod, but then they realized it was a rocker that got cracked and fell apart in Turn 2. We have to understand what happened, and it must have been a quality problem or something like that.
"It was actually a big crash and I was lucky I was not injured, as a piece of suspension came through the monocoque. The part made a hole in the front left of the car, so we have had to change the monocoque. It also touched my foot, but stopped just enough to break my shoes – although not my foot."
Liuzzi has reverted to chassis No. 2, which had only been used during preseason testing.
"We are pretty confident it will be alright, but nobody drove it during the season. It should work OK," he said.