BEIJING, April 29 -- Heikki Kovalainen will remain in a Barcelona hospital for a second night to undergo further medical tests following a high-speed crash at the Spanish Grand Prix. The McLaren driver was traveling at 240 kilometers per hour when his car went off the track and slammed into the protective wall at the Circuit de Catalunya on Sunday. The 26-year-old Finn, who was briefly unconscious, was taken by helicopter to a local hospital but escaped without serious injuries.
Finnish McLaren- Mercedes Formula One driver Heikki Kovalainen is taken out of his car after he crashed during the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo, near Barcelona, Sunday.
Hospital spokesman Pilar Caballero said yesterday that Kovalainen was in good spirits and that the extra day of tests was routine. "I am happy with how Heikki is doing," McLaren team doctor Aki Hintsa said.
"Considering the crash he had, he is doing very well."
Several medical staff from the hospital said he was talking and in good spirits.
"He has had a full head scan and there is no significant bruising or damage ?? that's extremely good news," McLaren team CEO Martin Whitmarsh said in a statement. "Heikki was briefly unconscious but he was lucid soon after the accident and I'm told he was actually quite jolly, which is fairly typical."
Kovalainen crashes during the race. He was rushed by helicopter to a hospital in Barcelona, where he was in stable condition.
McLaren is hopeful that Kovalainen will be able to race at the Turkish GP on May 11, but the extended hospital stay could change that. Though he suffered no broken bones or head injuries, Kovalainen had told the team he was shaken by the crash. McLaren said a wheel rim failure caused the front left tire of his car to explode as he came running into the high speed turn No. 9. Kovalainen, who was on his 22nd lap, was at nearly full speed into the wall, which was backed by five rows of tires. The Finn, who started the race from sixth, was in the lead at the time after the leaders had pitted.
"It's possible that some debris worked its way inside the rim, but we still have to analyze that," Whitmarsh said.
Several drivers had spun out at that same corner on the first two days of practice on Friday and Saturday.
Elsewhere, Super Aguri could find out this week that it has raced in Formula One for the last time.
A meeting with backer Honda in Japan tomorrow could decide the future of the struggling tailender after it limped through the first European grand prix of the season.
"They don't look in very good shape at the moment, unfortunately," Formula One supremo Ecclestone said. "I want them to stay, I've been helping them the last week."
Former racer Aguri Suzuki told reporters that the meeting was set to be a key point in the battle to save the team that he founded and brought into Formula One in 2006.