Fernando Alonso was left breathing a sigh of relief following a fearsome accident in today's Belgian Grand Prix.
Alonso escaped with nothing more than pain in his left shoulder after being one of four cars involved in a first corner pile-up at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit that also accounted for one of his title rivals in McLaren's Lewis Hamilton.
Television replays later showed the Lotus of Romain Grosjean, who was found guilty by stewards of instigating the incident, flying over the front of Alonso's Ferrari just in front of his helmet as the melee unfolded.
There were initial concerns for Alonso's safety as he failed to respond to radio messages from the team, but after a few moments he was able to clamber from the cockpit.
It is the first time in 24 races Alonso has failed to finish in the points, and with Sebastian Vettel claiming second, his lead in the championship has been cut to 24.
More importantly for Alonso he lives to fight another day, with the next race Ferrari's home grand prix at Monza next Sunday.
"I had no idea what happened," said Alonso.
"I passed the two Saubers (Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez) when I felt as though I had been run into by a train.
"Immediately after the impact I stayed in the cockpit for a few seconds, but then there was the start of a fire and the foam from the extinguishers meant I couldn't breathe.
"I tried to tell the team on the radio I was all right, but I couldn't.
"Now I can say, given the misfortune of having had an accident like this, I am lucky to be able to get back in the car in just a few days.
"The level of safety of these cars is very high and today we saw further proof of that."
Alonso holds no bitterness towards Grosjean, who has been involved in a number of first-lap incidents this season.
However, seemingly as a message to Grosjean he added: "Certain drivers should try and take fewer risks at the start.
"It's a bit of a tendency in the junior formulae, but it would be better, if right from the start of their career, they got used to respecting more strictly the rules relating to behaviour on track."
Alonso's main objective now is to get back in his car on Friday in practice for the Italian Grand Prix and look to rebuilding his championship lead.
"What happened is a shame because I think a podium was within my reach," said Alonso.
"But we paid a high price through bad luck and luck owes us now. Let's see what happens in the rest of the season.
"We lost a bit of the advantage we had over Vettel, (Mark) Webber and (Kimi) Raikkonen, but we have lost nothing to Hamilton who, given how the McLaren went, is possibly our most dangerous rival.
"Now we go to Monza, Ferrari's home race.
"Traditionally we are always strong there so let's hope we can have a nice weekend and give our fans something to cheer about, making up for some of the advantage we lost today."