If Argentina was a pain in the butt, then Brazil was a pain in the neck. Literally. A case of insult and injury.

Hurting yourself in a racing car tends to grab your attention. In practice for the Brazilian GP, I strained my neck after crashing when the throttle stuck open - and that was my first injury since Brands Hatch in August 1988, when I shattered my ankles. I guess you could say I've been lucky, though that wasn't my primary feeling as I soldiered on at Interlagos until the struggle to hold my head up during the race simply became too much. I just wanted the torture to end.

Compared with Brands it was a minor injury. Back then I remember lying in intensive care while all the doctors were debating what to do with me. What I didn't know was that they were all convinced of one thing: my driving career was over. Initially it was a question of which bits they might cut off. Then when they realised what I did for a living, it was more a case of how they would try to fix the mess, and whether I'd ever walk again. I was ignorant of all this, but my parents and Becky, my wife, had to bear all of it.

I got a lot of press because of the accident, and of a lot of people thought my career was over. But when it's you lying there you can't afford to think that way. You daren't. I just got into a recuperation programme as soon as I could and worked as hard as I could. If I got back into racing then it was going to be worth all the effort and the pain.

Like I said, I was lucky. Peter Collins at Benetton fought to keep a seat for me in the team despite opposition, so that gave me something to aim for. It gave me the impetus to get out of bed - and if not to walk then at least to start flopping across the floor! But truthfully my real aim was just to get myself back up again. You might not be in a condition always to think positively in such circumstances, but above all you must avoid thinking negatively.

I finished fourth at Rio in 1989, and that made it all worthwhile. People still remember that race, so it was worth all the effort. If I'd gone away and taken a year or two to recover, my career would have been over. Mind you, for years afterwards bits and pieces of grass or rubber would work their way out of my feet. I think the last bits appeared in 1991! You can bounce back physically but psychologically it can be a different matter. But as far as I was concerned there was just no point worrying that it might happen again. You just try your best and hope it all works out.

Recovery is an interesting exercise. You learn a lot about yourself in those situations; you can't rely on what other people tell you. Doctors are pessimistic. If I'd listened to them, I'd have been in bed for a year. As it was, I crashed at the end of August and I was driving a Benetton in December. If you work hard enough at something, you can overcome all sorts of problems.

The dynamics of the accident at Interlagos were also interesting. My crash at Monaco last year was a heavier impact, but because my head hit the steering wheel I was okay. In Brazil my head went between my chest and the wheel, which is why I sustained whiplash. I felt okay during qualifying on Saturday afternoon, but my neck muscles suffered overnight and the race was purgatory. A reminder, I suppose, that we can be vulnerable. You don't have to miss too many races in this game to become stale news. There's always someone waiting to take your place.

You need to be fit not only to drive an F l car - but also because it helps you to withstand accidents, and bounce back. I needed 10 days therapy with Josef Leberer after the Brazilian GP, but in this game such things are merely an occupational hazard. Why delve into them and worry? They happen, and you just have to bounce back and forget.

I won't remember my Argentine GP fondly, but at least I could keep my head up, figuratively and literally. Roll on Imola.

These GP Columns appeared exclusively in F1 Racing magazine every month.
The columns are reproduced by kind permission of the Editor, Matt Bishop.
With thanks to F1 Racing ©. All rights reserved.
This page prepared 3rd May 1998.