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Vergne still feeling stiff after Monza accident

Jean-Eric Vergne's car launched over the speed bumps at turn one © Press Association

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• Drivers:
• Jean-Éric Vergne

• Teams:
• Toro Rosso

Jean-Eric Vergne is still suffering from a stiff back and neck after his accident at the Italian Grand Prix last weekend, but says it won't stop him preparing for the Singapore Grand Prix next weekend.

Vergne spun out of the race on lap nine after a rear suspension failure caused his Toro Rosso to snap out of control under braking for turn one. His Toro Rosso clattered over the kerbs and out of the race, but Vergne was able to get out of the car without assistance.

"The kerbs are quite high at Monza, so when the car hit the kerb I was thrown in the air," he wrote in his Toro Rosso blog. "I was a little worried that the car might flip, so the fact that it didn't is something to be grateful for. It could have been a lot worse than it was. Having said that, it was still quite a big impact and it took me a minute to get myself together once the car had stopped. I felt a bit of pain, so I stayed where I was for a few moments, just to get everything straight in my head, but then I felt okay and climbed out. I went with the medical car and that was the end of my Italian Grand Prix.

"After the race, we established it had been a failure with the rear suspension. In the end you just have to put it down as one of those things that happen when you go racing. I do feel pretty stiff across my back and neck but I think that will go away over the next day or so and I'll get on with what is going to be a pretty busy schedule until Singapore."

Vergne said the car had felt odd since the first lap of the race.

"I felt something wasn't quite right from the start. I was struggling with it quite early on and it just felt strange. In those circumstances, you try to let the team know what's happening and then you just get on with it. You're racing and you need to make the best of the situation.

"As I said, when I had the suspension problem it was a big shock. I entered the braking phase for the corner and totally lost it. The car just snapped out from underneath me. I could feel the rear wheel was the wrong way under braking and from that point on I was pretty much a passenger.

"It's a shame that it happened. It's easy to say this after the fact, but I do think we could have had a pretty good race in Monza."

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