By Alan Baldwin
Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium - Michael Schumacher took his record 52nd career win on Sunday after a chaotic and crash-interrupted Belgian Formula One Grand Prix.
The race, halted and then re-started, was rich in drama and veered from the nightmarish to the surreal before Ferrari's world champion could celebrate his historic victory.
It was Schumacher's eighth win in 14 races this season and his fifth at the wooded Ardennes circuit that witnessed his first grand prix appearance in 1991 and first triumph in 1992.
But the statistics were overshadowed by a nightmare crash on a cold but dry afternoon of rare mayhem and plenty of gripping racing.
Brazilian Luciano Burti brought proceedings to a halt after just five of the 43 scheduled laps when his Prost plunged into the barriers at one of the most dangerous parts of the track.
An official announcement said the Prost driver, who was taken away in an ambulance, had broken no bones and was stable but concussed. He was moved to Liege's University hospital for a scan.
After the re-start with just 18 runners, Schumacher romped away to take the chequered flag 10 seconds ahead of McLaren's David Coulthard.
Italian Giancarlo Fisichella crossed the line third, his vastly-improved Benetton proving the revelation of the race as he ran behind Schumacher for much of the distance.
Mika Hakkinen was fourth in a McLaren, ahead of Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello and Frenchman Jean Alesi picking up a point for Jordan.
Coulthard's runner-up spot reinforced his second place overall in the standings on a day that went badly wrong for Barrichello and Schumacher's younger sibling Ralf, who was seventh.
Barrichello was never able to call on Schumacher's help and fell further back after a stop for a new front wing in the re-started race.
Ralf inherited pole in the first race after Williams team mate Juan Pablo Montoya stalled but then suffered a bizarre formation lap incident before the re-start.
His car was left high on its jacks as other cars sped past.
Burti's accident was a big one.
His car careered straight into a tyre barrier at Blanchimont after dicing with the Jaguar of former team mate Eddie Irvine.
The cars touched and the blue Prost lost its front wing before plunging across the track and, without losing speed, ploughed straight into the barriers in a cloud of debris.
Irvine's Jaguar also hit the barriers hard but he emerged unhurt to help marshals, as a curtain was erected around the car.
The race had already had two eventful attempts at starting before Burti's crash.
Heinz-Harald Frentzen forced the first start to be aborted when he stalled his Prost on the second row.
With Frentzen at the back of the grid, Montoya then stalled his Williams on pole before the second formation lap. He retired soon after with a blown engine.
- Reuters