Anthony Davidson was taken to a Melbourne hospital after yesterday's season opener and given treatment following a collision with Adrian Sutil's Spyker early in the race.

The English driver, enjoying his first Grand Prix as a regular racer and not a stand-in, was hit on the right-hand side which launched his into the air and winded him as it hit the ground. Despite suffering severe pain and damage to his car he carried on eventually finishing sixteenth.

"The car went into anti-stall at the start," said Davidson, "which is such a shame as I didn't go anywhere, so obviously I was then in last place as we went into turn one.

"I collected myself and thought that maybe I'd get some early positions back. I went round the outside of one of the Spyker's and they hit me quite heavily, even though I thought I'd given them enough room. The car got pitched into the air and landed very heavily and I hurt my upper back. The jolt also winded me a lot making talking on the radio difficult.

"My car suffered a lot of damage, the whole right side of the bodywork was gone and the floor's broken. I must have lost a major amount of downforce and that obviously slows you down a lot. It was a fight, but I got to the end of the race

According to the team, Davidson's visit to the hospital was precautionary and there is no cause for alarm, he will be back in the car for Sepang.