Just two days earlier, older brother Michael's Ferrari barreled into a tire wall at the British Grand Prix. That ended the two-time world champion's Formula 1 season with a broken leg.

Jordan driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen is limping around with a worsening knee injury. That also came from a horrific crash at the Canadian Grand Prix on June 13, although he overcome the pain to win the French GP two weeks later.

It wasn't until afterwards that he was diagnosed with two hairline fractures in the knee.

Right now, the three German drivers on the circuit must be feeling a little cursed.

``It'll grow together again,'' said a grim Frentzen of his knee, which doctors' advised needs a six-week break to heal.

Ralf Schumacher had just completed a test run at Monza when the car in which he was a passenger drove into a tunnel following torrential downpour.

Schumacher'spress spokesman Franz Tost was driving the car. Tost said he and his two passengers had seen the water, but misjudged its depth.

``We thought, by hitting the gas pedal hard, we would make it through. As we were in the tunnel, I started pumping nothing but air with the pedal,'' Tost told the German weekly, Bild Am Sonntag.

``The car started to swim like a boat. More and more water started to pour in and the doors wouldn't open.''

According to Tost, Schumacher then yelled that they would have to escape through the windows and they wriggled free.

Schumacher may have escaped without any long-term consequences but Frentzen's injury, sustained in Montreal, seems to be getting worse.

According to Bild, Frentzen was diagnosed with a bone chip at the bottom of the knee following the British Grand Prix.

But the 32-year-old is driving test runs at Monza instead of following his doctor's advice for a recuperation period.

``It really hurts under the right knee, but I wanted to make these tests.It's very important for us,'' said Frentzen, who is currently fourth in the F1 driver's standings.

The only good news for the German contingent is that Michael Schumacher is expected to begin his rehabilitation training in a few days. His leg was broken in two places in the crash. Surgeons at the Northampton General Hospital in England later inserted a steel pin into his leg to assist his recovery.

Schumacher will begin with water training and by next week will begin riding a stationary bicycle.