The main drama of the day occurred after the practice session had ended. Inoue had spun and stalled his Footwork, which was being towed back to the pit lane by a recovery vehicle when it was struck from behind by the Renault Clio safety car – which was being taken on quick demonstration laps of the circuit in the hands of rally driver Jean Ragnotti, with the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's press delegate as passenger – in the middle of the Piscine complex. The impact was sufficient to overturn the Footwork and render it a write-off: the FA16 sustained severe rear-end damage to the engine and gearbox, whilst the tow rope, attached to the car's crash structure behind the driver's head, pulled the roll hoop from the chassis. Inoue, who still sitting in the cockpit with his helmet on but his seatbelts unfastened, sustained two impacts to the head, the severity of which was shown by the fact that a chunk had been taken out of his helmet. He was taken to The Princess Grace Hospital Centre for a brain scan and, although he was found to have sustained only a slight concussion, was not permitted to take part in the afternoon qualifying session as a precaution. The Footwork team principal, Jackie Oliver, was infuriated by the incident, and wrote an official letter of complaint to the Automobile Club de Monaco, the body responsible for organising the event. He said that Inoue would have been killed had he not been wearing his helmet, and questioned the organisation of the ACM and Ragnotti's attitude: "Why was Ragnotti out there? It's just lack of discipline. I understand he had accomplished a couple of laps before at a million miles an hour with handbrake turns at the Loews hairpin. What was the purpose of him doing it? Was it to give officials a thrill?" The stewards tacitly acknowledged that the incident was not Inoue's fault by authorising him to use the team's spare car for qualifying, but this was rendered academic by his non-participation in the session.