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Felipe Massa's violent crash in the Monaco Grand Prix was caused by a technical problem on his Ferrari.

The Brazilian was taken to hospital for precautionary checks, having suffered neck pain after slamming into the saine Devote barriers on lap 29 of the Monte Carlo race.

Although the crash was almost identical to Massa's accident at the same corner in Saturday morning practice, which was put down to a driver error, Ferrari technical chief Pat Fry underlined that this time the car was to blame.

"Today's accident looked very similar to what happened in the third free practice session, but in fact the two incidents are very different," said Fry.

"Unlike yesterday, it seems that today's incident can be attributed to a problem on the left front corner of the car.

"It's too early to say precisely what happened and in the next few days, we will try and ascertain the exact cause back in Maranello."

Team boss Stefano Domenicali added that Massa's participation in the next Formula 1 race in Canada in a fortnight was not in doubt.

"Fortunately, despite the violence of the impact, he is fine and has already gone home and I believe that in the space of a few days he will back in perfect shape and ready to race in Montreal," said Domenicali.