Mick Schumacher’s violent crash overshadowed qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Saturday. Now the Haas driver has spoken about the incident – and explains the reason for the accident.
There were bad scenes in qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Saturday. Mick Schumacher crashed into the barriers on the course in Jeddah, fans and the whole of Formula 1 feared for the 23-year-old (read more about this here). Fortunately, the all-clear was given a short time later: Schumacher survived the accident unscathed. After a check in the hospital, the Haas pilot is back on the track on Sunday – and has now spoken about the accident there.
The fact that he is doing well after the serious impact shows “the safety of cars today,” said Schumacher on Sky. The entire scene of the accident is still present to him: “I still remember everything, I was conscious the whole time.”
The reason for the crash is also clear: “In the end, I had a small swerve in turn 9, which made it a little narrower in turn 10. Accordingly, I was then 10, 20 centimeters further out than planned, which meant that When I landed on the curb, the rear wheels were in the air, and then it went really fast.” And: “It just had to do with the fact that I was a bit fast for the tires at the moment, I wanted to finish the lap as quickly as possible and was maybe a little overzealous then.”
“I just wanted to say I’m fine”
The anxious moments afterwards, when Schumacher didn’t get out of the car directly and didn’t answer the radio, the top talent explained quite simply: “I didn’t want to get out because I knew that there were a few more cars coming behind me. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to talk to the team because the impact caused the car to switch off by itself, something was probably severed that caused the power supply to the radio. This complicated everything. “I really wanted to say I’m fine and give everyone the all-clear.”
He later did not have to do any reaction tests in the hospital. “I said quite early on that I didn’t want to go to the hospital at all, that’s not necessary, but I was strongly advised to do so.” A start this Sunday did not fail because of his health: “We could drive from my side, I have the clearance for it. But we have to make sure that we keep our parts together so that we can also drive in Melbourne.”
The sympathy of the fans, also from the paddock, was overwhelming: “I think I even got more messages than on my birthday,” joked Schumacher.