During the final minutes of Q2, the German driver was in a good position to make it into the final part of qualifying when he lost control.
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Mick Schumacher’s terrifying accident during qualifying in Saudi Arabia has been revealed by Guenther Steiner. During the final minutes of Q2, the German driver was in a good position to make it into the final part of qualifying when he lost control of the rear of his Haas after going over an exit kerb. He spun around and slammed sideways into a solid concrete wall at high speed before coming to a halt on the opposite side of the track due to his loss of control.
Schumacher was taken to the hospital for precautionary checks after the crash, but the 23-year-old was later given a clean bill of health. Despite the fact that he was fit and ready to race when he returned to the paddock, Haas decided to withdraw his entry and focus on getting their car fully checked over and repaired in time for the Australian Grand Prix in just under two weeks. Surprisingly, Steiner said, the car’s damage was not as severe as one might expect from such a high-speed collision.
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“The chassis in itself doesn’t seem to be broken,” Steiner said. “The side impact structure – you can change them. Obviously, we need to do a proper check on the chassis. But it looks not too bad, to be honest. The engine, I was told from Ferrari, seems to be OK, and the battery pack as well. All the rest is broken.”
Despite this ostensibly positive outcome, Steiner believes the cost to the team will be substantial. “I think the cost is still pretty high,” he explained.
“All the suspension is gone, except the front-left – there’s still something on there. The rest is powder, carbon powder. I don’t know money-wise yet, but [on these] cars, between the gearbox, the bodywork, the radiator – they’re all gone. So [between] half a million and a million, I’d say.”
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In Saudi Arabia, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen triumphed over Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, with pole-sitter Sergio Perez settling for fourth after pitting just before a crucial Safety Car. Perez was in the lead until the 16th lap, when a flash of Ferrari mechanics may have prompted Red Bull to make an early pit stop. On the next lap, Williams’ Nicholas Latifi crashed at the final corner, triggering a VSC and then a Safety Car, which Leclerc, Verstappen, and Carlos Sainz took advantage of.
