After Bahrain 2020 and Saudi Arabia 2022, it tore a Haas in two again at the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Monaco: Mick Schumacher in serious accident
On lap 26, the Formula One world froze for a brief moment as Mick Schumacher’s Haas split in two was seen coming out of the swimming pool passage. Memories of Romain Grosjean’s serious fire accident were brought back, as the Haas was also blown in two when the Frenchman crashed in Bahrain 2020. Nor did the Haas stay in one piece in Schumacher’s qualifying accident in Saudi Arabia.
Schumacher’s crash ended up looking worse than it actually was, however, as the Tecpro barrier did a good job of cushioning the impact. “Physically I’m ok, but of course it’s annoying,” said the German after his crash.
“The conditions were very difficult out there and unfortunately I was a bit too far into the corner.” Schumacher lost control of his VF-22 on the transition from turn 13 to 14 in damp and dry conditions, then hit the outer track barrier before coming to a stop in the barrier after the swimming pool chicane.
Schumacher suspects: hit damp patch
“It was because I was a bit too far out in turn 14. The cars are a bit wider than last year and in this case they were a bit too wide, which is why I misjudged,” the Haas driver confessed his mistake.
“It was totally weird. If I look at the replay, I was ten centimetres off track,” said Schumacher, who suspects that he may have hit a wet patch with his front wheel outside the racing line.
“That then led to the rear wheel slipping and so the rear end broke away from me. I tried to correct that, but then I slid off to the left. That’s very, very unfortunate and very annoying. “
Is the Haas not safe enough?
The fact that a Haas has now split in half in a collision for the third time in two years has also been noticed by the other drivers, like Fernando Alonso: “The crash was massive again,” says the Alpine driver.
A dramatic crash for Mick Schumacher
Watch all the key moments from a dramatic race MonacoGP F1
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“I also remember the accident in Jeddah where the car was split in half and the gearbox was no longer in the chassis, and again today. Fortunately he is fine, but it was a serious, serious accident. Hopefully we can learn something from today as well,” he says.
“I don’t think it’s to do with the car, but just how hard you hit. These cars are very heavy, more than 800 kilograms, so the inertia with which you hit the wall is much higher than before,” Alonso adds.
So he still has to wait for his first Formula 1 points. Schumacher, however, is convinced that he can end the negative streak soon: “The season is still long, the tide can also turn very quickly. I’ve shown that before and I’m sure we can show it this year as well.”
Alongside the German, his team-mate Kevin Magnussen also had to pull out early in the Principality: “I had some kind of problem with the engine. We had to pit because I had no more power,” said the Dane.
Team boss Steiner not very enthusiastic about Schumacher’s mistake
“Until then it was going well, we were in P11 and much faster than Bottas. I was really looking forward to that pit stop because I had just told the team that I wanted to change to slicks, while a couple of drivers behind me had still changed to intermediates,” he explained.
“We were still on rain tyres and we wanted to change straight to slicks and that would have been a great opportunity. So I’m very disappointed because we missed a good opportunity to score points and recover from a disappointing day yesterday. The car was great and had really good pace in those conditions. “
“It was a disappointing day for us,” Haas Team Principal Günther Steiner summed up. “Kevin was very quick and we were just waiting to overtake Bottas with the pit stop. Unfortunately, he then had a water leak with his ERS system. As for Mick, of course it’s not very satisfying to see another big crash, so now we just have to look ahead. “
