The violent accident at the Monaco GP was “bizarre” according to Mick Schumacher
Everyone was afraid for Mick Schumacher. The German lost control of his single-seater at the entrance to the Piscine bend before smashing his Haas in the Tecpros. Live footage showed a car cut in half. A few seconds later, the Haas pilot extracts himself from his completely pulverized VF-22.
After going to the medical center for a check-up, Mick Schumacher described his accident in Monaco as “super weird”. In the crash, the tail and gearbox of his Haas VF-22 therefore detached on impact, but Schumacher quickly radioed that he was fine. The Genolier native was taken to the circuit medical center after the impact, the Haas driver suffered 22G but was uninjured.
“It was super weird. From what I saw on the video, it just looked like we were like 10 centimeters longer. And it triggered a wet spot or something with the front wheel, which resulted in the rear wheel slipping. This is where the rear turned. I tried to correct him and that’s why he went to the left. It’s very, very unfortunate and very boringsaid Mick Schumacher after his accident.
The reaction of other pilots
Fernando Alonso called Schumacher’s crash, which happened at the pool chicane, ‘massive’, and compared it to the same driver’s previous crash in qualifying for the Arabian Grand Prix Arabia: “I also remember seeing the accident in Jeddah and again the car split in two. The gearbox was not in the frame and again [à Monaco]. So luckily he’s fine but it’s a big, big accident. Hopefully we can learn something from today as well.The Alpine driver suspects that the car broke down as it did due to the increased weight of the 2022 single-seaters. The latest regulations stipulate a minimum weight of 798 kg before any fuel addition: “I don’t think it’s a car issue, just how hard you hit with these cars“, did he declare. “They are very heavy, more than 800 kilos, so the inertia when they enter the walls is much greater than in the past. So, like I said, we’ll probably learn something from today too.»
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Pierre Gasly said it looked ‘bad’ and he was worried about Mick Schumacher. He thinks the FIA made the right decision by issuing a red flag: “When I saw the gearbox fully extended, it was quite shocking. For the red flag, they took a while, but it was the right thing to do. I was a little surprised we got the VSC and not a safety car straight away. But I have to review the race, it was quite long, a lot of things happened.»
Aston Martin driver Sebastian Vettel has been a mentor to Schumacher throughout the young German’s career, having himself provided advice from his father, Michael Schumacher.
The Aston Martin driver said he was “glad to hear on the radio that he was fine before i got to the incident“, and called to leave Mick Schumacher alone. “It’s so easy to get it wrong so quickly. I don’t know exactly what happened to him, I didn’t see him. The main thing is that he is fine. There is no doubt that he is capable of doing much more than he is showing at the moment. But I think you need to give her some respite.”
Valtteri Bottas agreed that “it’s always weird when you see a car in two halves. It’s not how it’s supposed to be, but the main thing is that he’s okay.”