How Mick Schumacher feels about the crash a day after his serious accident in Formula One qualifying in Jeddah and why he won’t be racing
When Formula One begins the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah on Sunday there will only be 19 cars on the grid. This is because Haas has withdrawn the entry of Mick Schumacher. The young German is not on the grid after his accident in qualifying.
In the Formula 1 paddock, however, Schumacher has certainly resurfaced, and he says: “I would of course be prepared to contest the race. We just have to look at the parts for the car so that we can definitely race in Melbourne.” In other words, at a time when spare parts are not in great supply, it might be a risk to race in Jeddah.
Schumacher says he was already aware of this immediately after the accident on Saturday. “I knew the second race the parts situation is usually very difficult. So I suspected it would be difficult to [take part in the race]. I was still hoping to be able to take part in the race today.” As it is, however, the 23-year-old is just a spectator in Saudi Arabia.
Schumacher’s biggest accident to date
But Schumacher is happy to be so fit again at all. He himself speaks of a “big accident”, perhaps the most violent impact of his motorsport career so far: “As I hear it, the speed was around 270 km/h when I hit the wall. In a road car, something like that would probably not end well. But our cars are so safe now that you can get away with it. “
He was standing in the Formula 1 paddock on Sunday “without any problems at all”, Schumacher said. During the night he was flown to hospital by helicopter for further checks, but there the initial findings were only confirmed: Schumacher survived his accident unharmed and spent the night to Sunday normally in his hotel room.
This is also a credit to the Formula 1 safety precautions, he emphasises: “Fortunately, the cars are so safe. Safety has improved by 300 per cent compared to 2021. That rate of improvement is crazy! It’s certainly helped that I’m here today. “
Schumacher had an inkling of what was to come
In the car on Saturday, he said, he had an immediate inkling of what the departure would mean. “Let’s put it this way: when I lost the rear out of control, I knew what was coming. So I was able to prepare myself for it,” says Schumacher.
But contrary to initial fears that he might have been seriously injured or lost consciousness, he was constantly “one hundred percent there”, says the German. At first, he was even annoyed with himself. There was also frustration because of the crash. “I thought about what I could have done better. “
The reason why he just stayed calm in the car at first was simply because he was doing a kind of “self-check”, says Schumacher: “I just wanted to make sure everything was OK before I made any funny moves.”
“When I realised nothing had happened to me, I could move, that’s when I told the helpers. But they thought it was safe to do the medical checks.”
The question remains why the accident happened. Schumacher denies trying to do too much in the qualifying phase in Q2, but says: “If you want to get into Q3: We were just on the cusp of it. You have to push, and that’s exactly what I did. The wind was changeable on Saturday. Maybe that played a role. “