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The Haas Formula 1 team will be down to one car for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, with Mick Schumacher’s ruled out after his monster qualifying crash.
Schumacher’s Haas VF-22 suffered a heavy impact with a concrete barrier during the second segment of qualifying, necessitating the on-track appearance of the F1 medical car as the German remained in the cockpit, albeit conscious.
Mick Schumacher will miss the Saudi Arabian GP after a huge accident in qualifying.
That Mick is physically well after the crash is another reminder of the strength and safety of modern F1 cars for which we are incredibly thankful#SaudiArabianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/qhLcw0elb7
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 26, 2022
He was taken to the medical centre and then, though the initial inspection revealed no injuries, flown by helicopter to a Jeddah hospital for precautionary scans.
Team boss Guenther Steiner told Sky in the immediate aftermath of the incident that Schumacher’s condition was not the only potential limiting factor for him racing on Sunday, as it was also unclear whether the car was too damaged for Haas to be able to repair it using the spare parts it had.
In a later media appearance from Steiner, shortly after Haas confirmed it would be down to one car, he said the decision was taken so Haas did not spread itself too thin and risk compromising the Australian GP in a fortnight.
“The best thing is that Mick has apparently no injuries, he’s in the hospital right now and being evaluated by the doctors, so he is in good hands at the moment,” Steiner was quoted as saying by the Haas press release.
Schumacher was released from hospital on Saturday evening and returned to his hotel.
Hi everyone, I just wanted to say that I’m ok🙏
Thank you for the kind messages.
The car felt great @haasf1team, we’ll come back stronger❤️ pic.twitter.com/Mwpy0767kN— Mick Schumacher (@SchumacherMick) March 26, 2022
The Saudi GP will mark the second time in the last three F1 races that Haas has been reduced to one car, as Nikita Mazepin – who has since been ousted in favour of Kevin Magnussen – missed last year’s season finale due to COVID-19.
Haas has reserve driver Pietro Fittipaldi on site but would not be able to slot him in to replace Schumacher even it were intent on fielding two cars on Sunday, as a driver change could not take place this late into the weekend.
