Schumacher ‘physically fine’ after horror 170mph crash

Mick Schumacher suffered a horrifying 170mph crash in Q2 for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, bringing out the red flags for the second time in qualifying.

Q1 on the Jeddah Corniche Circuit had been stopped when Nicholas Latifi’s Williams hit the barrier, but the Canadian driver was completely unhurt and able to climb out of his car unaided.

However, Schumacher needed the assistance of the medical crew to escape from the cockpit of the Haas, which had hit the wall at Turn 11 and slid to Turn 12, and there immediately had to be serious questions about whether he would be able to take part in the race 24 hours later.

Absolutely fantastic news.

Mick Schumacher appears "physically fine" and has been talking with his mother. He could be going to hospital but only for precautionary checks 🙏 #F1

— PlanetF1 (@Planet_F1) March 26, 2022

TV coverage understandably avoided the scene of the German’s accident while there remained considerable concern about the driver’s condition, but he was later seen removing his gloves as he was helped into the ambulance on a stretcher.

Schumacher, along with his Haas team-mate Kevin Magnussen, had reached Q2 for the second consecutive race. He finished 11th in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix – his best result in Formula 1 so far, at the start of his second campaign in the series.

Just under five minutes remained on the clock in Q2 while the track was cleared, with Ferrari and Red Bull filling the top four positions on the timesheet.

Before the all clear was given to resume the session, race director Niels Wittich was seen examining the scene with oil on the track thought to be a concern.

Sky F1 reported Schumacher had spoken to his mother, Carina, and was set to be taken to hospital for a scan – but, according to the Haas team, was thankfully “physically fine”.

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner added on Sky F1: “I didn’t speak with him, he spoke with his mum, I spoke with his mum a few times and kept her updated. He has no injuries that you can see, they just wanted to check on him, doing some scans to see there is no damage from the forces of the impact.

“It seems like he has gone on the kerb and just lost the car. It seems there was no breakage or anything. We lost all the data as well immediately on impact. We had no contact with him and no data anymore, it just cut everything off.

“We got the message he was conscious, that was the most important thing, and then they said he had no external injuries.”