Schumacher’s repair bill not as bad as initially feared

Michelle Foster
Mick Schumacher's wrecked Haas in pieces. Monaco May 2022

Mick Schumacher's wrecked Haas in pieces after he crashed through the Swimming Pool section. Monaco May 2022

Although even spending a dollar repairing a car hits hard, it seems Mick Schumacher’s repair bill for his Monaco crash isn’t as bad as initially feared.

The Haas driver suffered his second big crash of this season in the Monte Carlo street race when, getting it “10 centimetres” wrong, he lost control on a damp patch and smashed into the barrier.

Leaving pieces of his car behind as he screamed across to the other side of the track, such was the impact that his VF-22 split apart.

With his rear suspension and gearbox in one pile, and his survival cell in another, Schumacher climbed unaided from the car.

But while the driver wasn’t hurt, Haas’ budget took a heavy hit but it seems it may not be as bad as initially thought.

According to Motorsport.com, technical director Simone Resta and his team have found some parts that can ‘still be useful’.

Considering the impact and the debris field, it was expected that Schumacher’s chassis, engine and gearbox had all been destroyed.

But, examining the wreckage, Haas found that the accident was ‘more spectacular than serious’ writes Frank Nugnes.

Haas only need to replace the bodywork and the outer part of the gearbox as there was ‘no irreparable damage to the chassis, and even the power unit, the Ferrari 066/7 , came out of the accident unscathed.

‘The only part of the structural elements that could not be saved was the external gearbox.’

As such Schumacher’s chassis has been taken to Baku for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix where it will be used as the spare as Haas have already carried out the repair work needed.

F1 World Champion turned pundit Damon Hill had previously explained that the crash actually wasn’t as bad as it looked.

“To be honest, if you whack a Formula One car in the right place, you can see it swinging around and the back of the car takes a blow laterally rather than longitudinally, and so they’re quite weak in that direction and sometimes they’re designed to break apart.

“But yes, it looks pretty alarming, isn’t it?

“And actually, it’s quite an amusing moment where the marshals picked up the back of the car and just wheeled it off like a wheelbarrow.

“But, you know, in actual fact, it looks worse than it is.

“I mean, a rotational accident is actually quite a good thing because it dissipates the energy and the driver, the shock if you like goes into the breaking of the back of the car off and rather than into the cockpit where the driver sits.”

 

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