On the 26th lap of the Monaco Grand Prix, when he was in penultimate position, Mick Schumacher was the victim of an impressive accident in the swimming pool complex. The pilot Haas suddenly lost control of his single-seater when exiting the first chicane, ending his swerve against the protections of the second chicane.
The accident was so violent that the rear axle of his Haas VF-22 was torn off on impact, but Schumacher escaped unscathed. After a stint at the circuit’s medical center, the German came back to an incident he was struggling to understand.
“It was super weird”he said. “From what I saw on the video, it looks like we drove 10 centimeters [de la bonne trajectoire], the front wheel may have gone over a wet area or something, which caused the rear axle to slip. That’s when the rear stalled, I tried to make the correction and that’s why [la voiture] went left. It’s very, very unfortunate and very annoying.”
It was on Schumacher’s accident that Haas ended his Monegasque weekend, since Kevin Magnussen was forced to retire a few laps earlier due to an engine problem. Before giving up, the Dane was in a fight with Pierre Gasly on the points door, and his pace and strategy could have allowed him to finish in the top 10.
“I was long before [l’abandon]we were 11th and much faster than [Valtteri] Bottas [en dixième position]”did he declare. “I was really looking forward to this stop, I had just told the team that I wanted to stop for slicks. A few guys behind had already stopped for intermediates, we were still on wet tires and we wanted to go straight to slicks, it was a huge opportunity.”
“I’m very disappointed, for me of course and for the team because they lost a good opportunity to score points and make up for it after a disappointing day. [en qualifications]. The car was great, I had excellent pace in these conditions.”
Avec Luke Smith