MICK SCHUMACHER paid tribute to the safety features built into the current crop of Formula One cars after escaping uninjured from his horror crash in qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
The 23-year-old had to be lifted out of his wrecked Haas car after clipping a kerb at high speed on Saturday. He was airlifted to hospital for precautionary tests, and ruled out of Sunday’s race.
“I’m feeling alright,” said the son of German F1 legend Michael Schumacher on Sunday.
“I think to be able to stand here with nothing really, not even sore, just shows the security and safety of these cars,” he added.
In his second season with Haas, and still to claim his first point, Schumacher says he is now focusing on completing the job he had started on Saturday, progressing for the first time to the final top 10 qualifying session.
“Q3 (the final qualifying session) was, I think, quite in reach and I was very close to it even,” he said.
“I guess we’ll have to delay that until Melbourne now, but I think Melbourne is also a nice place to score your first Q3 and maybe score your first points.”
Haas will run just the one car, with Kevin Magnussen at the wheel, in Sunday’s race which starts at 1700GMT on the Jeddah street circuit.
Schumacher insisted he felt “fit” to compete with his absence down to the need to preserve car parts for the Australian Grand Prix on April 10.
His accident raised questions over the ultra-quick and narrow Jeddah circuit’s safety.
“It’s not for me but others to judge the safety but I think there are things to look at. Thankfully the cars of today are so safe.”
This week on the Front Row – The42’s new rugby podcast in partnership with Guinness – panellist Eimear Considine makes a welcome return… and she’s brought her Ireland roommate, Hannah O’Connor, along too. They chat about broken noses, tanning routines, initiation songs and balancing the Women’s Six Nations with teaching, plus how one fan named her child after Ireland winger Beibhinn Parsons! Click here to subscribe or listen below:
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