Schumacher crash “quite frustrating” for Haas
Schumacher slammed into the barriers at the very end of a wet first practice at the Japanese Grand Prix when he lost control of his Haas during an in-lap following a practice start.
The impact caused significant damage to the front of his car, requiring a chassis change that meant Schumacher was unable to take part in FP2.
It was bad timing for Schumacher, with the German in real danger of losing his Haas seat to Nico Hulkenberg for F1 2023.
“It’s disappointing because we just went out to do a race start so we get data for Sunday,” Steiner told F1TV
“And then on the way in from the race start Mick crashed the car, aquaplaned and crashed into the barrier and damaged the car quite heavily.
“The whole front is broken but we also have to change the whole chassis because we’re not sure if there is a crack in it or not and you cannot take any risks with the chassis.
“There is nothing changed in any way, except that maybe we could have gone out in FP2 for 10 minutes, but that is not important.
“It’s better to be 100% safe that the car is in a good shape tomorrow. So we have to change the chassis and the whole front end and the front wing and the nose.”
That’s not good. Mick loses control of the car and hits the barriers, on his way back to the pits after the session has finished.
— Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) October 7, 2022
He’s out of the car and ok. #HaasF1 #JapaneseGP #FP1 pic.twitter.com/inAxIJos8z
Haas have already had to change Schumacher’s chassis on two occasions this year following huge crashes in Saudi Arabia and Monaco.
“It’s the third time now that we have potential chassis damage,” Steiner said.
“I say potential because we need to X-ray it and see if it is cracked or not. But it is quite frustrating.”
But Steiner confirmed Schumacher’s car will be fixed in time for FP3 on Saturday morning.
“Tomorrow morning the car will be there,” he added.
“The guys will have a late evening but they will fix the car again and we have got all the parts, that is not an issue. So it will be there.”
