Team Principal Guenther Steiner confirms that Haas will field both Mick Schumacher and Kevin Magnussen’s car in Australia.
Schumacher’s horrific crash in Jeddah last weekend left a lot of F1 fans worried. His collision with the concrete wall at turn 10 came midway into Q2, after which the session was red-flagged.
It took a few minutes for the F1 community to get news regarding Schumacher’s condition. The young German who was winded, but physically alright, was taken to the hospital for further checks.
His VF-22 on the other hand, was completely destroyed. Getting it ready for racing the very next day would have been an extremely difficult job, plus Schumacher was shaken up due to his accident.
As a result, Haas made the decision to field just Kevin Magnussen’s car for the Saudi Arabian GP race. The Dane made the best out of the situation, finishing ninth and earning two valuable points for the team.
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Risk is always complementary with motorsport, says Haas team principal Guenther Steiner
Steiner, like everyone else was very relieved to have Schumacher walk away from the crash unscathed. On camera, it didn’t look pleasant and gave everyone a scare, but it’s a testament to just how safe the modern F1 cars are.
He went on to say that having the car ready for race last Sunday would not have been possible. However, for the next race in Melbourne, they will have no problem in fielding both cars.
“Melbourne is no issue,” Steiner said to Channel 4. “We decided not to go out there (for the Saudi Arabian GP) and focus on Melbourne, Melbourne will not be an issue.”
Talking about the Jeddah Corniche Circuit’s layout, Steiner refused to admit that it’s unsafe. The Haas boss takes risk as a part of the sport, and feels that crashes like this can happen anywhere.
“Racing, we all like speed, it needs to be a challenge,” he said. “I’m always of the opinion if you just make it we race on an airfield, the challenge goes away because everybody can go and drive, if you go off then nothing happens.”
“I’m not saying that we should take big risks or anything, but the risk comes with motorsport. There is this opinion I think in racing there is always risk involved, you just need to see which level we take it.”
Also read: Haas to take $1 million hit on budget cap following Mick Schumacher’s crash in Jeddah
