Lando Norris insists that the kerb leading up-to turn 10 at the Jeddah Corniche circuit was responsible for Mick Schumacher’s crash.
Schumacher’s crash during Q2 on Saturday evening gave everyone in the F1 paddock a big scare. He hit the kerb leading up to turn 10 and lost control of his rears, hitting the barriers at the exit.
This wasn’t the first crash in that corner we saw this weekend. During the F2 practice session on Friday, Cem Bolukbasi hit the same kerb and crashed. The Turk was taken to the hospital, and has been ruled for the rest of the weekend.
Horrific crash, almost identical to mine but faster, get well soon Mick 🙏
— Cem Bolukbasi (@cembolukbasi) March 26, 2022
The Haas driver too, won’t be taking part in the race on Sunday. In the immediate aftermath of the accident, there was no update on the German driver. Soon however, it was revealed that he was conscious but was flown to a nearby hospital to have checks done on him.
His car on the other hand was completely obliterated from the crash. It split into two parts when it was being towed away during the red flag, and team principal Guenther Steiner said Haas will only field Kevin Magnussen for the race on Sunday.
Lando Norris predicts more crashes ahead of the Saudi Arabian GP race on Sunday
The high-speed corners and blind turns have led to multiple crashes in just two years of this circuit’s history. It has already become infamous and F1 fans are calling for it to removed from the calendar.
McLaren’s Lando Norris didn’t talk about scrapping the race, but insists that changes have to be made to ensure safer racing. After the Qualifying session yesterday, he spoke to the media, sharing his thoughts on Schumacher’s scary crash.
“It was very evident from F2,” he said. “Because in F2 you have to run the cars very low as well. And there was two crashes and Cem, the Turkish guy, was in hospital.”
Mick Schumacher will miss the Saudi Arabian GP after a huge accident in qualifying.
That Mick is physically well after the crash is another reminder of the strength and safety of modern F1 cars for which we are incredibly thankful#SaudiArabianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/qhLcw0elb7
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 26, 2022
“I think just with these type of cars you can’t have such an aggressive kerb at such a speed. I think what makes it worse is how it’s angled to come back. And then curves around and you just get a little bit wrong and it can be a big incident like we saw.”
“It needs to be edited for tomorrow and changed a bit,” the 22-year old continued. “Because especially in a race situation. If you’re following or you just get a bit of understeer because of the dirty air and so on, through no fault of your own, you can just get caught out.”