Formula 1 drivers expect the sport to learn from Mick Schumacher’s heavy Monaco Grand Prix crash which split the rear from his Haas car.
Schumacher was taken to the circuit medical centre following the 22G impact but was uninjured.
“I was glad that he’s fine because that was a scary one,” said Esteban Ocon.
His team mate Fernando Alonso called Schumacher’s crash, which occured at the swimming pool chicane “massive”, and likened it to the same driver’s previous shunt during qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
“I remember also seeing the Jeddah accident and then again the car split in two,” said Alonso. “The gearbox was not in the chassis and again [in Monaco].
“So luckily he’s okay but it’s a big, big accident. Hopefully we can learn something from today as well.”
Alonso suspects the car broke up the way it did because of the increased weight of the 2022 machines. The latest regulations stipulate a minimum weight of 798 kilograms before any fuel is added.
“I don’t think I see it as a car issue, just how how hard you hit with these cars,” he said. “They are very heavy, more than 800 kilos so the inertia when they go into the walls, it’s a lot higher than the past.
“So as I said, probably we will learn something from today as well.”
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The way that the Haas car had split in two “reminds you how big the energies that we have,” said Alexander Albon.
“I’m glad that he’s okay,” he added. “Obviously for it to split in half is pretty scary. So we need to figured out, see what happened there.”
Valtteri Bottas agreed “it’s always weird when you see a car in two halves. It’s not how it’s supposed to look but the main thing is he’s okay.”
The wreckage left by Schumacher’s crash also surprised Pierre Gasly. “It was bad,” he said. “I was worried because when I saw the gearbox completely out, it was quite, quite…