Haas without spare chassis in Melbourne
The American Haas team will enter the Australian Grand Prix without the security of a spare chassis available following Mick Schumacher's accident in Jeddah.
Last month, Mick Schumacher lost control of his VF-22 during the qualifying session of the Jeddah Grand Prix. As a result, the German was unable to race the following day in order to allow the team to rebuild a chassis.
If the team played a wildcard for Melbourne, the damaged car chassis is now headed towards the factory for further repairs. The Haas team principal, Günther Steiner, explained, “It has been quite tough for the guys.” Last night, we broke the curfew because they wanted to get ahead for this morning, so we won’t have to do it tonight. Breaking curfew was worth it to achieve a good point.
« You must bring as many parts as possible at the moment. You cannot bring more, there is nothing left in the stocks. You put everything you have there,” revealed Steiner. « But there are no more spare chassis, which means less safety, they must be cautious. Otherwise, we will start over with a car! ».
« The chassis was sent back yesterday, explained the Italian. « He had to come here for customs declarations and paperwork reasons, mainly. At the moment, I think it is stuck in Singapore, I just received an email! It will be repaired, so hopefully we will have it for Imola as a replacement chassis. I think it’s going to be fine. The side structure needs to be changed, repainted, there’s a small dent in it but the chassis can be repaired, affirmed Steiner.
The Melbourne Grand Prix will start at 6am this Sunday, and for Steiner, Mick Schumacher does not lose confidence after his accident.
