Following a horrific crash during qualifying at Jeddah last month, Haas’ driver Mick Schumacher was subsequently pulled from the following race, even though he wasn’t injured. The same couldn’t be said about his race car.
The team chose to take their time in order to build up a second chassis for Melbourne, yet are now forced to race without a backup.
“It was pretty tough for the guys,” said Haas team principal Gunther Steiner in an interview with Motorsport. “Last night we broke the curfew because the guys wanted to get ahead for this morning, so tonight we don’t have to go over it. Breaking one curfew was worthwhile to get to a good point.”
Steiner then went on to add: “You need to bring as many parts as you can in the moment. You cannot bring more, there is nothing in stock anymore. All what you’ve got, you bring here. But there’s no spare chassis, no safety net here, so they need to be careful. Otherwise, we’ll start again with one car.”
While he’ll be given a brand-new gearbox in Australia tomorrow, Schumacher will still use the same Ferrari power unit that was on his car at the time of the Jeddah crash, although Steiner is confident that the power unit is good to go, despite the heavy impact.
“They need to fire it up now, but they pressure-checked everything, and Ferrari is very happy.”
What’s interesting is that Mick Schumacher has never raced at Albert Park before. Still, Steiner has all the confidence in the world in his driver, seen as how the latter has already raced on a lot of new tracks (for him) last year, and has proven to be quite adaptable.
Schumacher will also have Kevin Magnussen’s data to rely upon, which should accelerate his progression through free practice, qualifying and ultimately, the race on Sunday.
“It was pretty tough for the guys,” said Haas team principal Gunther Steiner in an interview with Motorsport. “Last night we broke the curfew because the guys wanted to get ahead for this morning, so tonight we don’t have to go over it. Breaking one curfew was worthwhile to get to a good point.”
Steiner then went on to add: “You need to bring as many parts as you can in the moment. You cannot bring more, there is nothing in stock anymore. All what you’ve got, you bring here. But there’s no spare chassis, no safety net here, so they need to be careful. Otherwise, we’ll start again with one car.”
While he’ll be given a brand-new gearbox in Australia tomorrow, Schumacher will still use the same Ferrari power unit that was on his car at the time of the Jeddah crash, although Steiner is confident that the power unit is good to go, despite the heavy impact.
“They need to fire it up now, but they pressure-checked everything, and Ferrari is very happy.”
What’s interesting is that Mick Schumacher has never raced at Albert Park before. Still, Steiner has all the confidence in the world in his driver, seen as how the latter has already raced on a lot of new tracks (for him) last year, and has proven to be quite adaptable.
Schumacher will also have Kevin Magnussen’s data to rely upon, which should accelerate his progression through free practice, qualifying and ultimately, the race on Sunday.