Mick Schumacher’s crash after the chequered flag in Free Practice 1 at the Japanese Grand Prix could well have put the final nail in his Formula 1 coffin.
Schumacher is under pressure to retain his drive for 2023 with strong speculation linking Nico Hulkenberg to the seat.
His crash at the end of Free Practice 1 has therefore not helped his chances.
Having completed a practice start on the slippery track, Schumacher lost control of his Haas as he rounded the Dunlop Curve, nosing into the barrier with sufficient force to require a chassis change for the balance of the weekend.
It saw him miss Free Practice 2 as a result, also held in wet conditions.
“It’s disappointing because we just went out to do a race start so we get data for Sunday,” team boss Guenther Steiner told F1TV.
“And then on the way in from the race start Mick crashed the car, aquaplaned and crashed into the barrier and damaged the car quite heavily.
“The whole front is broken but we also have to change the whole chassis because we’re not sure if there is a crack in it or not and you cannot take any risks with the chassis.
“There is nothing changed in any way, except that maybe we could have gone out in FP2 for 10 minutes, but that is not important.
“It’s better to be 100 percent safe that the car is in a good shape tomorrow. So we have to change the chassis and the whole front end and the front wing and the nose.”
In his second year of Formula 1, Schumacher has shown glimpses of promise but has failed to turn that into consistency.
It’s also not the first significant incident he’s had this year, which is an added sting given the constraints the teams currently work within – Haas has one of, if not the smallest budget in pit lane.
“It’s the third time now that we have potential chassis damage,” Steiner said.
“I say potential because we need to X-ray it and see if it is cracked or not. But it is quite frustrating.
“Tomorrow morning the car will be there,” he continued in reference to the team building up the spare chassis.
“The guys will have a late evening but they will fix the car again and we have got all the parts, that is not an issue. So it will be there.”
Haas will inspect the damaged chassis ahead of the United States Grand Prix, with the tub damaged by Schumacher the only available spare for the team.
That in itself shouldn’t prove a problem, according to Steiner, who denied claims that the chassis had a visible crack in it – the switch being precautionary.
“It was easier to make the decision to change it,” he explained.
“Now that we are done, then we check it properly. We don’t think there will be a lot of damage or any, but we were not sure, so if we don’t know you better do your best job to be sure that everything is okay.”
The 23-year-old fronted the media after Free Practice 2, a session he was only able to observe.
“Obviously it was quite rainy. Unfortunately, we have a little aquaplaning moment,” Schumacher offered by way of an explanation.
“Of course, it’s not amazing,” he added.
“We lost some time, especially the Free Practice 2 session because we didn’t get out to drive mainly for safety reasons and the chassis.
“The car felt great, so hopefully we’ll be in a good position.”
The Haas drive is one of the two realistically remaining on the driver market, with Pierre Gasly set to be confirmed at Alpine and Nyck de Vries at Scuderia AlphaTauri.
Kevin Magnussen is on a multi-year deal in the lead Haas, with the team weighing up its options on who to partner him with next season.
Schumacher has been consistently outperformed by the Dane throughout 2022, with today’s crash after the chequered flag hardly likely to endear him to a team already openly in the market.
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