Schumacher, son of seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, lost control of his car and crashed head-on at the exit of turn 12 during Q2 of qualifying at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. Moments after the crash, the red flag was raised to allow the medical team to tend to the German driver.
The qualifying session was delayed for nearly an hour as marshals cleared the track of debris. Schumacher was shown on the broadcast sitting up on a stretcher and chatting as he was waiting to be loaded into the air ambulance.
“Kevin, having not done a lot of practice yesterday, I think he did a fantastic job today getting into Q3. His last run was not as planned but I think that was down to not having enough time on track. We’re still happy with Q3 and P10 tomorrow,” Haas team principal Guenther Steiner said in a statement.
In his own statement, Magnussen said the team will “have to be happy with Q3, but the car was better than P10, I didn’t get the most out of it.”
The Saudi Grand Prix is the second race of the new season and comes on the seventh anniversary of the start of the civil war in Yemen.
“Following the widely reported incident that took place in Jeddah on Friday, there has been extensive discussion between all stakeholders, the Saudi government authorities and security agencies who have given full and detailed assurances that the event is secure,” F1 and sport’s governing body FIA said in a statement.
