05/12/2021
NEWS STORY
Uralkali Haas F1 Team drivers Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin were both unable to finish the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Round 21 of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
Schumacher started from 19th place on Pirelli P Zero Yellow mediums and made up one spot at the start to hold 18th position. Unfortunately for Schumacher his race came to a premature end after 10 laps thanks to an off through the left-hander of Turn 22. Schumacher impacted the barriers, sustaining race-ending damage to his VF-21, but was fortunately able to walk away from the scene of the accident.
Mazepin took the start from 20th on the grid, also on medium tires, and held position before moving up to 16th following the red flag period that was caused by Schumacher's accident. Mazepin took the restart on hard rubber but was caught up in an accident on the approach to Turn 5 when the pack slowed up due to the spinning Sergio Perez. Mazepin struck the back of George Russell and sustained terminal damage to his VF-21, retiring from the race.
Nikita Mazepin: "It was quite an impact unfortunately. We benefitted from a position of not stopping and I was fighting with Stroll coming out of T2. The next is always easy flat and it was meant to be for both cars but all of a sudden, the car in front - which was Russell - he braked. I also tried to brake but there was nowhere to stop from 200 to zero, so I collected him and looking at the replay there was a car on the inside that he was trying to avoid himself."
Mick Schumacher: "Unfortunately, it seems like I was pushing a bit too much trying to get back into the DRS window of Russell and lost it going into T23. The pace seemed to be there, we were comfortably keeping up with the Williams and I think that was what we really weren't anticipating, therefore being highly motivated but maybe a bit too much in that case. That one point is still the target, so hopefully we'll manage to get it there."
Guenther Steiner: "A disappointing day today with two crashed cars in the penultimate race of the year. Mick just tried to keep up with the Williams, which didn't work out, and Nikita got himself into a position where he couldn't do anything about it - he was a passenger of whatever happened in front of him. Unfortunate but one more to go and then we move on."
Check out our Sunday gallery from Jeddah, here.