Kevin Magnussen hadn’t driven a Formula 1 car for over a year, but when he returned to the Haas team, he quickly mastered the new generation of machinery and started the season well, earning points in the first two races.
You can’t say the same regarding his partner, Mick Schumacher. In Bahrain, he finished 11th, but then he was prevented from performing better by a collision with Esteban Ocon at the start of the race, in which the Frenchman was clearly to blame, for which he received a fine.
But in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Mick did not start at all, because in qualifying he got into a serious accident and crashed the car – this time solely through his own fault. He was lucky that he himself was not injured, but the equipment was damaged so badly that Haas F1 chose not to repair it in a hurry, but to calmly prepare for the next stage in Australia.
The point is also in the limited reserve of spare parts: if some problem arose also in the race, it might turn out that in Melbourne, Mick would simply have nothing to perform on.
On the one hand, Schumacher is not considered an accident-prone racer, but last year he crashed cars on weekends in Monaco, France, Hungary and Saudi Arabia. It was unpleasant, the team was forced to spend money on repairing equipment, but then at least it did not claim points, and Mick was in rookie status, so some mistakes while driving a slow and inefficient car were quite understandable.
But now the situation has changed. The new car VF-22 makes it possible to fight for points, and Magnussen has successfully proved this. Whereas Schumacher crashed his car, and repairs will cost the team very dearly. But there is a risk that the consequences of that mistake will not be limited to additional expenses alone.
On the one hand, all teams work on tight budgets, on the other hand, everyone, including Haas, has a special reserve of funds provided for in case of emergencies. However, the accident in Jeddah is too serious, and there is a risk that the repair of Mick’s car may force the American team to adjust the plan to modernize the equipment. It is not certain that this will happen immediately, but it is possible that such a need will arise in the later stages of the season.
As if foreseeing such a situation, back in February, Günter Steiner, head of Haas F1, said: “If, on a tight budget, you have an accident and you have to spend half a million just for repairs, this means that you have to upgrade the car or develop new products. will be half a million less. And you can usually do a lot with that money.”
If an accident like the one that occurred on Saturday in Jeddah is repeated, the risk of such consequences will increase dramatically. So far this has not happened, but the team has already missed the points that Mick might potentially earn.
He will still have enough such opportunities, but if only he does not miss them. This is important both for his own reputation and for the successful implementation of the team’s ambitious plans.
Of course, Mick understands this better than anyone, and the advice not to crash cars once more would sound too obvious. However, it is still worth repeating this once once more, since he has already made one serious accident, and at the very beginning of the season, which is so important for him and for the team. And unlike last year, now the price of a mistake is measured not only in money.