A day after his dramatic crash in qualifying at Jeddah, Mick Schumacher says the street circuit "definitely" needs a few revisions to be made safer for F1's new generation cars.
The Haas driver was ruled out of Sunday's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, having destroyed his VF-22 during a run in Q2 when he ran wide on the exit of Turn 10 and lost traction on a kerb which sent him broadside into the inside concrete wall, the Haas sensors recording a massive 33G impact.
Earlier in the day, FIA Formula 2 racer Cem Bolukbasi had lost control at the same corner and suffered a concussion that sidelined him for the remainder of the weekend.
With F1's new cars running very close to the ground to exploit their ground effect characteristics, the new designs are vulnerable to higher FIA kerbs, and several drivers suffered hair-raising moments around the track, before and after Schumacher's wreck.
"From what I remember, last year was less of a concern, just because of the way the cars were built, we had a very high-rake car, the rear was usually quite up in the air," explained the Haas charger.
"Nowadays, the cars go pretty low, especially at a [higher-speed] part of the circuit.
"So, the moment you do hit this kerb, which is quite high, the rear tyres lose contact to the surface. And that means that there will be a snap in some sort.
"We saw that from a few other drivers, they had a close moment. And I think that’s something definitely that people will have to revise and see to be fixed if we come back."
Ferrari's Carlos Sainz said Schumacher's crash was a testimony to the safety of the modern F1 car's monocoque. But the Spaniard also wants to see changes to Jeddah's track, and suggested moving back the concrete walls in several areas to give cars a bit more space and time to scrub off speed if a driver veers off course.
"Having that huge accident when you can maybe, hopefully push the walls a bit further out gives us a bit more space to slow down the car if we lose it," he said.
"It's a discussion that we need to have because it's probably a bit on the limit."
Mercedes' George Russell warned that extensive changes to Jeddah's layout could strip the track of its "street circuit DNA".
"Obviously, the dangers were the lack of visibility last year," said the GPDA director. "They've done their best to improve that. It has worked slightly. It hasn't solved all the issues.
"But I think that's just the nature of a street circuit sometimes, and obviously being so fast, it is high risk, high reward.
"The problem is, you sometimes lose the DNA of a street circuit if you go too far. There are small things that can be done to improve.
"But ultimately, when you go in these speeds, and you just lose it, there is no runoff, and you will end up on the wall."
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