Haas puts a price on Schumacher crash in Jeddah

Mick Schumacher's crash in qualifying in Saudi Arabia last weekend could set back the Haas team by a hefty $1 million according to team boss Guenther Steiner.

Schumacher was thrown practically at full speed broadside into the barriers after running wide on to a kerb at Jeddah's treacherous Turn 10 near the end of the second segment of qualifying in Jeddah.

Although the young German took a good beating, he escaped relatively unscathed from the wreck.

The extent of the damage to Schumacher's VF-22 compelled Haas to withdraw its driver from Sunday's race, a decision conditioned mainly by the team's low inventory of spare parts that would have put its driver at risk of not being able to take part in next week's Australian Grand Prix had he incurred more damage on race day in Jeddah.

The US outfit's first assessment of Schumacher's revealed that only the engine and the chassis' tub had survived the crash, with almost every other component needing to be replaced.

"The chassis itself doesn't seem to be broken," said Steiner. "The side infrastructure yes, but you can change them.

"Obviously we need to do a proper check on the chassis but it looks like it is not too bad to be honest.

"The engine also, I was told from Ferrari, seems to be okay. The battery pack as well. But then all the rest is broken!"

Overall, Steiner reckoned that the cost of the damage could run as high as $1 million!

"I think the cost is pretty high because all the suspension is gone, except the front left," Steiner said. "I think there is still something on there. The rest is just carbon powder.

"I don't know money-wise but, between gearbox, the whole bodywork is gone, radiators are gone - $500,000 to $1 million I would say."

• Schumacher: Jeddah track 'definitely' needs revisions

Formula 1 teams' annual budgets, limited this season to $140 million, typically include an item related to crash damage expenditures.

Schumacher's mishap will fortunately have a minimal impact on Haas' budget, but repeated damages would inevitably take their toll on the team's finances.

"There's a nominal amount," explained Steiner. "But in a racing team, you never can stick to your budget like in a normal commercial business, because you have this risk.

"You have got obviously a contingency there. But if you have two or three like this: pretty quick your contingency is not there anymore.

"It's a loss. So you just need to manage. Obviously, I hope we don't have a lot more of them."

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