Wehrlein disappointed after scary straight-line crash

Pascal Wehrlein admits he found his qualifying crash scary after losing control in a straight line early in the session.

With heavy rain having hit the circuit ahead of FP3, the track had been drying ahead of qualifying but two wet patches remained under the main grandstand and pit complex. Wehrlein was starting a flying lap on slick tyres when he lost control over a bump in the wet section, hitting the barrier on the outside of the track.

Asked it was a scary moment, Wehrlein replied: "Definitely.

"You are going quite fast on this part. I am disappointed and unhappy but if you lose the car in the corner it is your mistake, but if you lose it on the straight [it is] something really strange."

And Wehrlein downplayed the significance of having his DRS open at the time of the incident, suggesting it was simply the track conditions which were to blame.

"Not really sure if DRS makes a difference. At the end of qualifying [Sergio] Perez still nearly crashed at the same place and the track was much drier then. I think it is just a combination of this bump and the track behind that being really wet, so it was just not wet, there was standing water behind the bump.

"It is dangerous with slick tyres, but if you have the slick tyres [on] you have one or two shots - and for sure you don’t break before the bump and accelerate again."

REPORT: Rosberg beats Ricciardo to pole as Hamilton falls in Q1

AS IT HAPPENED: Chinese Grand Prix - Qualifying

Romain Grosjean column: A start beyond my craziest dream

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

Recent Posts

Verstappen says ‘real gap’ to Mercedes exposed in FP2

Max Verstappen opened the Belgian Grand Prix weekend by topping the first practice session, but…

21 minutes ago

Antonelli hails ‘massive turnaround’ between Spa Friday sessions

Kimi Antonelli believes Mercedes found the answers it had been searching for after a dramatic…

1 hour ago

Belgian GP: Antonelli puts Mercedes on top, Norris P2

Kimi Antonelli upped the pace in Friday’s second practice at Spa-Francorchamps, the young Mercedes driver…

3 hours ago

Belgian Grand Prix Free Practice 2 - Results

Full results from Free Practice 2 for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, round 10…

3 hours ago

Jules Bianchi - always in our hearts

It was on this day in 2015 that young F1 hopeful Jules Bianchi succumbed to…

4 hours ago

Hadjar set for Spa fightback after back-of-the-grid penalty

Isack Hadjar's remarkable run of consistency is set to face its toughest test yet at…

5 hours ago