Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsManor

Wehrlein disappointed after scary straight-line crash

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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."

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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.