Renault’s Kevin Magnussen has been taken to hospital for treatment after suffering a cut left ankle in a heavy crash in the Belgian Grand Prix.
The Dane lost control of his Renault at the top of Eau Rouge on lap six and spun at high speed into the outside barrier, destroying both his car and the tyre barrier and prompting race control to stop the race temporarily.
Despite being conscious and climbing out of the car unaided, Renault confirmed that Magnussen had been taken to a local hospital for ‘precautionary checks’.
Speaking after the race, Renault Sport Racing Director Frédéric Vasseur said that Magnussen had received medical attention at the circuit medical centre before being taken to hospital
“The first consultation from the medical centre was that Kevin had a small cut to the ankle, but nothing special,” said Vasseur. “But they’ve sent him to the hospital to be sure but it looks okay.”
Asked whether there was a risk Magnussen could miss next weekend’s Italian Grand Prix, Vassuer did not offer any evaluation of a potential need to replace the Dane.
“To be honest I don’t know and I haven’t thought about this,” Vassuer said. “It’s not my first reaction. But his physio is thinking that he will do it.”
Uzair Syed (@ultimateuzair)
28th August 2016, 14:57
Glad he’s OK. Hopefully he recovers quickly.
WheelToWheel (@lolzerbob)
28th August 2016, 14:59
Hope he’s good but unfortunately thats his seat in 2017 gone for him
petebaldwin (@)
28th August 2016, 15:01
Amazing that a crash like that only results in a cut on his ankle. Glad he’s ok – I was worried when I saw someone had gone off there!
BasCB (@bascb)
28th August 2016, 16:00
Agreed. Good to see him walk (hobble) away from that without any greater harm.
maldonado
28th August 2016, 15:03
there goes the 2017 seat
WheelToWheel (@lolzerbob)
28th August 2016, 15:04
Who will replace him for monza? Carmen Jorda? Pastor Maldonado? Rio Haryanto?
Patrick (@paeschli)
28th August 2016, 15:07
Magnussen will probably race at Monza.
UnitedKingdomRacing (@unitedkingdomracing)
28th August 2016, 15:48
I expect him to drive. But Renaults reserve driver is Esteban Ocon with Manors reserve driver being Haryanto.
Mark
28th August 2016, 15:04
Let’s hope the FIA was watching. That’s what can happen of you ignore track limits, especially in a corner like Eau Rouge/Radillon…
Sonics (@sonicslv)
28th August 2016, 15:16
But he doesn’t ignore any track limit…
anon
28th August 2016, 18:28
@sonicslv, I think that it could be argued that he did. The drivers were not supposed to be cutting across the kerbs on the inside of Radillion, and the replays suggest that Magnussen had done just that – it looks like the snap of oversteer that he had on exit was due to the rear of the floor striking the top of the kerb as he rejoined the track, which I guess is why Mark was mentioning the track limits issue.
nase
28th August 2016, 15:17
What are you talking about? His accident had nothing to do with ignoring track limits. Geez …
alelanza (@alelanza)
28th August 2016, 15:06
why did he brake at the bottom of Eau Rouge?
nase
28th August 2016, 15:19
Probably to stabilise the car. It didn’t look as though it cost him any speed, so he probably tapped the pedal very lightly.
alelanza (@alelanza)
28th August 2016, 19:38
No one ever does that, i wonder if something was already amiss way before the accident happened
nase
29th August 2016, 10:38
“No one ever”. Well, yes. Obviously. We saw Magnussen do it, so that’s at least one driver, once.
I don’t think there was anything wrong or abnormal with the car in this situation, and I’m not even a little bit surprised that Magnussen tapped the brake pedal in the compression. He had roughly 90 kilos of fuel on board, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Renault used a very low downforce setup to compensate for their power deficit. Add to that the fact that there had just been a Virtual Safety Car, which inevitably leads to a decrease in tyre temperatures and pressures. Even without all these factors, the floor plate tends to skid over the tarmac in the compression at the apex of Eau Rouge. If you add the fuel, the relatively cold tyres, and maybe a lack of downforce to the equation, there’s nothing surprising about the fact that Magnussen’s Renault lacked stability, which he tried to compensate with an old go-karting trick (applying brakes and throttle at the same time to prevent the rear from coming loose).
Have I said “I wouldn’t be surprised if” often enough? One more time:
I wouldn’t be surprised at all if we found more footage of drivers tapping the brakes in Eau Rouge.
Traverse (@hellotraverse)
28th August 2016, 15:23
They certainly need to investigate why/how his headrest dislodged and flew out the car.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
28th August 2016, 15:42
Absolutely. The new high speed front camera will have perfect images of that.
caci99 (@)
28th August 2016, 15:43
Yes, that was strange, first time seeing it.
Mike (@mike)
28th August 2016, 15:46
Glad it sounds like it’s not serious or long term. The crash was quite a bad one. Perhaps they need more room on the outside of Eau Rouge.
Jack (@jackisthestig)
29th August 2016, 0:50
No, they don’t need more run off, Eau Rouge has been sanitised enough as it is. He walked away from a big crash at F1’s most notorious corner with nothing more than small cut on his ankle, a Williams mechanic came off worse in the hustle and bustle of the pit lane when the race was red flagged.
Adam (@rocketpanda)
28th August 2016, 16:16
I like Magnussen. I hope this doesn’t damage his chances of keeping that Renault.
Was concerned his head restraint seemed to fall off in the impact though.
Adam (@rocketpanda)
28th August 2016, 16:17
Oh, and just thinking – if the Halo had been equipped on that car wouldn’t it have broken off and hit him in the face?
x303 (@x303)
31st August 2016, 16:05
I don’t think so @rocketpanda as the Halo is designed to resist to 10 times (if not more?) the weight of the car.
Gabriel (@naylamp)
28th August 2016, 16:25
What I don’t understand is why they don’t wait for the medical car to arrive before going out of the cockpit. If the injury was in the ankle he shouldn’t have walk in the first place.
Nu
28th August 2016, 17:37
MAG – a man of steel..how did he survive that..? Think the curb hit the buttom of the racers floor and knock him out of control and he was just a passenger… to be honest this could happen to anybody in F1…if I was Fred V. from Renault I would visit him at the hospital with a flowerbucket and a 2017 contract… did you all see his qualify – almost 1/2 second faster than PAL and reaching Q2 on used Tyres…
anon
28th August 2016, 18:31
Nu, and yet the crash happened at a time when Magnussen had fallen behind Palmer – that qualifying performance is no good when he fails to take advantage of it in the races.
Ole
28th August 2016, 19:21
Hi was only behind Palmer, as he had to break to avoid hitting Vettel in the first corner.
Nu
28th August 2016, 19:57
How many laps would you say he should have done before the overtake was a fact.. lets face it – PAL can not keep MAG behind – PAL even got the new frontwing first in this race, without having more pace than MAG…you can not judge or compare any driver on the start – each situation is different. If this was the case then today MAG was a better starter than VER and VET and… comeon..he got away from the start in the left side without damage despite big confusion and crashes there.. thats ok..
Zaphod B.
28th August 2016, 18:11
Good thing the “second line defense” Head and neck safety was invented! The cockpit head restrain failed, but HANS was “standing” by.
Hopefully he will be ready for Monza?
PMccarthy_is_a_legend (@pmccarthy_is_a_legend)
28th August 2016, 22:46
Boy that was a heavy heavy crash. It literally made me jump off my seat. Last time I remember wincing at the tv like today was the Kubica crash at the Canadian grand prix.