Haas team principal Guenther Steiner estimates the damage to Mick Schumacher’s car sustained in his final practice crash will cost the team between $300,000 and $500,000.
Schumacher crashed in the closing moments of final practice after losing control of his Haas into Casino Square. He caused significant damage to the left-side of his car after striking the barrier at the exit of the corner.Asked for an estimate of the costs involved in repairing the VF-21, Steiner said: “I don’t have the calculation, but between three and five hundred thousand.”
“This is what these cars cost,” he explained. “It’s like I always said, the front wing alone is a hundred and fifty thousand.”
Steiner admitted he was “disappointed” that Schumacher had missed out on qualifying for his first Monaco Grand Prix after he had stressed to both Haas drivers about the importance of a strong qualifying result around the tight street circuit.
“It’s always disappointing because the most important thing in Monte Carlo is qualifying and there’s not many a year. It’s one time only every year.
“It’s so different, qualifying here – short track, a lot of traffic. I think if he could have done it, it’s just to get this confidence, how to move out of the way and all these things. He missed out on that which is never good. So it’s never good to miss something.
“But this for sure, next time, when he comes back he would’ve liked to have done it once before.”
Schumacher will start this afternoon’s Monaco Grand Prix from 20th and last on the grid after being granted permission by the stewards to participate in the race, following his failure to set a lap time in qualifying as a result of his accident.
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Peter
23rd May 2021, 12:04
Silly question to ask
Perhaps trying to make the driver feel guilty
chimaera2003 (@chimaera2003)
23rd May 2021, 12:44
If it was asked 12 months ago I would have agreed with you. However with a cost cap in place this year, I think there is some value in asking since it could easily impact on 2022 car development. $500k could probably employ 3 well paid, experienced designers over a season.
MB have already pulled out of a tyre test due to cost cap considerations which would not have been helped by Bottas’ crash at Imola.
Steven Robertson (@emu55)
23rd May 2021, 12:31
I’m not sure of the value of HAAS having two rookies in a terrible car, their confidence will be non existent by the end of the year. Plus who’s teaching them how to set up the car correctly, mick should have went to Alfa and partnered kimi, at least he would have learned something.
OOliver
23rd May 2021, 12:39
Then again what is the value of having two experienced drivers in the car when the team is not doing any development this year.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
23rd May 2021, 13:18
Giovinazzi has looked a fair bit better than kimi this year though.
HAL
23rd May 2021, 16:15
Yeah, it’s expensive to produce an undriveable car… But that was part of the plan, so I suppose they have provisioned enough money for the spares.
Newfangled (@newfangled)
23rd May 2021, 17:13
I can only assume opting not to improve the driveability of the current car, and thus encourage a slew of expensive accidents from its rookie driver pairing, is cumulatively still more affordable than diverting resources from the 2022 car back to it. If their plan doesn’t work out, and Hass still end up cemented to the rear of the grid next year, I fear the team is altogether a lost cause.
Bulgarian (@bulgarian)
23rd May 2021, 18:26
I agree. Haas team must allow their drivers to make mistakes. 2022 is the year for them to shine.
MSO
23rd May 2021, 21:54
I don’t understand why a front wing costs £150000. It’s just a bit of carbon fibre, a material which has been around in this manner for nearly 40 years. Why is it so expensive to produce?
This is a genuine question, can someone explain??
NS Biker (@rekibsn)
23rd May 2021, 23:16
Just to lay the ground-work, I really have no idea what a wing costs or why. But here is a stab at it…
Without consideration for the design and engineering that goes into one of these, there are about 15 individual carbon fiber pieces in a typical front wing. The main structural section, 8 flaps or elements. two end plates, and probably 4 strakes which also function to locate the flaps.
Each one unique and to make them, each one requires a mold. Between the design work, the CNC machining of the various molds and QC, it could easily burn up 20 hours each (or more) and you haven’t even started to build anything yet.
Hand layup of the pre-preg parts, materials and autoclave time, probably the same kind of time frame. This is sounding like 800 + manhours of skilled labor (at $100 an hr.) and the use of some pretty expensive machinery. Yes, Haas sells the machines, but you don’t tie up these things without some opportunity cost associated with their use.
Now we have the carbon fiber pieces ready for finishing, painting and we still need the titanium hardware to hold the bits all together. Some hand-built mechanisms for adjusting the flaps and yer done. Hold on … The FIA is just changing the regulations on loads and deflections, better get back to the drawing board in a hurry. Ya might be able to re-use some of the molds. Maybe.
150,000 BP may well be an exaggeration, but it likely isn’t that far from reality. But then what does “reality” have to do with F1.?
Rhys Lloyd (@justrhysism)
24th May 2021, 3:59
@rekibsn not to mention the X-ray testing and analysis after it’s built to ensure there’s no issues with it.
MSO
24th May 2021, 12:23
That is crazy.
Maybe it’s time we looked into alternative materials, although finding something which can take the loads lap after lap is probably not easy.