Michael Schumacher retires out of Australian Grand Prix due to ‘safety issues’ – Formula 1 news
The seven-time Formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher was hoping for a perfect start to the 2011 Formula 1 season but it seems that he got the worst start he could possibly imagine.
The Mercedes GP driver retired from the season opening race in Australia because of ‘safety issues.’
“I had quite a good start and made up quite a few positions, I was already passed Kobayashi, and then at Turn 1 it got a bit tight and I had to slow down,” Schumacher told the media.
Michael recently stated that after colliding with Jaime Alguersuari during the first lap of the race that caused a puncture, he had no option but to retire because of some safety issues as his car was not in a condition to be driven after that.
Schumacher tried his best to recover from the deficit as he returned to the pits at the end of the first lap before returning to the track but realised until the 19th lap that his car was not safe enough to drive for the rest of the race.
“I got going again and got running down to T3, but turning in somebody knocked on my right rear. The consequence was that I had a puncture, and that meant that it destroyed the rear tyre and that destroyed the rear of the floor,” stated the seven-time world
champion.
He added that the tyre was punctured and broke into pieces because of which the bits and pieces of the car around the tyre were broken off as well and as a result, he had to retire.
“I'm pretty sure we had a bent suspension because I had a funny behaviour between left and right corners, so that was a bit entertaining for the laps that I did. But it wasn't worth it and I think the team quite rightly decided for safety reasons to come
in and not risk anything,” said Michael.
Nevertheless, Red Bull Racing team driver Sebastian Vettel took the victory and began the 2011 Formula 1 season from exactly where he left.
However, the season has just begun and it seems that Mercedes GP will have to work overtime in order to decrease the gap between them and the top running teams.
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