Ericsson unscathed in violent Italian GP crash
Marcus Ericsson has confirmed ‘I am all fine’ and credits the safety standards in Formula 1 for being able to walk away unharmed after his huge crash at the start of the second free practice session at Monza.
The Alfa Romeo Sauber driver appeared to suffer a mechanical fault with his DRS flap while under braking for Turn 1 at the end of the main straight which saw him spear into the left-hand side barriers which sent him flipping over in a nasty accident.
Marcus Ericsson has confirmed ‘I am all fine’ and credits the safety standards in Formula 1 for being able to walk away unharmed after his huge crash at the start of the second free practice session at Monza.
The Alfa Romeo Sauber driver appeared to suffer a mechanical fault with his DRS flap while under braking for Turn 1 at the end of the main straight which saw him spear into the left-hand side barriers which sent him flipping over in a nasty accident.
Ericsson was able to hop out of his smashed Sauber unaided and following a trip to the medical centre was given the all-clear but sat out the remainder of FP2 with his car too badly damaged.
Ericsson was seen in the Sauber hospitality unit and reported as okay with the Swiss team releasing a video message from the Swedish driver.
“I am all fine, thanks for all the messages, it was a big one but it is incredible the safety of the cars these days so it is great we have so much focus on the safety,” Ericsson said. “I feel fine and hopefully tomorrow we will be back fighting so I am looking forward to that.”
A MESSAGE FROM MARCUS: Thank you for all your good wishes! @Ericsson_Marcus is feeling okay and looking forward to tomorrow.#alfaromeosauberf1team #ItalianGP @F1 pic.twitter.com/1VvycKQvER
— Sauber F1 Team (@SauberF1Team) August 31, 2018
Sauber checked on team-mate Charles Leclerc’s DRS rear wing after the accident before sending him back on the track for the remainder of FP2.
“It was quite tricky obviously because we would arrive at the end of the straight and we didn’t really know whether it would close or not,” Leclerc explained. “I had the same issue but I have been a bit luckier with it, it closed a bit earlier than Marcus.
“Then we found the issue, we resolved it but that required a bit of a sacrifice in performance. We know what to do for tomorrow to not have this problem and be at full performance so there’s still a bit of potential, and I think the rhythm was good today so it’s looking good for tomorrow. I think the main thing for today is Marcus is fine and looking at the crash it was not a given.”
