• Australian Grand Prix

Schumacher quit for safety reasons

ESPNF1 Staff
March 27, 2011 « HRT tries to remain upbeat after Australian failure | »
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Michael Schumacher said he retired from the Australian Grand Prix on safety reasons after a first-lap collision with Jaime Alguersuari which left him with a puncture.

Following the coming together, Schumacher was forced to limp into the pits at the end of the lap with his tyre shredded. He returned but was unable to make any mark and eventually retired after 19 laps.

"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 BBC. " 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.

"When the tyre is punctured it will fall into pieces and that broke off bits and pieces around the tyre and that was quite substantial.

"On top of that 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."

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