Michael Schumacher has admitted that he was lucky to escape uninjured from a high-speed crash last week.
World champion Michael Schumacher has returned to his normal routine after being shaken by a high speed crash while testing at Monza last week.
“I have to say I was very lucky, because the guardrail absorbed much of the impact of the accident,” he said.
The German’s Ferrari hit the barriers on the second chicane and lost both its wheels, with the chassis jamming under the guardrail. He walked away unscathed and returned to his home in Geneva to recover.
“It all happened very quickly. I braked and, without warning, the rear of the car snapped to the left and then I ended up in the right hand side barrier and slid along the guardrail.
“I could not control it because, in the impact, the front right wheel came off, so I had no steering and, more importantly, no brakes. I did not scrub off much speed as I went along the barrier on the gravel and then the car ended up where the barrier formed an angle.”
Schumacher has given the assurance that he is more than ready to participate in this weekend’s German Grand Prix at Hockenheim.
“I’m fine,” he said. “Naturally, on Wednesday and Thursday I still felt the after effects of the accident, but not too much. The doctors advised me to take a short break to relax.”
Schumacher’s teammate Rubens Barrichello is convinced the German would have put the accident behind him already. “We are here to drive and race. People forget that we do this job because we love it, so I am sure the incident will not affect him,” he said.