F2 star in big crash at Monaco Grand Prix showing dangers Hamilton and Verstappen face | F1 | Sport
British Formula 2 star Jake Hughes has suffered a massive accident in Formula 2 qualifying just hours before Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen will take to the track in F1. The Van Amersfoort Racing driver clipped the inside of the swimming pool section at turn 13 and lost his front wing.
At high speed, the Briton collided with the armco barrier on the outside of turn 14 at spectacular pace. The impact sent debris across the track and brought out the red flag with just a minute left of the session.
Moments later, Hughes confirmed he was alright to his race engineers. His team said: “Are you ok mate.” Hughes quickly replied: “Yes I’m okay. Sorry guys.”
Marshals quickly scrambled to the car but were only precautionary as Hughes exited the car himself a minute after the heavy impact. F2 confirmed the session will not be restarted meaning Theo Purchaire secured pole position. Hughes qualified fifth.
READ MORE: Charles Leclerc vows to make change after crashing historic Ferrari
The corner is one of the flashpoints on the Monaco circuit and has been the acne of many frightening accidents in F1. Nico Rosberg was involved in a similar shunt to Hughes in the 2008 Monaco Grand Prix.
Hamilton’s former team-mate also lost control of his Williams at turn 13 and was thrown into the wall. In the same race, Hamilton lost control of his McLaren at the corner before, Tabac at turn 12, before recovering to win the race.
The next section of the track at the entrance to turn 15 has also caught out many top F1 stars. Max Verstappen crashed at the corner in FP3 at the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix.
More recently, Charles Leclerc lost control of his Ferrari at turn 15 at the end of qualifying last season. His shunt brought out the red flag but secured Leclerc pole as he had already set the quickest lap time. However, the incident led to mechanical failures on Sunday which prevented him from competing in his home race.
Hamilton raised fears over the Mercedes circuit ahead of this weekend in a sponsors video for Petronas. He said the track was ‘iconic’ and was the ‘coolest track’ on the calendar.
But, the Mercedes star added: “It’s nerve-wracking for a driver going in. It’s so narrow. It’s just so fast, By the time you get to full throttle you’re braking for the next corner. At a normal race circuit you can go wide on a corner and come back on, you have more scope for error whereas in Monaco there is none. It’s heart in your mouth type driving.”
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