Accidental Aftermath
20.7.99

Michael Schumacher's crash at Silverstone has brought a veritable barrage of opinion, speculation and comment.

Firstly, there is the subject of what caused the accident. Eddie Irvine was one of the first to comment when he said that Schumacher's car shot past him with all wheels locked. Then Ferrari announced that there had been a failure in the rear brakes and that a bleed nipple might have been at fault, although many who re-watched the Silverstone video thought that a driver error was a possible explanation.

However, the factory has reiterated that the problem was brake failure and in a subsequent statement Eddie Irvine changed his opinion when he said that Schumacher had passed him with only the front wheels locked. Brembo, the supplier of the F399's brakes, have now issued a statement which says "After the first check made in Maranello, together with Ferrari, it has been clarified that the reasons for the unlucky accident which occurred to Michael Schumacher are not related to any failure of Brembo components." The possibility of simple human error therefore looms large.

The safety features at Silverstone also came under criticism, in particular the gravel traps which allegedly failed to work. However, telemetry from Schumacher's car suggested that between leaving the track in excess of 120 mph the car had slowed to about 60 mph when it hit the tyre wall. The latter clearly was no match for the Ferrari's sharp nose which parted the tyres like putty and hit the concrete wall behind, doing damage to the carbon tub and to Schumacher's right leg.

Mika Salo was quickly announced as the temporary stand-in for Schumacher and after a brief photo-call at Fiorano he has quietly got on with the job of familiarising himself with the F399. His lap times at Fiorano in the 1:02 minute mark compare well with the outright record of 1:01.

That now leaves Eddie Irvine as the lead driver for the time being and he has clearly accepted that any chance for Ferrari to win both the Drivers' and the Constructors' Championships will rest with him. Whether he can now show himself to be a match for Mika Hakkinen is open to debate - it is not something he has managed in the past. It is unfortunate that Irvine is being quoted as having made statements like "We need to make less mistakes but that might happen because Michael is not there and there is less pressure" and "When Michael Schumacher is back he will have to drive for me as I have done for him for the past three years".

In a Reuters' report Irvine rated his chances of winning the Championship at 50%.

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