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Journalism of Courage
Germany’s Ralf Schumacher returned undaunted to the scene of the worst accident of his Formula One career on Friday.
With no recall of last year’s agonising US GP crash, a high-speed impact that left him slumped for what seemed like an age in his wrecked Williams as cars threaded their way through the debris, the 29-year-old said he had no fears to haunt him. “If I were afraid of being in a F-1 car I’d stay at home,” he said.
“I remember nothing basically. I just remember the start and then when I woke up in the hospital more or less. That’s it.” Ralf was later found to have suffered two hairline fractures of the spine when he hit the wall backwards after a dramatic tyre failure. He missed six races but saw out the season with Williams before moving to Toyota.
“I saw the accident in the hospital the same night but there was nothing special about it,” he said.
“We go to other quick circuits and whatever happens to your car, if you have a tyre failure like I had here last year, you can have a accident and if you fear that you’d better stop,” he said.
POSITION AFTER FIRST PRACTICE
1. Juan Pablo Montoya (McLaren)
2. Ricardo Zonta (Toyota)
3. Fernando Alonso (Renault)
4. Nick Heidfeld (Williams)
5. Jenson Button (BAR)
6. Pedro de la Rosa (McLaren)
7. Takuma Sato (BAR)
8. Giancarlo Fisichella (Renault)
9. Mark Webber (Williams)
10. Michael Schumacher (Ferrari)
19. Narain Karthikeyan (Jordan)
24. Kimi Raikkonen (McLaren )
