A serious accident involving Ralf Schumacher overshadowed yesterday’s US Grand Prix, which took place at the 'Indianapolis Motor Speedway'. Right before the end of lap ten Ralf had a left rear tyre puncture and crashed heavily backwards into the wall at the banked final turn of the circuit.
He was brought first to the Speedway’s Medical Centre and then to an Indianapolis Hospital to undergo further medical checks. Fortunately Ralf appears to have come away from the accident with just bruising. He will spend the night in the hospital under observation as a precaution.
Ralf’s team-mate, Juan Pablo Montoya, encountered bad luck even before the race had begun. Seconds before the start of the warm-up lap, there was a problem starting the engine and consequently Juan Pablo jumped out of his WilliamsF1 BMW FW26. He ran to the BMW WilliamsF1 Team garage to climb into the T-Car as fast as he could - but unfortunately he wasn’t fast enough. The race steward subsequently ruled that Juan Pablo’s move was made too late, and after a long investigation a decision was taken to black-flag the Colombian on lap 57.
“According to the regulations a driver who wants to switch to the T-Car must have left the grid 15 seconds prior to the start of the warm-up lap”, explained BMW Motorsport Director, Mario Theissen, “It looks as if Juan Pablo missed this point in time by two or three seconds.”
Prior to his disqualification, Juan Pablo had been driving an exemplary race. When the Safety Car came out after a four-car incident at turn one (Christian Klien/Jaguar, Felipe Massa/Sauber, Giorgio Pantano/Jordan and Gianmaria Bruni/Minardi), the BMW WilliamsF1 Team driver took full advantage of the situation and went on to gain position after position.
After the second full course yellow, caused by Ralf’s accident, he was already fourth. When he was black-flagged, he was running in third place behind the Ferraris of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello, who finished the race first and second respectively. The disqualification barred the Colombian from a possible podium result.
