“The impact was really hard,” says David Schumacher about his crash in the DTM. First of all, however, it means that the racing driver gets off lightly. Persistent pain drives the son of ex-pilot Ralf Schumacher to the hospital again. There is a vertebral fracture.
DTM driver David Schumacher was injured more severely than initially thought when he crashed at the season finale in Hockenheim. As his father, long-time Formula 1 driver Ralf Schumacher, confirmed to Motorsport-Magazin.com, the 20-year-old fractured the first lumbar vertebra. However, an operation is not necessary.
“When David came home, he was still complaining of back pain. We then decided to go to a hospital in Salzburg to have an MRI done,” Ralf Schumacher told the portal: “It turned out that a lumbar vertebra broken. According to the doctors treating him, this means a break of around six weeks for David.” Schumacher is currently wearing a binding corset for stabilization.
In Hockenheim on Saturday, Porsche driver Thomas Preining from Austria collided with David Schumacher, both of whom slid into the barriers at high speed. Pilots driving behind could not avoid it. In the event of an impact, the engine of Norwegian Dennis Olsen’s Porsche was thrown onto the track and briefly caught fire. In addition to Schumacher, Olsen and the Swiss Rolf Ineichen were also examined in the hospital.
“I drove to the left of Preining through the fast right in front of the east stand when he pulled out. We touched, both turned right, and from then on I was just a passenger. The impact was really hard,” Schumacher said in one press release from his team. He returned to the track on Saturday afternoon.
After the accident, the race was initially canceled with a red flag, but continued after a long period of clearing-up work. Schumacher was unable to start on Sunday despite the all clear being given in the meantime, his Mercedes was too badly damaged. His first DTM season thus came to an early end. In retrospect, this appears to be a happy coincidence.
