Ferrari has announced that Kimi Raikkonen was “ok”, following a horrific crash on the first lap of the 2014 British Grand Prix. After making a hard impact with the barrier, the Formula One™ star was slow to get out of his car and was limping. This led fans to believe that he had sustained an injury on his lower right leg. Raikkonen, who spent some of the 2013 season recovering after a back surgery, was luck to have escaped the accident without serious injury.
Starting from 18th on the grid after mixed weather conditions on the Saturday qualifying session, Riakkonen had high hope for good finish. With a Ferrari that is underperforming, Riakkonen has been successful in 19 championship points. This isn’t anywhere close to his teammate’s 87 points. With Alonso starting from 16th on the grid, there is no doubt that Riakkonen would try to muscle his way through the rest of the drivers and overtake Alonso.
The lights extinguish… and they’re off. All is good for the drivers, until turn five. Raikkonen out brakes the turn and goes of the track. He makes and effort to bring his car back onto the track, but damages his suspension on a drainage trench. His Ferrari is set at full speed head on into the barrier. The car then rebounds back across the track, making contact with the Williams of Felipe Massa and forcing Kamui Kobayashi off of the track. Raikkonen’s car comes to a rest in the grass.
Kobayashi has very little damage to his car and is able to continue. The race is red flagged because of minor wall damage at Raikkonen’s point of impact. This delays the race for nearly an hour and gives some drivers a chance to change tyres and receive repairs. Although Raikkonen and Massa were out, Kobayashi was able to receive suspension repairs and finish the race two laps down.
From the accident, medical staff confirmed that Massa was uninjured. It was clear that the accident would have been worse if Massa had T-boned Raikkonen, rather than spin the car sideways before making contact. Quick thinking from the Brazilian. A Ferrari spokes person also confirmed that Raikkonen had escaped with bruises, but was ok. It was a big relief for fans to hear that no one was hurt in such a serious accident. This was yet another demonstration of the safety equipment in the modern era of Formula One™.
