Michael Schumacher’s accident on the opening lap for the last race of the Formula 1 2010 season could have been more disastrous had it not been for the safety shells of the cars. His Mercedes GP spun out of control when he went off line to a lane that had much dirt. With their speed coming out of the curve, Vitantonio Liuzzi, who did not see him spin, slammed right into his stationary car. Liuzzi’s Force India-Mercedes left front wheel missed Shumacher’s helmet by just a few inches! Both cars were virtually total wrecks, fortunately the drivers came out of it unscathed. Schumi went for a precautionary check up at the medical center and said he is totally fine.
The crash happened at the Turn 6 exit, with the cars were bottled up, racing out of the curve. There was no way for Liuzzi to avoid crashing into the side of the Mercedes GP because he did not see Michael spin out of control. It was so unlikely for the seven-time World champion to make that kind of a mistake. Admitting to his mistake in the crash, Schumacher said it was unfortunate to happen on the last race of the season he wanted to end on a positive note.
Nico Rosberg finished a respectable fourth in the race with a good pit strategy putting on the harder tires. The decision of Ross Brawn to pit behind the safety car helped Nico get better handling and grip in the race. With the hard tires, it gave the necessary pace and contributed much in the well controlled race for Rosberg which was like their pace at qualifying.
After the safety car came in following some mishap between Karun Chandhok and Jarno Trulli, the track was ready to pass the checkered flag under the SC. Unfortunately, the Mercedes Benz SC went in the pits a couple more meters before the finish line which gave Schumacher the chance to overtake Alonso. After the race stewards determined Michael Schumacher’s move in the last remaining meters of the race was against the rules, Fernando Alonso placed 6th place in the Monaco Grand Prix. The FIA released a statement saying that Schumacher’s overtaking tactic received a 20 second penalty. Based on the rule 40.13 of the F1 regulation declares that “if the race ends whilst the safety car is deployed it will enter the pitlane at the end of the last lap and the cars will take the checkered flag as normal without overtaking.”
