Ferrari: Schumacher didn't crash the prototype Scuderia
Following yesterday's report that Michael Schumacher had crashed a prototype Ferrari 430 Scuderia on the Nurburgring, some things have come into focus, but little has become any clearer. Ferrari insists that, although Schumi had been driving the car that day, it was actually the factory's road car test driver Raffaele de Simone who was driving when the car hit the guardrail at 250 km/h. Photographs show that the 7-time world champion had been driving the car with his young son Mick – himself just starting out in karting – riding shotgun... with neither of them wearing helmets. Meanwhile, though the car is being described as a prototype, nothing about the exterior of the car appears different (aside from the Perspex sliding windows, and of course the "aerodynamic modifications" around the rear left wheel), and though the car was described as a right-off, the damage looks quite minimal for a 155-mph collision. Click through to Next Autos to view more images of this damaged horse.
[Source: F1-Live and Next Autos]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
eightyd 10:36AM (7/29/2008)
Er, isn't it a write-off?
Either way, leave it to Ferrari to lie about their golden boy. And if he was running a prototype 430 at 150mph with his son riding shotgun with no helmets, I don't care who he is.. he's an idiot.
Hamilton wouldn't have crashed the car :D (jk)
Reply
Sorin 10:59AM (7/29/2008)
Aren’t you juuuuuuust a little bit grisly? :)
Majarvis 11:04AM (7/29/2008)
You're right, Hamilton wouldn't have crashed the car at all. After doing an installation lap, he would have come back to the pits, overshot the pit entry, and beached the car on the gravel trap, with bald tires. lol.
Or, Hamilton would have rear-ended someone in the pitlane.
Anyway, I think Autoblog needs to send their writers to a remedial high school English course. "Right-off", honestly, come on!
bishes 11:13AM (7/29/2008)
Re: Hamilton
You're right, he wouldn't have crashed it, but he would have stopped the car on the gravel for no reason :-)
eightyd 11:22AM (7/29/2008)
You guys are right. Hamilton would've put the car in the gravel for no reason... and then passed Raikkonen and Massa to win anyway. :)
From My Cube 11:37AM (7/29/2008)
WRITE-OFF.....
I cringe at the thought of "right-off"....person probably also pays someone to do their taxes too!
bmw D 5:40PM (7/29/2008)
Hamilton would have had his dad crash the car for him
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/06/05/hamilton-senior-takes-a-carrera-gt-for-a-spin/
Avinash machado 10:37AM (7/29/2008)
Good thing that Schumacher did not read that post yesterday or he might have sued Autoblog.
Reply
RG 10:48AM (7/29/2008)
Ferrari just doesn't want to admit that the GT-R vspec cut them off while passing.
:D
Reply
why not the LS2LS7? 11:10AM (7/29/2008)
Prototypes continue to exist after the production models are created. It may be this was a prototype for the 430 Scuderia, and when the 430 Scuderia production models started, they simply kept this car around so they could use it for further testing.
Maybe neither the test driver nor Schumi was driving it, maybe Schumi's son was driving it and they're covering it up cause he's only 9? Just a little more conspiracy theory for ya.
Is Noah Joseph British? We say Plexiglass or acrylic in the US, not Perspex.
Reply
mk 1:12PM (7/29/2008)
Not only that, but just because it is near-production track-prepped 430 Scuderia, doesn't mean it doesn't have a prototype engine or drivetrain, or something else, under the skin.
Reply
Todd 1:00PM (7/29/2008)
Man why couldn't my dad have been Michael Schumacher? That kid won some lottery up in heaven.
Reply
Chris 5:01PM (7/29/2008)
It's wasn't Hamilton's father, he can't make it out of the neighborhood....
Reply