Mick Schumacher has been the unlucky protagonist of a pretty bad accident during the qualifying session in Jeddah. He was fighting for a spot in Q3 when he lost control of his VF-22 at the exit of Turn 10 – with the car spinning around and smashing into the concrete wall on the outside of Turn 11.

After several shocking minutes of silence, Schumacher appeared conscious. He escaped injury and was released from the hospital later in the evening following precautionary checks. On the other hand, his car did not escape so easily.

With all four corners impacted, and the gearbox falling off when it was lifted away by marshals, Haas was well aware that the damage bill would be high.

Investigation of the car confirmed that almost nothing could be saved.

Team boss Gunther Steiner said: “The chassis itself doesn't seem to be broken. The side infrastructure yes, but you can change them.

“Obviously we need to do a proper check on the chassis but it looks like it is not too bad to be honest.

“The engine also, I was told from Ferrari, seems to be okay. The battery pack as well. But then all the rest is broken!”

Asked what the likely damage bill would be, Steiner estimated that it could be as high as $1 million.

“I think the cost is pretty high because all the suspension is gone: except the front left. I think there is still something on there,” he added.

“The rest is just carbon powder. I don't know money-wise but, between gearbox, the whole bodywork is gone, radiators are gone - $500,000 to $1 million I would say.”

Starting from the 2022 season, all F1 teams must be cautious of their spending due to the newly introduced budget cap. To come prepared, Steiner said that teams have had to put a rough estimate of damage costs aside.

So while Schumacher’s crash has not affected things too much, a run of repeat incidents would cause a bit more of a headache.

“There's a nominal amount [set aside], but in a racing team, you never can stick to your budget like in a normal commercial business, because you have this risk,” he said.

“You have got obviously a contingency there. But if you have two or three like this: pretty quick your contingency is not there anymore.

“It's a loss. So you just need to manage. Obviously, I hope we don't have a lot more of them.”

However, Wolff, Mercedes Team Principal, has clarified that he believes there to be a mechanism within the FIA rules that would grant Haas an allowance based on the severity of the “shunt”.

“You can say that a crash like Mick’s falls into the category of a ‘big shunt’ and there is an allowance in the cost cap where if you need to build a new chassis, the cost cap will be adjusted for you,”

the Mercedes motorsport boss explained as per GPFans.