Paul Jeffrey
Premium
New Sauber Formula One driver Pascale Wehrlein has withdrawn from Sunday's Race of Champions Nations Cup event on medical advice, following his frightening crash during the individual heats yesterday evening.
Although Wehrlein admits he feels no physical after effects of his tremendous accident yesterday, the German has confirmed his intention to withdraw from further activity on advice of the organisations medical teams, explaining that his sole focus must be on upcoming Formula One preparations with his new Sauber team.
Speaking to the official Race of Champions website, 22 year-old Wehrlein admitted: “I’m very sorry to withdraw from today’s ROC Nations Cup. I’d really like to race again and I feel fine, but the doctors have advised me to rest so of course I will take their advice. It’s no more than mild discomfort but my real priority for the coming year is my Formula 1 season. So while I’m sad to be missing out on all the action, I send my best wishes to my team-mate Sebastian Vettel and the rest of the competitors here in Miami and I wish them another exciting day’s racing.”
With Sundays activity due to feature the Nations Cup event, a series of races where two drivers of the same nation compete for their countries honour to become Nations Cup Champions, an award won last season by team England 1's Andy Priaulx and Jason Plato, it has been confirmed that Ferrari Formula One driver Sebastien Vettel will represent team Germany by himself for this years competition.
Wehrlein was forced to retire from Saturday's track action when he came into contact with Williams Formula One driver Felipe Massa during their heat in the Polaris Slingshot three-wheeler, flipping the machine and coming to rest on the concrete retaining wall at the side of the circuit. Having just lost out to Massa in the heat, it appears Wehrlein clipped the TecPro barriers dividing the two running lanes, forcing his car hard right into the patch of Massa's sister machine. Despite the dangerous looking accident both Wehrlein and his passenger escaped injury and were able to walk away from the scene of the accident unaided by officials.
You can see the scary accident between Wehrlein and Williams driver Felipe Massa below
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Do you think Vettel can secure the Nations Cup alone this year? Will team GB be able to retain their title? Looking forward to watching the action tonight? Let us know in the comments section below!
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what a cool guy!
