(CNN) — Formula One driver Mick Schumacher said he was “OK” after he was transported to the hospital Saturday following a scary crash during the qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, according to a post from his Twitter account.
An initial assessment found he suffered no injuries but the 23-year-old driver was taken to a hospital for “precautionary checkups,” his team, Haas, said. The team later announced he was released and had returned to his hotel.
Schumacher, son of seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, lost control of his car and crashed head-on at the exit of turn 12 during Q2 of qualifying at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. Moments after the crash, the red flag was raised to allow the medical team to tend to the German driver.
The qualifying session was delayed for nearly an hour as marshals cleared the track of debris. Schumacher was shown on the broadcast sitting up on a stretcher and chatting as he was waiting to be loaded into the air ambulance.
Following the accident, the team announced Schumacher will not be participating in the Grand Prix, scheduled for Sunday, adding only one of its drivers, Kevin Magnussen, who qualified 10th for Sunday’s race, will participate.
“Kevin, having not done a lot of practice yesterday, I think he did a fantastic job today getting into Q3. His last run was not as planned but I think that was down to not having enough time on track. We’re still happy with Q3 and P10 tomorrow,” Haas team principal Guenther Steiner said in a statement.
In his own statement, Magnussen said the team will “have to be happy with Q3, but the car was better than P10, I didn’t get the most out of it.”
The Saudi Grand Prix is the second race of the new season and comes on the seventh anniversary of the start of the civil war in Yemen.
The 50-lap race is being held amid controversy over the country’s human rights record and safety concerns after Yemen’s Houthi rebels attacked an oil storage facility near the track Friday.
“Following the widely reported incident that took place in Jeddah on Friday, there has been extensive discussion between all stakeholders, the Saudi government authorities and security agencies who have given full and detailed assurances that the event is secure,” F1 and sport’s governing body FIA said in a statement.
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