Mick Schumacher fit to drive just 24 hours after 170mph crash but fears of another crash behind decision not to race

HAAS elected not to rush Mick Schumacher back for today's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - instead deciding to prioritise Melbourne in a fortnight's time.

The 23-year-old was involved in a horrifying 170mph crash during Q2 yesterday.

Qualifying was halted for an hour as doctors checked the German out, before the debris of his Haas was cleared from the track.

Schumacher was declared fit after precautionary scans in hospital, but team principal Guenther Steiner decided against trying to fix his car to get him back on track in Jeddah today.

Explaining his decision, he said: "You could work all night and then find out you've compromised yourself so much because you did everything in a hurry.

"Then you end up with not all the spare parts in Australia, and then you have a little thing [happen] in Australia, and then you cannot race when you in theory should be in a better position.

"It doesn't make sense to me. It's just like trying too hard to call it."

Prior to his smash, Schumacher had done enough to qualify in P14.

But rushing the second-year driver out would have limited Haas' time in the factory before Melbourne in a fortnight's time.

Steiner, 56, continued: "You have to ship everything from here to Melbourne. We cannot ship it to the UK now to do all the stuff on the car like you need, to crack check and all those other good things.

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"It would be just not a good job for knowing that you cannot end up in the points if you start from the pitlane this year, as there's too many good teams out there."

Schumacher returned to the Jeddah track this morning, and on the circuit's safety told Sky Sports: "I think there are things we have to have a look at. I don't know what happens in the future. But if so, we need to have a serious discussion about it."

Pole-sitter Sergio Perez added that it's the "most dangerous place in the calendar".

While Ferrari's Carlos Sainz admitted: "Here if you crash, it hurts a bit more than in other places in the calendar."

McLaren ace Lando Norris added: "I think with this era of cars, with how you have to run them and how they’re designed, some kerbs throughout the year might need to change, and I think this kerb is one of them."