Petrov “couldn’t feel legs” after crash in Monaco

2011 Monaco Grand Prix

Posted on

| Written by

Vitaly Petrov, Renault, Monaco, 2011

Vitaly Petrov has been taken to hospital following his crash in the closing stages of the Monaco Grand Prix.

The Renault team confirmed after the race he was conscious and talking following the crash.

The team reported on Twitter he had complained of leg pain but has not suffered a fracture.

Update: Further information from Renault:

After his crash during the Monaco GP this afternoon, Vitaly complained about his left ankle to the medical crew, so doctors drove him to the Princess Grace hospital for further checks. No fracture had been diagnosed at the circuit.

Once at hospital, it was confirmed that there was no swelling or broken bone. As a precaution, Vitaly will undergo a full body scan but he should be back in the paddock within a few hours.

Update: Petrov says he couldn’t feel his legs after the crash:

“First of all, I would like to thank all my fans for all their well wishes, the medical teams at the circuit, the hospital for their efficient and friendly assistance, and the team for their concern.

“It was quite a big impact and I could not feel my legs very well after the crash. I thought it was best for the medical team to assist with removing me from the car as it was difficult for me to move and my legs were trapped in the cockpit. I did not lose consciousness but I was in quite a lot of pain when I was inside the car.”

2011 Monaco Grand Prix

    Browse all 2011 Monaco Grand Prix articles

    Image © Renault/LAT

    Author information

    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

    Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

    37 comments on “Petrov “couldn’t feel legs” after crash in Monaco”

    1. After causing a four-car pile-up, I think it’s time for the Alguersaurus to become extinct.

      1. This time the responsibilities were many, as two overtakes were done before Piscine and Sutil was slow in the inside.

        1. And you have 3 leaders on your tail and blue flags in your face. That was the greatest part of the race, the climax.

          1. Blue flags are not an obligation to move aside straight away. They are an obligation to move aside at the earliest possible opportunity that is safe. The sequence from Tabac through the Swimming Pool is not safe. Given that there were four or five cars in front of the three leaders, the best places to do it would be to have two move over on the approach to Rascasse and two move over on the front straight.

    2. When I sw that train of 8 trundle through the hairpinn so close, I just new it was going to bottleneck at some point, personally I thought Rascasse, and while it ultimately spoilled the race, I’m happy to hear Petrov is OK after the collision.

    3. Thank God!

      Mag made a very brilliant point yesterday that perhaps saftey at Monaco should be discussed. I absolutely love the track and this weekend has been unusual with drivers suffering injuries but it shouldn’t just be dismissed either.

      1. I agree, especially the entry to the chicane after the tunnel exit should be looked at being redesigned.

      2. Its a matter for the GPDA, if the drivers still want to race there then it’s safe enough to race. At the end of the day there’s only so much they can do with a track like Monaco to make it safe, it will always be more dangerous than the other F1 tracks.

        Obviously if they can make changes at the chicane then they should but I where Petrov crashed there’s not really much they can do.

        1. Perez still wanted to race today but it was (quite rightly) taken out of his hands. It shouldn’t necessarily be left solely with the GPDA.

          1. yer that’s not what I’m talking about, obviously if some one is injured and not fit to race, they should be stopped from racing. But I’m talking about in general, as long as the drivers are prepared to continue to race here they should be allowed to.

            1. It’s the exact same thing. Perez not racing today even though he wants to because it’s not safe is the same as the drivers wanting to race at Monaco but being banned because it isn’t safe.

            2. It isn’t the same at all. A driver not being allowed to race because he might not be fit is completely different to drivers not fancying it.

        2. I agree.

          If the drivers are happy to continue with the way things are at the moment, no need to change anything.

        3. Good thing the cars are very good for preventing a lot of injury now. I think they look as if they are up to the job here.

          Would be interesting to see how a GPDA meeting would go. Cancel Monaco or race?

      3. Very strange and sad to see two severe crashes. I was tremendously worried for Perez but almost not at all for Petrov, until I saw he was still in the car and the ambulance arrived. I thought after Perez’s crash, as he was not even injured, Petrov could not have been badly injured himself.

    4. This accident could have happened at any circuit, it was just a chain of events that wasn’t particular to this circuit.

      But thank lords Vitaly is okay, hopefully there’s no serious injury that will hamper his ability to perform in Montreal. Maybe he can hang out with Sergio and they can compare bruises!

    5. We’ve had two lucky escapes this weekend and with any luck they’ll both be back in Montreal

      1. I have no doubt they will be.

    6. Good to hear Petrov is ok, thanks for the update :)

      1. It’s still strange for me to read he couldn’t feel his legs and couldn’t exit the car and he is perfectly fit. Probably a nerve must have been hit in the crash and he lost sensibility.

    7. SennaNmbr1 (@)
      29th May 2011, 17:00

      I think it’s time for Monaco to be stopped. It’s a complete anomaly of a race. Almost as if the TT was part of MotoGP.

      1. F1 is at the safest its ever been and Monaco is a classic race. Why in gods name would anybody want to get rid of it from the F1 calendar?? I think people are forgetting that F1 will always have an element of danger involved, i mean we are talking about cars that can do 200mph!! The drivers are all highly paid though and know the dangers involved in the sport. If i was in F1 i would relish the thought of driving Monaco, something i would imagine 95% of the current crop of drivers would agree with.

      2. I think it’s time for Monaco to be stopped. It’s a complete anomaly of a race. Almost as if the TT was part of MotoGP.

        The TT used to be the crown jewel in the Motorcycle World Championship, but it lost Word Championship status when riders said they would no longer race there. Same principle goes for Monaco and F1, until the drivers who are actually in the race say they think Monaco is too dangerous they should keep racing there.

    8. Any suggestions that Monaco should be stopped are crazy.

      Though it could do with being resurfaced as its rather bumpy and maybe a track layout change out of the tunnel (i.e put the chicane further down the straight).

      Petrov’s crash was initiated because of Alguesauri (who had an awful weekend)

    9. Instead of trying to place the blame of the crash on Alguesauri, how about we look at what really happened.

      Sutil had a blowout and cut the chicane. Hamilton instinctively slowed down not knowing if Sutil was in full control. The right thing to do, but unfortunately this caused a massive chain reaction. Placing the blame on somebody in an incident like this, regardless of how many cars involved or if any got hurt, is ludicrous.

      1. Upon second look, you’re right my bad, I don’t think anybody was at fault it all happened because the cars got too close together.

        1. And I didn’t mean to come off aggressive in any way. But at such tight quarters like Monaco and with visibility being low when a car is in front it has got to be very difficult to react to something as simple as rolling out of the gas.

      2. If you wanna blame someone, blame Maldonado. He put Sutil wide thus causing Sutil to get on the Marbles and slide into the wall causing a puncture. This caused Lewis to slow to avoid being careered into by the flailing Sutil with in turn caused Alguersuari to ride over Hamilton because he had nowhere to go, similair with Petrov who tried to escape by going for a dip, but never made it through the barrier! Im not saying i blame Pastor, but if you COULD blame anyone, it could be Maldonado.

        1. On the BBC F1 forum, they said the contact Kobayashi had with Sutil in the overtake manoeuvre might have damaged Sutil’s tyres causing the issues later on in the lap.

          I didn’t see any damage to the tyre, it went by so quick, and obviously the car was fine because Sutil finished the race. But they might be right. Sutil was a lot slower after that contact.

          1. And subsequently Kobayashi got a reprimand for it, so that seems to be what happened.

          2. The collision was 3 laps before the accident, so it may be Sutil had a slow puncture. This would also explain why it wasn’t obvious (except from the slower times) that Adrian had a problem prior to the accident.

    10. I think it would have initially easy to blame Alguesauri

      Coulthard was wrong IMO to suggest it was his fault, when I heard Coulthard mention Alguesauri causing the incident, seeing his qualifying incident and being more focused on the 3 leaders just behind it was easy to pin the blame on Alguesauri.

      Coulthard said Alguesauri should have slowed down but he would not have been able to see around the chicane anyway.

      Glad Petrov was Ok, I get worried whenever I see a medical car come on the track :/

      1. The Last Pope
        29th May 2011, 23:46

        Neither Brundle nor Coulthard had a good race in the comentary box. I think they were caught napping :P

    11. I hope he will be ok by Canada.

    12. I can’t see anyone to be blamed for that incident. Sutil hit the wall while Maldonado was passing him. At the same time Hamilton passed Petrov who was offline. Alguersuari then unlapped Petrov which was sensible in that situation, he would probably have caused accident behind him (there were three leaders).

      Sutil then went wide and Hamilton had to slow, Alguersuari didn’t have much to do there and neither had Petrov. Racing incident completely although it involved two cars on different laps.

      1. But Sutil already was wide and into the barriers quite early, as you say – I think in that respect it isn’t so sensible to start passing people, but better to slow down a bit and see where that car ends up, in case you have to move out of the way. Hamilton breaked and steered to avoid Sutil, then Alguesuari was too fast into that corner, and into Hamilton, causin Petrov to have no choice but go into the barriers.

        So I do think Alguesuari might have been a bit calmer before the chicane, but he probably already had too much speed at that point, so couldn’t help it anymore.

    13. I think Takuma Sato also said he couldn’t feel his legs when Nick Heidfeld rammed into his Jordan in 2002, I think. I don’t remember the race, was it the Austrian Grand Prix?

    Comments are closed.