Franco Colapinto’s participation in the Las Vegas Grand Prix will be subject to a medical examination ahead of Saturday evening’s race after he suffered a 50G impact in qualifying.
Colapinto crashed heavily in Q2 after clipping the wall on the inside of Turn 16, which fired his car at an acute angle into the barrier on the outside.
The impact was so big it forced the concrete barrier back from its position, requiring a suspension to the session while it was repaired and the debris from Colapinto’s wrecked car was swept up.
Although Colapinto was able to walk away from the accident, Williams confirmed he would need to pass a medical check before being cleared to race.
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On-board with Colapinto during 50G Las Vegas qualifying crash
Follow on-board with Franco Colapinto during his big crash in qualifying in Las Vegas.
“During Qualifying Franco sustained a significant impact of over 50G, requiring a medical check up,” a Williams statement said. “An impact of this magnitude is obviously significant and severe and he will need to be evaluated again tomorrow before we will know whether he is clear to race.
“Franco’s health is all that matters and we are glad he is otherwise okay. We will provide further updates when we can.”
The accident comes just three weeks after Williams sustained millions of dollars’ worth of damage with three accidents across its two cars at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Colapinto, who has impressed since replacing Logan Sargeant at the team at the Dutch Grand Prix, qualified 14th on the grid for Saturday evening’s race.
