“Physically I’m all fine, obviously frustrated but most important, physically everything is good. I got checked out and everything seems to be alright,” confirmed Mueller after the race.
Mueller had started 12th in Portland and was confident of scoring points for the second time this season before his accident occurred 10 laps in.
“The initial problem was that a piece of my front-wing was loose, and it fell off at that time and I drove over my own piece of wing which lifted the front wheels up in the air at kinda the worst place on the track.
“That’s what sent me into the grass. Then, after the impact, I lost the brakes because of some kind of emergency mode that the car goes into. That’s why I ended up back on the track in a pretty scary position, because the other cars arriving can’t really see you - and they’re arriving at more than 250 kph so I was a bit scared and keen to get out as soon as possible.”
Despite what Mueller described as a “pretty terrifying” crash, the overall Portland experience was a good one for the Swiss driver.
“It was more enjoyable than I expected, because we’re used to driving these cars around concrete walls, and here they’re a bit further away in most places. Overall, it was a pretty positive experience - it would have been nice to top it off with a good race, but unfortunately it’s been the complete opposite.”