Marcus Ericsson crash: Sauber driver walks away from violent barrel-roll accident during Monza practice

Swede’s car appeared to suffer a DRS failure as he approached turn one

Marcus Ericsson walked away from a scary crash during Italian Grand Prix practice (Twitter/@F1)

Marcus Ericsson was lucky to escape a violent crash in second practice for the Italian Grand Prix after barrel-rolling into turn one at the lightning-fast Monza track.

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The Sauber driver miraculously walked away from the high-speed crash that saw him pitched into the ArmCo barrier on the outside of the first turn, where cars brake from speeds of over 200mph to just 60mph in the blink of an eye.

After suddenly veering left into the barrier – sending marshals on the other side of it diving for cover – Ericsson’s car was pitched into a violent barrel roll that destroyed the C37 in a matter of seconds, with the session immediately red flagged.

Ericsson was speared into the barrier by an apparent DRS failure (Twitter/@SkySportsF1)

Marcus Ericcson's Sauber flipped at least twice after hitting the barrier (Twitter/@SkySportsF1)

The car pitched into the air as debris came flying off it (Twitter/@SkySportsF1)

The Sauber eventually came to a rest the right-way up before Ericsson walked away apparently unhurt (Twitter/@SkySportsF1)

But a sigh of relief came across the paddock when the Swedish driver climbed out of the cockpit as the medical team arrived to assist him, before being taken to the medical centre for further checks.

Watch the video below...

The Sauber team immediately started to analyse the sister car of Charles Leclerc and looked to be paying particular attention to the rear wing, as on video replays of Ericsson’s crash the car could clearly be seen heading into the braking zone with his Drag Reduction System [DRS] still wide open.

Under normal circumstances, the DRS flap should shut as the driver brakes before a corner, with the replays suggesting that a DRS failure caused the peculiar accident given that Ericsson was not putting any movement into the steering wheel at the time.

Just a few minutes after the crash, Ericsson was back in the pit lane waving to fans as he made his way towards the Sauber garage, but the team now face a huge task to rebuild his car in time for third practice on Saturday morning and the qualifying session that follows.

With teams no longer have a spare car to rely on in the event of such serious accidents, the Sauber mechanics will face a long night ahead as they attempt to get the car back into working order.