F3 Racer In Macau Horror Crash ‘Will Race Again’ After 11-Hour Surgery
The Formula 3 racer badly injured in a shocking ‘flying crash’ at the weekend’s Macau F3 race is expected to make a full recovery and eventually return to racing.
Sophia Florsch was injured when her car collided with another at the start of the braking zone, pitching it into a spin before it launched off some corner kerbs and speared into a marshals’ post about 20 feet off the ground.
The car hit rear-end first but the strength of the impact forced it to roll, crushing the top of the Van Amersfoort car into the makeshift building as well. Florsch suffered a spinal fracture and a splintered vertebra, which had left at least one fragment of bone dislodged and perilously close to her spinal cord.
An 11-hour operation followed, but there is reportedly zero sign or fear of paralysis, according to Florsch’s team principal, Frits van Amersfoort. He is quoted as saying:
“[Paralysis] was the main fear. That’s why the operation had to be done quite quickly because there was a danger [her spinal cord] could be damaged.
“We are extremely happy that she is now recovering and that everything went extremely well. There’s no fear of paralysis whatsoever.”
Some observers have criticised the design of the Macau circuit and even blamed it , but Van Amersfoort went on to say that he didn’t feel like the design of the Macau circuit was to blame for the shocking crash. He told Autosport:
“I don’t think the accident was Macau related. If we go back to Macau next year, I’ll be a bit afraid but this accident could have happened elsewhere.
“We also race in Pau and F1 also races on all kinds of street circuits. Macau is a special track, everyone knows that.
“The contradiction is that everyone knows the dangers, but most drivers also say that Macau is the most beautiful track in the world. That indicates how strange it sometimes is.”
Footage from all drivers’ cockpits has been collected and analysed, but no blame for the crash has yet been assigned. Nor has it yet been deemed a racing incident.
Comments
Can we just take a moment to appreciate the unbelievable amount of engineering and planning on the part of many that went into the safety measures both track and car that unquestionably saved multiple lives.. Astonishing, awesome work!
No kidding the effort that went into planning everything is always exceptional and we can all thank the late Sid Watkins for helicopters as a mandatory part of medical recovery at all Motor Racing events….
Agreed. Not long ago, such a crash would have been fatal for multiple people. Engineering is a brilliant thing.
No, it looked like a hillbilly designed that catch fence. not to mention the kerb that sent her over it. this is not something to be proud of.
there is no doubt tho that her performance is gonna drop at bit, she most likely gonna pick the pace back her with some practise possibly for the rest of her life
Women
Exactly. Far more resilient and stronger than they get credit for
I don’t think it’s a matter of the layout, rather a matter of the fact, that they installed a “catch-fence” that couldn’t catch the lightest class of car this event has. A car shouldn’t be able to just rip through without being stopped in any way. If it weren’t for the photographers stand, although that was a really bad day for the guys in there, the car would have just kept going. These fences need to be engineered in a way that prohibits a car to leave the track, no matter what.
As proven many times, no racecar should ever leave the track in a crash.
Lucky that crash was terrible