If you’re an F1 fan, most likely you had your heart in your mouth during Sundays European Grand Prix at Valencia. Mark Webber had a spectacular coming together with Finnish driver Heikki Kovalainen who drives for the Lotus F1 team. Mark’s Red Bull F1 car had just come in for a pit stop, and was trying to pass Kovalainen for track position. Even though the Lotus was several seconds a lap slower than the Red Bull, Heikki was determined to protect his position, and the following crash ensued!
The fact that Mark Webber walked away from this unscathed really is a testament to the integrity of the latest generation F1 cars. Whatever about the first part of that crash, the second bit where he hit the tyre wall head on at high speed eerily reminded me of Mika Hakkinen‘s crash at the 1995 Australian Grand Prix. Here’s the video:
Hakkinen was left in a coma after the crash, as he fractured his skull when he hit his head off the steering wheel. Mark Webber would have suffered the same fate – if not worse – were it not for the HANS devices which are compulsory for all drivers in Formula 1.
Mark’s flip wasn’t his first though. He flipped not once, but twice during the 1999 Le Mans 24 hours – once in practice, and once in qualifying. And his team mate Peter Dumbreck had a similar flip during the race itself. Here’s the aftermath of Mark Webbers flippy crash: