Sophia Floersch crash: Teenager undergoes successful surgery on fractured spine in Macau GP accident
Team boss Frits van Amersfoort admitted the 20-minute wait for news on her condition left him and the team ‘fearing the worst’ for the 17-year-old Formula 3 driver
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Your support makes all the difference.Frits van Amersfoort, the team boss of driver Sophia Floersch, who broke her spine in a horrifying accident during the Macau Grand Prix on Sunday, has admitted that the wait for news of her condition was “worst of my life” as he feared the teenager had been killed.
Floersch’s car ran over the inside kerb and hit the back of Sho Tsuboi’s Formula 3 during Sunday’s race in Macau that launched her car into a photographers’ bunker, with the rear of the vehicle making contact first before flipping the cockpit into the structure.
It’s understood that the 17-year-old made contact with another car – driven by Jehan Daruvala – on the main straight of the frighteningly fast Macau street circuit, with the ensuing damage causing a brake failure that left her out of control as she approached the Lisboa corner.
“It was nearly a rocket. Surviving was incredible,” said Van Amersfoort. “We reckon she was travelling at 276km/h (171.6mph) at the time.”
The FIA are carrying out a full investigation to determine exactly what went wrong, but miraculously Floersch did not suffer any life-threatening injuries and has undergone successful surgery on a spinal fracture on Monday. Doctors confirmed in a press conference that her vital signs are stable and limbs active after a seven-hour operation, and that she will remain in hospital in Macau for up to two weeks.
It followed two updates posted on her Twitter accounted that read: “Just wanted to let everybody know that I am fine but will be going into Surgery tomorrow morning. Thanks to the @fia and @hwaag_official @MercedesAMGF1 who are taking great care of me. Thanks to everybody for the supporting messages. Update soon.”
A second update was posted in German on Monday while Floersch was undergoing surgery, revealing that the delicate nature of her injury required a slow and careful procedure.
“The medical team is deliberately working slowly to avoid risks,” the update read. “The previous surgical course is good and without complications. The surgery that began this morning continues.”
Speaking after the crash, Van Amersfoort – the team boss of Van Amersfoort Racing – said that the nervous wait to hear any news of Floersch’s condition took 20 minutes to arrive to the team, during which they were left to “fear the worst”.
“We got some information from social media while we were waiting at the door of race control, but when you look at those images it is heart-breaking so we were thinking of the worst,” Van Amersfoort told BBC Radio 5 live.
“It took quite a long time before the race control could say anything about the health of Sophia – everyone can imagine that’s not a nice thing to have.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this. I haven’t seen all accidents in motorsport but this was surely one of the worst I’ve ever seen.
“We were lucky that she was flying because she went over a barrier. If she had hit the barrier it would have gone a lot worse.”
Tsuboi was also taken to hospital complaining of back pain, while the FIA said that two photographers and a marshal were also admitted with injuries. Photographers Minami Hiroyuki and Chan Weng Wang suffered a concussion and lacerated liver respectively, while marshal Chan Cha suffered a fractured facial bone and lacerations to his face.
FIA president Jean Todt has announced that a full investigation will be carried out to determine how the scary accident unfolded. “After the serious incident in Macau, the FIA is mobilised to help those involved and analyse what happened,” said Todt, who is also the United Nations Secretary General’s special envoy for road safety. “We will monitor the situation and make the necessary conclusions.”
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