Melbourne GP organisation contacts Haas over injured fan

It was a bizarre incident in the closing stages of the Australian Grand Prix: an English fan, living in Australia, being hit by a flyaway part of Kevin Magnussen's car. The latter had hit the wall hard with his Haas, after which the carbon part flew over the fences into the crowd.

Fortunately, the fan was not seriously injured by the razor-sharp piece of the Haas. He only had a cut on his arm. Had the part hit him or another spectator on the head, for example, the consequences could have been more serious. A member of his team saw the accident happen and indicated that the part ended up in the audience at high speed.

Andrew Westacott, CEO of the Australian Grand Prix, told Speedcafe, that such an incident is hardly preventable. “It looks as though it was a freak one-off because you can’t necessarily have these safety and debris fences going 20 metres in the air," he said. The Australian Grand Prix complied with all safety requirements imposed by the FIA, so the fences were as high as prescribed.

According to Westacott, the injured fan was a supporter of Magnussen. The CEO plans to contact Haas F1 to see if team boss Guenther Steiner can do anything for the fan.