Germany’s 17-year-old Formula 3 driver Sophia Floersch (pictured above) can count herself incredibly fortunate to have survived yesterday’s crash in the Macau Grand Prix.

According to ESPN, “speed-trap data from the braking zone of that corner shows Floersch had been travelling at 276,2 km/h”, and she only seemed to speed up as her car left the track and lifted into the air.

Floersch was conscious when the rescue team reached her, and the initial diagnosis is that she suffered a spinal fracture.

When you see the footage below, and the ensuing slow-motion replays, that’s considered getting off pretty lightly:

Yeah, like a bullet.

Whilst the cause of the crash wasn’t captured on film, it later emerged that Floersch had tangled with another rival on the straight just before the Lisboa corner.

You can see a different angle from the 1:30 mark below:

One more angle:

Hier de Macau-crash van Sophia Floersch nog van een ander camerastandpunt op de tribune. De snelheid en impact is echt ongelofelijk! Hopelijk is niet alleen Sophia, maar iedereen daar ongedeerd. Nog altijd geen updates. #MacauGP pic.twitter.com/FqZzVwu1q8

— Rob van Gameren (@VanGamerenF1) November 18, 2018

Hours after the crash, Sophia let her fans, and the world, know that she was OK:

Floersch wasn’t the only one injured in the crash:

The car hit an area populated with photographers and race marshals, and four others were sent to hospital with Floersch. The driver of the car Floersch vaulted over, Sho Tsuboi, was sent for lumbar pain.

The injured marshal, Chan Cha In, suffered a laceration of the face and a fractured jaw. Two photographers at the corner were also taken to hospital — Chan Weng Wang sustained a liver laceration and is being observed, while Hiroyuki Minami suffered a concussion.

I still think it’s a small miracle that nobody lost their lives.

[source:espn]